Geek seeks geek help

So I'm in Bogota now, staying with my novia. She got a tip from someone for DSL service (not sure which company), and placed the order on Monday. Today, Wednesday, they were supposed to come out and do the install, but instead they called and said there was a technical problem. They could give me 128k now, and get me the 256k I asked for next month... but they would still get me into a contract for 12 months. My girlfriend said no, thanks - it sounded too much like a gyp to her. I know how DSL works in the USA, but I have no clue here in Bogota... this doesn't sound like an entirely implausible scenario, but I just don't know.

Anyway... anyone have recommendations for DSL service in Bogota (Unicentro area)? I have a VOIP phone, so I'm wary of Cablenet, but if someone who knows tells me otherwise, I'll try anything...

Also, I brought a laptop and a tower here, but the electricity in my girlfriend's apartment doesn't seem to support the tower. I plug it in an outlet, hit the power switch and it starts to power up for about 1 second, then shuts off. Pressing the power button has no further effect. Move to another outlet, repeat with exactly the same results. I only had to try this three times before I realized it probably wasn't a good idea. Anyone know what's going on? Sounds like her apartment just doesn't have enough juice. This shouldn't be too hard to upgrade... or should it? Any advice?

Thanks... Goose in Bogota

By goosekirk on Sep 1, 2004, 17:34 in Friendly Talkzone.

webmanco says on Sep 1, 2004, 17:57:

ADSL in Bogota

ETB or Empresa de Telefonos de Bogotá is the main adsl provider in the Capital. If your girlfriend asked to ETB then they would had given you a usb modem of the make Marconi, (it is given with the 128 plan) you would be paying around 30 usd per month. If you want to use your voip device you will want to make sure the ISP gives you an adsl modem with all ports in it open, in order to be able to make VOIP calls.

Cablenet is the second provider in Bogotá, they will give you internet along with satelital TV.

And about the power supply on the cpu should be set to 115V, with all the equipment you got you might want to set up a home inalambric land. For which will be better an ethernet adsl modem. (greatspeed)
Celular 315 3054192

Welcome to Bogotá.

But, I'm going to start making some assumptions here.... Which means I might actually end up making an ass out of myself ..........Thu 04 17, 2008 11:34 am

Mr. Hollywood says on Sep 1, 2004, 19:04:

Cablenet I use Cablenet with a voip phone and it's great. I've never used ETB DSL but I've heard there were (don't know if there still are) reliability issues. My Cablenet plan is the fastest they offer but isn't, frankly, that fast. I think I generally get about 300 down and 125 up, but it's certainly enough to run at voip phone and to video conferencing, etc. When they set up my plan Cablenet set me up with the 64K plan even though I'd signed up and was paying for the 256K guaranteed plan. One stern phone call fixed that, though.

goosekirk says on Sep 2, 2004, 10:28:

Update Thanks for the info! Yeah, it was ETB that my girlfriend called. They called back this morning and said I could get 256k on Tuesday. But is greatspeed another ISP with ethernet modems? Do they offer a fixed IP, by chance? It´s not essential, but I always like that.

For my home LAN, I picked up a new Netgear wireless travel router. Smaller than a deck of cards with 802.11g. I need to plug the DSL modem into my VOIP adapter, and then into the router, so I definitely can't use that USB stuff.

Thanks for the tips, guys. 115v - duh! I feel like such a moron.

goosekirk says on Sep 2, 2004, 15:54:

No, wait... I´m coming from the US, so it´s already set to 115v. I´m so much better once I´ve had coffee.

Mr. Hollywood, does your cable modem slow down dramatically in the evenings? I know it´s just pure luck depending on how many people subscribe on the same loop, but a friend had Cablenet here and I remember it was darn near unuseable at certain times... it makes me a little leery of it.

Mr. Hollywood says on Sep 2, 2004, 16:28:

haven't noticed that I haven't noticed any particular time being slower than any other.