ADSL Frequently Asked Questions

(717) 757-0444
Office Hours:
Monday, Tuesday, and Thursday - 10:00AM to 8:00PM
Wednesday - 10:00AM to 12:00PM, closed 12 to 5, open 5:00PM to 8:00PM
Friday - 10:00AM to 5:00PM
Saturday - 12:00PM to 5:00PM

This area has been set up to answer some common questions about ADSL Service.  If you have a question about ADSL, please feel free to call us or email us.

Q: How do I sign up for ADSL service?

A: If you would like to sign up for ADSL service, please follow these steps.

  1. Fill out this form, or give us a call to see if your line qualifies.
    [FrontPage Save Results Component]

    Your name:

    Business Name (if applicable):

    Email address:

    Street Address:

    City:     ZIP Code:

    Voice Phone Number:

    Phone Number ADSL will be installed on (if different than voice #):

    Work Phone Number:

    Note: The above information is used only to see if your phone line qualifies for ADSL service.

  2. We will either call you or email you with the results of the line qualification test. 
  3. If your line qualifies and you are interested in the service, we will take an order. (This will include billing information, however we do not bill until the circuit is active).
  4. We will contact Verizon and get everything set up with them for you. 
  5. Verizon will send you a self installation kit that includes the ADSL modem and filters to put on your phone line. 
  6. After you get the filters and ADSL modem set up, call us.
  7. When your modem has 3 green lights, the ADSL service is activated.  We will get some information from your computer (your network card address), and the email addresses that you want to use.  After entering these into our system (roughly 15 minutes) we'll call you back and step you through how to set your computer up for the Internet.

Note: you must have a network card to connect to the Internet with ADSL.  Almost any network card will work, but we recommend a 3Com or Linksys network card.  If you don't have a network card, we can supply you with one.

Q: How can I make my ADSL connection secure so that hackers can't get to my computer(s)? 

A: If you are just running one computer and don't have a home network, or if you have a home network and have no need to share files and printers, ensuring basic security is easy.

  1. Click on Start.. Settings... Control Panel. 
  2. Then double click on Network. 
  3. Click on File and Print Sharing. 
  4. Both boxes should be UNchecked.  Click OK.
  5. Under The Following Network Components are Installed:, the only things you should see are:
    1. Your network card (it will have a green icon to the left)
    2. TCP/IP
  6. We strongly suggest that you remove any other adapters, such as Dial Up Adapter or AOL Adapter.  If you connect to AOL through TCP/IP (meaning you use the DSL connection, you don't dial into AOL), you can remove all of the AOL Adapters and still be able to connect.
  7. Remove everything else, including Client for Microsoft Networks.
  8. Click OK. 
  9. It will tell you that your network is incomplete.  This is fine, just click Yes when it asks if you wish to continue.
  10. It might ask for your Windows CD, and it will ask to reboot.

To be completely secure, you should set up a firewall or buy firewall software.  We recommend purchasing a Linksys DSL router.  This will act as a firewall and it will also let you have multiple computers connected to the Internet.

If you have a home network, and you want to be able to share files and printers between your computers, there is only one way to be secure - to either set up a firewall computer, or buy a DSL router.

We can provide a Linksys Etherfast Cable/DSL router and install it for you.  This is a very useful device.  Your ADSL modem plugs into the WAN port on the router, and it has 4 LAN ports so that you can connect up to 4 computers.  If you already have a hub, you can get a single port version that connects to your hub.  These devices will automatically give every computer on your LAN an internal IP address (192.168.1.x), gateway, and DNS servers using DHCP.  With this setup, the configuration for the computers on your LAN will not change.  With these devices, you will only be using only one of our IP addresses.  We won't charge you the fee for extra computers, and you can connect as many computers as you want to your LAN.  You can  access the Internet anddo File and Print sharing or anything else on your LAN, and it will be secure.  We STRONGLY recommend using one of these if you have a home network, even if it's just two computers.  Please call us if you are interested in one.

Q: Do I have a constant IP address?

A: Yes and no.  Your IP address may change, there is no reservation for you.   However, if you keep your computer or DSL router on all of the time, your IP address will rarely change.  But the only way to guarantee the same IP address is to get a static IP address from us.  Visit the pricing page for more information on this.

Q: Why do I notice every once in a while download speeds go down?

A: If there are many ADSL customers downloading at the same time, you may notice a drop in your download speeds.  There may also be congestion in Verizon's network.  If you have huge files to download, we generally recommend doing it during the early morning, you will probably get the best speeds then. 

Typically, the hours with the heaviest Computerlynx DSL traffic are between 8 PM and 2 AM.  Between noon and 7PM, the Internet is most heavily congested.  So if you need to download a large file we don't recommend doing it during these times.   However, we're talking about the difference between 40 K/sec and 80 K/sec here, so unless it's a really huge file (over 100 megs) it doesn't really matter what time you download it.

You should almost always be able to get your advertised upload speed.   There is much less congestion coming from ADSL customers (uploading) than going to ADSL customers (downloading), because with the Bronze Plus plan you have much less advertised upload bandwidth.

Q: What should I do if I want to put another computer on my local network that will have Internet access?

A: Call us.  If you aren't using a firewall computer or you don't have a DSL router/gateway, each additional computer on your ADSL connection is $4.00/month.  To read more about the DSL router/gateway, click here.   This is what we recommend if you are going to have more than one computer connected to the DSL modem.  Once we receive payment from you, we must get the hardware address of the new computer to enter it into our system, this can be done over the phone.

Also, if you get a new network card for your computer, or if you are replacing your computer, call us.  We will have to get the hardware address of your new network card and enter that into our system.

This page has been visited 6293 times since 1/6/2000

Announcements | Two Months Free | Support | Pricing | Downloads | Cool Lynx | Hardware | Disclaimer | Web Site Development

Back to ADSL Page | Back to Home