Switching to DSL

[ChadTower]

So, finally getting to do it... having a dedicated line run to my house for DSL.  I have cable now, but DSL is so much less expensive, this should be pretty good.

Yay.

[Stingray]

Sigh. The only thing that sucks about living out in the middle of nowhere is that your internet options are 1) crappy dialup or 2) Super expensive Direcway.

Wish I could get DSL.

-S

[ChadTower]

Verizon has been telling me for years I can't have it because the lines are too old...

...called my current ISP (since 1997) and they say sure, Verizon will run a dedicated line to your house and you just have to wire a jack by your DSL modem yourself.

Simple, and Verizon never told me about that.  --missioncontrols--.

[Stingray]

I was told that you have to live within X number of miles of the nearest phone company switching station (or whatever it's called) in order to get DSL. I don't recall what number X was, but I live something like 5 or 10 miles beyond that.

I want broadband at home.

-S

[AmericanDemon]

Hey Chad how much do you pay a month for your cable?  Also what speeds do you have?

My local cable company is $30.00 a month for 4 meg down and 384 up.

[ChadTower]

I'm paying like $55/month for slightly less TOP speed than that.

I rarely get that speed, though, and probably neither do you.

[AmericanDemon]

Amazingly I get that speed.  My upload actually hits 512 most of the time.  Better than anticipated speeds.  I guess I'm just lucky.

[AtomSmasher]

I've had both cable and dsl and I liked cable much better.

[ChadTower]

Yeah, I rarely get my "allocated speed".

[quarterback]

I had Verizon (Ameritech?) DSL once up in Chicago.  Or rather, I was subscribed to DSL for over a year.  I actually had DSL for a couple months and then I had nothing but trouble and empty promises for the rest of the time.  And I mean "nothing".  No connection at all.

Edit:
Right now I'm getting  599.50 KB/s (download) with my TimeWarner

[Stingray]

The only thing SBC does right is phone service.

I agree with your assessment of SBC internet completely. I used them for a few months (dialup). They sucked ass. My opinion is that their phone service also sucks, but I'm afraid that anyone I switched to would suck worse.

-S

[ChadTower]

Well, I'm trying to cut my monthly bills... so going from $55-60/month to $20-25/month for internet is a good chunk.

After that I'm going to consider VoIP as well... cut that bill from like $60/month to $35/month, maybe, and get all sorts of international calling included so my wife can call home (to Ireland) and I can call home (to Canada) without worrying about cost per minute.

[sirwoogie]

I was told that you have to live within X number of miles of the nearest phone company switching station (or whatever it's called) in order to get DSL. I don't recall what number X was, but I live something like 5 or 10 miles beyond that.

I want broadband at home.

I understand your frustration Sting. I recently moved to relatively rural area from an urban home. I had two cable modems going at 6Mbps each, so I was flying. I moved to an area that isn't serviced at all. I'm not in BFE, but my area just seems doomed for broadband (stuck between railroad tracks and a highway). I can SEE the cable tap down the street (across a railroad track). I'm about 22k feet from the CO and SBC has a limit of 15-18. Both companies are saying they have to completely build out my neck of the woods (about a 4 sq. mile area) to make it viable, but that I'm looking at least until 2007 or 2008 at the earliest... if ever at all.

DirectWay is not a solution as that sucks almost as much as dial-up. I don't have a WISP in my area, and I don't have the funds to start my own. I currently have 128k ISDN service that I pay about $90/mo for. What a joke! I paid that much for my 12Mbps in my old house! Without government subsidy of some kind, rural America BB buildout is doomed. If we treated telephone and electricity  deployment like this we'd still be using oil lamps for light and a horse rider to deliver our messages.

[ChadTower]

Out of curiousity... why would you need 12mbps down?  $90/month is a hell of a lot of money.

[missioncontrol]

you should get dial-up it rocks

 
ok ok I'm just trying to make myself feel better

[whammoed]

I dated a girl with DSL for a while....mmmmm.....


***Am i the only one who uses this acronym for something that has nothing to do with the internet?

[ChadTower]

No, but I remember a MOO where we used to use that same acronym...

[sirwoogie]

Out of curiosity... why would you need 12Mbps down? $90/month is a hell of a lot of money.

Work provided most of the funds on the second line. The rest was for the higher service on the personal line. For me, I just want things to show up quick. I used to stream a lot and do a lot of multiple things at the same time. I also do work from home time-to-time, and the faster the pipe, the more things I can tunnel or VPN through as if I"m on the LAN. It's more beneficial than you think.

I had DSL for a while as well. I was lucky and only about 6k from the CO, so I received advertised speeds. For me, dumping the telco so I didn't have to pay for phone service (use VOIP and cell phone now), I was a happy camper. Hopefully some day I can have it again.

[Stingray]

Hopefully some day I can have it again.

Sounds like you're close enough for it to at least be a possibility in the forseeable future. I live so far from the nearest town that we don't even have natural gas lines out there. Hell, I'm just glad we have electricity. Even my cell phone only works at home every now & then.

-S

[ChadTower]

I also do work from home time-to-time, and the faster the pipe, the more things I can tunnel or VPN through as if I"m on the LAN. It's more beneficial than you think.

I work from home all the time, VPN though the cable modem, never had any issues with the base cable service other than picky DHCP based crap.

I don't use my home machine for much more than web, email, dvd burning and downloading torrent based stuff anyway, though...

[missioncontrol]

Hopefully some day I can have it again.

