Getting 50Mb installed - what to do before installer leaves

Hi,

I just received my confirmation email about my install date being end of November. I will have a Windows XP laptop ready for installer use if required.

Just wanted to ask what to look out for before the installer leaves? Should I check and compare my signal levels to a figuire that is regarded as "good" to experienced forum members?

Thanks in advance.

Edited by deleted (Sat 30-Oct-10 18:56:56)

My engineer left leaving my levels well over the top (+12dBmV when recommended range is -3 dBmv to +7 dBmv - I had to buy a 10dB attenuator) so might be worth checking that.

Make sure they give you the correct modem, and don't force you to subscribe to whatever spam and junk application they force you to download whilst the engineer is still there, make sure you get the 50mbit speed and don't take "it needs a few hours to start up" nonsense.
Use the Ethernet port directly on your modem.

Also make sure you get them to give you the router if offered, they can bring it whilst the engineer is still there (if he claims he doesn't have one).

Thanks.

So there is no such thing as a "burn in period" for cable then.

As soon as I say that the installer will probably make up something like area fault or congestion, I hope he / she does not though.

During my install of 50Mbit, they brought me the old modem (the one I had last year on my 20Mbit before I cancelled) and were hoping it would work, when I told them it won't as it doesn't support DOCSIS 3.0 so after not being able to connect it at all, they finally brought me the proper modem.
The 'proper' one takes too long to connect after every time you power it off, and in my instance the speeds it was giving were something like 1Mbit/50Kbps right off the bat, after telling the engineer to fix it, he made some calls and there was some sort of mistake (on their end) that we had to wait for them to fix, and within several minutes and rebooting the modem, it was 50Mbit.

You'd think with all the years of cable being available they'd get it right everytime.

What router should the 50Mb user be getting? I presume I will get the rather nice shiny looking modem as featured in their advertising campaigns for their "mother of broadband".

Don't forget to offer him a cuppa with some biscuits if he does a good job..

Yes, they are so overworked it's sad, so I'd offer them something to drink.

to be honest the only thing within the installer's power to fix may be a power level issue. anything like noise or congestion will be completely out of his hands.

installer's will stay at least to make sure you can get online. but as soon as that is verified they off.

My 50Mb install took less than 10 minutes, he bought the correct modem, and a d-link 615. I told the installer straight off I'd install the router if needed, and to to just test the connection via a direct connection to my pc.