Altering a Cisco 675 for use on DMT DSL Connection?

Indigo asks: "I recently moved from one apt. to another in my building. I called Quest to change the DSL service. I waited the 10 business days. Yesterday the service was turned on and low and behold my Cisco 675 doesnt work. I call tech support and come to find out that all new DSL orders are using DMT instead of CAP. The 675 is CAP mode only. I now have to buy a new router for $200. I was wondering if you could tap the incredible power of your readers and see if anyone knows how to alter a 675 to use DMT DSL. I have been told it is possible by Quest, but they will not give me the info. Please help!"

Not too many options.

[Xunker]

As I see it, there are maybe 4 options you have:

One), bend over, grit your teeth and take it like a man. As a 675 Owner, I know how I'd feel if someone tried to force a Westel or Alcatel on me, but...

Two), buy a 677, wich is the Discrete Mutlitone (DMT) version of the 675, which is Carrierless Amplitude Protocol (CAP).

Three) Get the logic board of a 677 from a Cisco Parts Supplier and swap it into your 675 -- a new logic board, however, would probably cast as much as new router, anyhoo.

Four) Find someone with a 677 who is moving and needs a 675 and do a trade. Sounds like a nice idea for a web site -- CapDMT CPE trading!

All the ICs in a 675 (mine, at least) are soldered surface mount-like, and even assuming you coild swap out whichever chip is responsible for the demodulation, there is no guarantee that changing it would work.
.

Thats a 677

[Zule_Boy]

I work for a large (to be unnamed) Telco / DSL provider. We currently use Cisco 6100 DSLAMs and The Cisco 675 CPE. This is all CAP. However, the rest of the world is using DMT and G.Lite. To jump on the bandwagon, we are doing a MASSIVE CAP->DMT transition this summer. Paying around $200 a piece for the 675 sucked, and now they must all be removed and replaced with something that does DMT, such as the Cisco 677 (among others). Not to mention the upgrade of the old 6100 DLSAMs.

I guess the real question for this thread is what can I do with a truckload of old 675s? Anyone ported NetBSD to them yet?

Re:Think you're out of luck..

[VeniDormi]

Actually, that won't work (I tried it, just for the helluvit). The A in ADSL is "Asymmetric", which means the downstream and upstream rates are different, and there are no rates that "match".
To do what you're talking about would require SDSL or another flavor of DSL that included matching upstream and downstream rates.
The people that think that a 675 can be made to do DMT are probably confusing it with the 678, which supports CAP and DMT.

Re:Fun with Qwest

[Golias]

Funny you should mention that... I am a current Qworst customer, using the 675, and plan on switching to a local ISP (maybe yours... you didn't mention which one you are with).

Is this only a problem for location changes? If I change ISP's, but the "last 100 feet" remain the same, am I still in good shape?

Think you're out of luck..

[Miss Tress Race]

I'm sure you Asked Google and Asked Google Groups before you Asked Slashdot.. but on the off chance that you didn't, I just did: there seems to be a 100% prevailing opinion that the Cisco 675 does not support DMT, will not, can't be made to, etc.

..and a quick quick look on eBay [ebay.com] reveals that maybe a lot of people are in the same bind as you.. lots of 675's for sale, anyway! You can get $100 for it if you're lucky..

Fun with Qwest

[Luc1d]

I work for a relatively small ISP that provides Qwest DSL services. Unfortunately, in this situation, you are up the perverbial creek.

When Qwest upgraded their DSLAMs to us Discrete Multi-Tone line modulation (DMT) it basically left all users who were switching line service from location to location out in the cold. On the bright side, this only effects users with Cisco 675 and Intel 2100(Cisco 605) CPEs. (The vast majority of their customers)

We have dealt with numerous cusotmers with this issue and so far it doesn't seem like Cisco or Qwest are going to give anyone a break on a new CPE. Cisco does have a fun little article here [cisco.com] that talks about CAP v DMT and the CPE issues.

I was in the same situation.

[The_Runcible]

I searched for a long time, I haven't found any info, so I think we are SOL. Just try to sell it for the best price you can get . . .

Trade

[slate2001]

Why not try to find someone who's selling the item you need and offer a trade? I'm sure you could probably find someone with one to trade. Or even try calling up/writing cisco... See if they'll do an exchange, where you give them some $ as well as the router, in trade... Good luck