Using ethernet in a DSL home?

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Valior

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Oct 11, 2013
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10,510
I just moved to a new home that seems to only have DSL ports in the walls, and the existing owner's modem is hooked up using the same cable. I'm used to only being in a house with ethernet ports and not just DSL, so I ordered a DSL-Ethernet adapter off Amazon that arrived today. I plugged it into the wall, plugged the ethernet end into a modem of my own (take note: that modem has no DSL ports; only ethernet), and tried using that modem both wirelessly and with a second ethernet cable. Neither appears to work.

I've restarted and changed a handful of settings a bunch of times and gotten no closer to solving this issue, so the only conclusion that came to mind is that there's a problem with connecting a DSL line to an ethernet modem. Is this true? If not, I can provide any system details that may help.

Any assistance is greatly appreciated.
 
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Valior

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Oct 11, 2013
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10,510
...And now I just feel stupid. Oops. I swear to Christ I'm not a luddite; I built my rig personally!

Alright then, follow-up question: I was planning on switching ISP's from Bell Canada to Teksavvy (a more independent, consumer-friendly ISP), where the two choices for internet are DSL and Cable. I was planning on using Cable due to the higher speeds (the options go as high as 100 MBps), but now I'm unsure if I can't use it in the home due to the phone jack ports. Am I on the right track or just being dense again?
 
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getochkn

getochkn

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Jul 2, 2006
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The jacks aren't good for DSL or cable. Your 3 options are.

Wire up your own ports in the walls or pay someone to.
Swtich to wifi and spread the internet around the house.
run cables around from a router across floors or under carpets or stapled out of the way.
 
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Valior

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Oct 11, 2013
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Are you sure those are the only options? Because I just checked my existing modem and the cable that connects it to the wall is cleared labeled "DSL". Perhaps the phone jacks really are DSL ports?
 
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getochkn

getochkn

Polypheme
Jul 2, 2006
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I don't even know what a "DSL port" is. DSL is a internet connection carried over a phone line. Standard copper twisted pairs.

another option is powerline adapters. It lets you share an internet connection using the power lines in the house. It works best in a house with newer wiring.


Networking works like this.

DSL connects to an internet provider over phone line wires.
Cables connects to an internet provider over coax cable wires.

In your house you plug in a modem, either to a phone jack, which connects to the above outside world, or a coax cable, which connects to the above outside world.

You can now either plug a computer directly into the modem via ethernet, or into a router. That router can then plug into ETHERNET wall jacks, other compuers via cable, share the internet via wifi, or above mentioned powerline adapters.

Noi where in there is a "DSL port".

Now what possibly could have happened with the original owners, was either they got DSL and there house didn't have good phone jacks, so a new one was wired in so they could plug in the modem, and that's why that port says DSL. Or they didn't have a home phone, so a naked DSL jack had to be wired up.
 
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Valior

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Oct 11, 2013
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10,510


Ah. I was horribly confused for a moment before I realised that the "modem" I was using is actually a router, so I can't hook it directly into the wall; I suppose I'd need to link it to the original modem. Well, that was far more complicated than it needed to be.
 
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