Sounds like you're close enough for it to at least be a possibility in the forseeable future. I live so far from the nearest town that we don't even have natural gas lines out there. Hell, I'm just glad we have electricity. Even my cell phone only works at home every now & then.

-S

I have cell service at my house as long as I'm no more than 6 steps from the front door

[ChadTower]

The only times I've ever had an issue with cell reception was because I was too far IN someplace and the signal couldn't get out.  If I'm outside, or in a house or something, never had an issue.

Then again, I rarely make cell calls. 

[Stingray]

Hopefully some day I can have it again.

Sounds like you're close enough for it to at least be a possibility in the forseeable future. I live so far from the nearest town that we don't even have natural gas lines out there. Hell, I'm just glad we have electricity. Even my cell phone only works at home every now & then.

-S

I have cell service at my house as long as I'm no more than 6 steps from the front door

Mine works most of the time if you're outside and toward the east end of my property. It works now and then inside in certain spots, and never on the west end of the house or property.

-S

[sirwoogie]

Sounds like you're close enough for it to at least be a possibility in the forseeable future. I live so far from the nearest town that we don't even have natural gas lines out there. Hell, I'm just glad we have electricity. Even my cell phone only works at home every now & then.

That's nothing. I have houses just down a mile or so that don't have water! They can't even dig well due to the sulfer content of our ground in that area. They truck it in, which made me fall off my chair. They only have electric and phone there. I'm lucky, I have all municipality except for sewer (which really isn't a big deal).

My cell service is top notch in my area. I get 4 full bars inside the house

[ChadTower]

Pfft.  I live so far in the boonies that people have to truck in trucks, nevermind water.

[Stingray]

Okay, I do have rural water service, but I had to put in a septic tank.

-S

[ChadTower]

Wait until he notices that the water input pipe is just a loop from the septic tank.

[Stingray]

No wonder my water is the thick 'n chunky style.

-S

[missioncontrol]

Okay, I do have rural water service, but I had to put in a septic tank.

-S

I have a well and a septic tank

we have no water service this far out

[J_K_M_A_N]

Stingray and sirwoogie, have you guys checked to see if there is a wireless company in your area? Two people at my work had no chance at DSL or cable and they found out there was a company that offered wireless. The one girl had to have a 10ft tower put on her house so the signal would reach but it works. (She is working from home today. I wish I could ) Just thought I would ask.

J_K_M_A_N


And my sister has Directway and she drives to the library if she needs anything other than e-mail. She says some dial up is better most of the time. And VERY expensive.

[AmericanDemon]

I dated a girl with DSL for a while....mmmmm.....


***Am i the only one who uses this acronym for something that has nothing to do with the internet?  I always chuckle when the topic comes up. 

Yeah dude.  Angelina Jolie has great DSL.   

[Wadeduck]

All these high fallootin' city slickers with their natural gas and cable modems....

[whammoed]

I dated a girl with DSL for a while....mmmmm.....


***Am i the only one who uses this acronym for something that has nothing to do with the internet?

[ChadTower]

Heh, just called back to ask a question... the guy is like "you know you have to install a jack from the phone junction box so that your DSL modem has something to plug into, since it's a standalone line, yes?"

Yep, I'm aware, running a two conductor phone line a couple of feet to a jack by my router should take all of 5 minutes.

I hate stripping phone inner wires, though... they're so thin they just snap most of the time.

[Stingray]

I hate stripping phone inner wires, though... they're so thin they just snap most of the time.

I just score them with an exacto knife then pull the insulation off with my fingernails.

-S

[sirwoogie]

Stingray and sirwoogie, have you guys checked to see if there is a wireless company in your area?

Said above:

I don't have a WISP in my area, and I don't have the funds to start my own.

[Stingray]

Stingray and sirwoogie, have you guys checked to see if there is a wireless company in your area?

Said above:

I don't have a WISP in my area, and I don't have the funds to start my own.

Just checked up on it. Here's a map of the coverage in Oklahoma. Can you guess where I live?

-S

[Havok]

Stingray and sirwoogie, have you guys checked to see if there is a wireless company in your area?

Said above:

I don't have a WISP in my area, and I don't have the funds to start my own.

Just checked up on it. Here's a map of the coverage in Oklahoma. Can you guess where I live?

-S

Isn't that also where the deer and the antolope roam?

[Stingray]

No, it's where the buffalo roam. It's also where the deer & the antelope play, but they often get bored with playing and just go get drunk instead.

-S

[duffjr]

was it worth the move?  isn't internet the meaning of life?

[missioncontrol]

was it worth the move?  isn't internet the meaning of life?

No these forums are the meaning of life. the internet is just the vehicle to get us here

[ErikRuud]

was it worth the move?

[Harry Potter]

There is no meaning to life and the glass is always half-empty.


 

[Sephroth57]

internet > all


without internet theres no world of warcraft!

[ChadTower]

Turns out I'm not switching to DSL.

Verizon sent me an email saying something to the effect of "we ran a couple of smakkity tests on your line and have decided it's not you it's us".

Long story short, even though others in my neighborhood have DSL, Verizon still won't give it to us.

[Stingray]

was it worth the move?  isn't internet the meaning of life?

No these forums are the meaning of life. the internet is just the vehicle to get us here

All this time I thought 42 was the meaning of life. 

It's only the answer. It has no meaning without a question.

-S

[ChadTower]

Shut up with your female logic.

[ErikRuud]

It's only the answer. It has no meaning without a question.

-S

I actually stumbled on "The Question" the other day, but there isn't enough space in the margins of this webpage to post it.

[Stingray]

Belgium.

-S