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How to get DSL???

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by james schroer 1 view

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Anyone know how I can get DSL in my area? I moved in about 5 years ago and at the time SBC said that they will have dsl in my area in the next year. Well now that it's 5 years later I still don't have dsl. I do have cable but it stinks. It's barely better than dial up. Anyone know how I could go about getting SBC or the city to speed this up? It seems the towns all around us can get dsl. Heck even my inlaws can get dsl and they are over 5 miles out of a town!!!! While I can see the CO from my bedroom window. Thoughts?

12 replies

by oz_media

If a local business or ISP has a sky-shot, you can usually drop some money and pick up a signal.

by house

Your dsl connection relies on a maximum distance from a switching/repeater box. (maybe a combination of both - I don't really know). The Telecom corporation who controls this in your area does not see it as an economic priority.

DSL is not always what it is cracked up to be. Some people claim that it is more stable, but from my experience the choice between cbl and dsl really depends on the service to your house. I've had wicked and weak connections regarding both... slow cable nodes and places where dsl connections tend to lose sync.

That is the nature of the beast. Trust me... I'm an ISP tech; most of the problems that I cannot solve result in me putting pressure on the big guys to increase a node or fix the freakin' phone lines. I'm getting sick and tired of blowing hot air on a decent customer when I know very well that there is a good chance that the service will not improve.

by oz_media

I worked in telecom for quite a few years in Vancouver. Annacis Island, where the interconnect I worked with was, had no DSL at all, Telus says unreachable. Yet another ISP had purchased ports FROM Telus and was having NO problem porting DSL there. There was ANOTHER company HUGE corporation that brought in a skyshot to get across the river form the Telus CO, they then allowed other to pick up from thier shot and rebilled via their own ISP.

Telus STILL hasn't got DSL over there yet, but companies on the island have had it almost four years now. Telus opened a small office on Annacis, and THEY STILL don't have their OWN DSL. Yet they COULD buy it from their own reseller.

Stentor, what a farce that was! Now the little offshoots of a once strong US monopoly continue the farce for them.

by house

Dsl is offered across town. In my situation, it is only individual streets, and not entire areas, that lack the ability to acquire a dsl connection. This is not a proper solution in town, but perhaps it is a good idea for larger cities in the area... I will have to do some research and hopefully squeeze in as a fifth member to the current "four" who have shares/own/operate the ISP. We are an amalgamation of two individuals from telecom, and two from cable,web, and programming.

This technology is "alien" to me. But it is worth the research.

PS - I've got brains - not bucks - you know what counts as a voice. :(

house

by oz_media

You should see me react to a bad business decision by a partner or even an employer!

I'll take their money and invest it in my company but don't expect to get you little ideas into MY organization. That's what I used to tell them when I was the washroom attendant,I am far more assertive now! :D

I don't believe in college smarts and fancy book learnin at all. Too many DORKS graduate form some program because mom and dad saved for years. They end up hitting the market as respected and apparently clever people but in many cases are as dumb as a stump when it comes to making things happen in the real world.

I believe in having SILENT partners, give me the money money and then shut the hell up until you get your ROI.

I guess it's similar to a martial arts pro and a street fighter. It is a close battle but more often than not, the street fighter wins due to experience and lack of form. You do what you need to do to win, not to look good doing it.

by house

I know what you mean. For some reason, it seems that everyone in any of the courses that I've attended didn't have to work at all through school. Most of them got money from parents or employment insurance.

What a piss off to have to work through school like I did, meanwhile the guy sitting next to you is there riding your tax contributions, and doesn't even have to pay back a cent. I've been penalized for my strong work history.

by don_c

Cable as slow as dailup hum!!! I have cable and would not even go to DSL. My friend has DSL He can't get the speed I can. Not even close. This makes me wonder about your ISP have you called and complained I know I did until I got what I was paying for. Downloaded XP sp2 (127megs)under 10 mins DSL took over 40 mins Try asking them to put a RF ampilfier on it

by oz_media

I get a stable 4800kbps or just under a 5 meg pipe with extreme cable. You could count the number of people in my area that have it on one hand though so I don't have any congestion problems. Download speeds avg. 650KBps, my neighbours DSL steady at 175 KBps.

Sounds like a poor install of High Speed Light, which is like a PRI-ISDN line, which is still about 2 or 3 times faster than dail up.

by thechas

Here are my thoughts on the issue:

1. CO is scheduled for an upgrade that will allow it to offer DSL. Until the CO is upgraded, DSL will not be available.
Your CO is on a low priority list. That is, your CO gets passed over if there is a greater "economic" reason to upgrade a different CO first.

2. There are fiber lines between you and the CO. DSL requires copper lines all the way from the CO to your location.

3. The CO that you can see is NOT the CO that serves your location.

I am very happy with my DSL service.

My local cable company uses Internet service as a cash cow.
A friend is switching from cable to DSL in order to save over $50 (US) per month. (Part of this is dropping some bundled services that reduced his total bill temporarily.)

What to do?

You need to have more people in your area contact the phone company and ask about DSL service. The more different people who ask about DSL, the greater the perceived demand and subsequent profit potential is. Once your area looks to be a better investment than the next town, your CO will move up the list to get equipment installed.

Chas

by oz_media

In Canada, the CRTC has laid down strict guidelines that if a subscriber area doesn't represent more than 10% of the total client base of the Telco, they don't need to upgrade services. So the boonies get left out unless there is some screaming from the community. We lucked out in Hardy because it is a main transfer point for the Northern BC coast.

It is the same thing that is happening up here with HDTV, sales reps are selling HDTV's all day long on the premise that customers will HAVE to upgrade or they will not get TV in 2006.

The truth of the matter is, again it must be a percentage of subscriber base, if more than 12% of the subscriber base decides to stay with standard broadcasting, the cable company must give HDTV as an OPTIONAL service and not mandatory. Plus upgrading such areas would be far too expensive to be feasible.

With Canada being such a widespread population, HUGE percentages of subscriber base are outside of the major city center. Therefore companies can't thrust such new services upon people and it remains an option to the public.

by oz_media

THe CNET test is pretty sad really, it is VERY area dependant.

Speakeasy tests are similar but they dohave some good servers. The site also tests you cards setup based on your connection type recommends which tweaks to make and offers the tools to do it. The forum is great and the tweaks are excellent, after visiting MANY ( and I do mean MANY) I have found this the most accurate and informative speed test. Also has ping and line testing available!

http://www.broadbandreports.com/tools

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