Cable Reliability

DSL and Phone use the same lines. Low frequencies for talking on phone and high frequencies for internet. A filter is installed on each phone jack to filter the high frequencies noise while talking on the phone. You can use the phone and be on line at the same time. If you do go DSL I would suggest checking the phone wiring in your house. Some are very old and carry the high frequencies poorly. I replaced all my phone cable in the house to the junction box outside and really improved the speed of the internet. I don't remember the name of the cable it came from a friend that installs systems in large complexes. My old wiring for the phone was from the 1960's, big difference from today's new wiring. I have been using Windstream for years and have had no problems for the last couple of years other than cars or storms knocking down polls. When I did have cable it was a on and off problem sometimes lasting a few minutes to a day or two. That all depends on your location and the quality of the cable co. people and equipment. When cable works it is fast but I really never notice the speed unless I went to some pages that had a large amount of pictures.

My cable reliability has been rock solid with WOW cable. I had problems with AT&T's DSL in the past, that involved the usual customer service annoyances and tech visits. Cable, IMHO is a more reliable service. To be fair, though, it's been years since I've dealt with AT& T, so DSL service may have improved. With that said, when dealing with a specific cable company, it all comes down to their infrastructure and how well they maintain it. I think reliability depends upon the company, not the medium.

Using my cable company's VOIP, to make it function like a conventional phone line, I plugged the standard phone cord into their modem and the other end into the phone jack. Before it's was set up that way, I had the cable technician to unplug the phone connection from the Telephone Network Interface box. This insures that no signal or electrical interference is present on the line. The phone line connected to the cable modem will run the signal throughout the house and all phones and faxes should work as normal.

You may want to have the cable technician to check the Telephone Network Interface box to see if the phone connection is unplugged, so as to eliminate any problems with the functionality of the modem.

This might interest you.

Cable telephony - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

seekermeister said:

Maybe I'm misunderstanding, but my cable, both internet and telephone come in on a separate connection dedicated only to cable. Therefore, I don't think that it matters whether the landline telephone is connected or not.

Seekermeister,
Yeah, I forget that not everyone has the same setup. Hopefully the tech will straighten it out for you. I'll keep my fingers and toes crossed.

Sorry but it works for me from my post and your post.