The networking ng is dormant so I thought I'd report this here.
Folded phone line can mess up DSL.
I think a couple years ago when I had 100 feet of phone line but was only using 40 feet, but wanted to save the whole 100' in one piec, I had
40 feet played out and 60 feet rolled on the spool, and I asked here or somewhere else if that could cause a slow DSL connection. And iirc the answer was no, but I'm not sure of that.So a couple months ago I finally finish installing my home burglar alarm and I want to connect it to the monitoring company via the phone line. Since my main phone connection goes in via the second floor, to the computer on the 2nd floor, I go to the NIC and put a Y connector in it, adding back the original wire to the basement. Somewhere I have a 6" piece of phone wire with modular plugs on the end, but I can't find it, so I put in one of the cords that comes with most phone devices, maybe 8 feet folded up, maybe 6 circle's-worth, squeezed flat.
This is some time between Thursday and Saturday, and Sunday morning I leave for two months.
I got back two weeks ago today and the house and car were just the way I left them, and the computer worked fine. For 3 or 4 days. Then it stopped loading webpages, except very intermittently (so little as to be unusable), loaded email and newsgrooups only 20% or 30% of the time. People told me to call Verizon, as if I hadn't thought of that. But they charge about $60 if it's not their fault, and anyhow, the point is to figure it out on my own.
Check the NIC. It's popped open. It's under a roof but maybe it got wet. Doesn't look wet. After a couple days with no better ideas, I decide to unplug things in the NIC to give them a chance to dry, and only then I notice the folded phone cord (with the Y-connector). Take it out, and everything works fine again.
But how come it worked fine for the first 3 or 4 days I was back? And at least 12 hours, maybe 2 days, before I left?