Our initial experience with one ADSL modem vendor was quite poor, and this drove us to run an in-house trial. Because of an interest in the results of this trial, we presented this data at DSLcon 98 . This web page is an attempt to recap that talk for those who could not attend. The copper wire used in this trial was evaluated by a number of methods. Our goal was to characterize the wire as much as possible.
Live circuit tests Each of the modems was tested on live copper loops.
Goals were to test speed, distance, and reliability. We found wide variability in the performance of the ADSL products we tested. The early versions of many of these products had various reliability problems, but by the end of the trial, many of these had been improved. The single most important variable for us in this trial was distance. Overall, DMT modems went farther, due to their ability to shift down to lower speeds.