O.T. DSL high-speed internet

Like a lot of folks out in the sticks, I have only dial-up for internet service (I know this has been covered multiple times here). Well, a few days ago my wife was talking to the neighbors just a little ways away (no DSL on their road either) and they said that they went to the local Verizon facility and were given a device (she did not know what type) that enabled them to have DSL. I was skeptical because every time I go to the Verizon website "check availability" screen, I get a message saying DSL not available for this number.

So I decided to go and talk to a service rep at one of the support facilities (not a customer center or a Verizon store but an actual facility where they maintain their fleet and do other types of tech support). The rep told me that just because the web site tells you "DSL not available" doesn"t necessarily mean it"s not. She said that you had to have some type of server facility within 3 miles of your home and that some type of line test had to be done on the phone lines, something to do with volume or noise (sorry, no electronics background). I am still waiting for her to get back to me about my specific number.

Does anybody know anything about this? Has anyone looked into this (or even know what I"m talking about)?

Thanks in advance for your comments. Waiting five minutes for a single page to load is getting old.

That does not surprise me. Should dsl not pan out for you go to a Verizon store and get a USB Cellular modem. They plug into the USB port of your PC and use cell technology to get internet access. Mine is $59 per month with a 5 gig limit (Do not go over the 5gig limit as it is very costly) The speed is way better than dialup, about the same as basic DSL, but slower than a cable modem.

Dialup has tanked and speeds are not going to improve, DSL will be overtaken by cellular sometime in the future, Satelite is oversold and very expensive for the service providers to upgrade. The world is moving towards cellular with faster and faster internet connections via cellular. If you have 2 bars of signal near your computer it will work. If by chance you already have a cell phone with Internet service on it many can also serve as a cell modem just buy adding some software to your PC. I have heard that cell phones a slower as a modem then the USB cell modems are but I have no proof of that. When I purchased mine they would let you sign up for 2 years but you had 30 days to return it and only owe for the 30 days. This was nice as I could test it at my home and if it didn't work I could get out of the contract. It works great for me.

Distance to the hub is a key factor in whether DSL can be provided, and how fast it would be. It would not surprise me at all that Verizon's web site does not have all the information regarding hub locations, particularly in rural areas. The customer service reps probably use the same web site to determine if they can sell you service.

The web page that tells you if you can get DSL in your area can be wrong. On the web site I show that they don"t have service for my area but had them come out and I can. Have them come out and test your line. You will need to be within the distance of the router this can be 1 to 3 miles depending on the line you have and the router you will be connecting to. You neighbors may have a Wireless USB modem network device that allows them to get Broadband using Verizon wireless 3G network. Speeds are not as good DSL but if you have a notebook you can get Boardband in alot more places. bursting up to 144 Kbps, with typical speeds of 60 to 80 Kbps compared to 3 Mbps to 12Mbps using DSL over a phone line. Hope this helps Good luck

i think theyre talking about ADSL...better than sattelite and nowhere near real dsl or cable.
basically you need telephone wires to connect to fiber optics within 3 ? miles from your house...i'm at the end of 26 miles of copper stranded...when i asked my phone guy about dsl,he just laffed and said i wouldnt live long enuff to see it out here...i got wireless now and got rid of all landlines...unlimited on wireless and 50 bux a month with no contract...typical speeds 1.5 mb up and down...not blazing fast but beats he!! out of anything i had before.

Let me second the recommendation for the usb modem. I"ve been using one for 2 months and I love it. I use only about 1 gig the first month so the 5 gig limit isn"t too bad. Much faster than dial up but not quite as quick as dsl at work. I saved an isp fee and a dedicated phone line so its really cheaper as well.

There is 'through the air' internet service that uses cell phone technology.

There is over the wire DSL internet technology that comes from basicly 4-5 national providers, and is doled out by them or a local telephone company.

I'm not sure which we are talking about here? Verison would sound more like the cell phone wireless stuff, but the description is more like the real wire telephone line.

I tried for 3+ years _after_ my phone company talked about having limited rural DSL trying to get a firm understanding of what they offered to whom.

What mess. In talking to them several times a year, I _never_ got the same answer twice. Their sales, tech, and installation people do not ever talk to each other and do not know what is real and what is no real...... I was told I could get full DSL & TV, to I couldn't get anything & probably my phone doesn't even work that far out. I was told it would cost $200 to install, I was told it would be free install. And everything in between. I was quoted 3 different base prices for it - if I could get it - in the same 2 week period.

For the phone line DSL, you need to have one of their techs call up your number & test the line - you won't notice it, but they send a signal to your house box & back to see how well it works. If there is a special box about 10 miles worth of wire or less from your house you can get 128 or 256 speed DSL. This is not fast, but it sure beats dialup by a long long shot!

I think 500k DSL is about 3 miles or so????

If you are less than 3/4 mile from one of those boxes, you can get 1 meg DSL.

A problem you might run into is that your local telephone co just doesn't care, and offers 1 meg DSL to the town folk, and never has set up billing, installation, etc. for the slower speeds over longer distances?

Me, after 3+ years, I finally got to talk to the _one_ person in the whole outfit that knew what was, and was able to speak normal talk to explain what was, and I got hooked up with .95 meg DSL. (I'm just a few feet over the magic distance for 1 meg to work, they said I can keep this as 1 meg, or get slowed to 1/2 meg (500K) speed and have that....)

I hope you find that one person in the place that actually knows what is going on. It's a real trip trying to get through to these technology places, sheez!

--->Paul

The independent company which serves my farm location did a lot of building a few years back and put digital carrier within a mile of everybody. Now they offer fone, DSL and TV on one copper pair. I don't live there so I didn't want to spend the price of DSL so I don't know just how well it works, However, I do use the dial-up and get well up in the 50kb range.
I imagine that in your case the operating company is expanding the service. Watch for construction in your immediate area.

There are all sorts of "DSL" service AND signal driving devices. Just about like all different types of tractors!

A lot depends on the type and quality of wiring, distance to the central office, etc, etc... A lot also depends on how much your local ISP likes to "experiment" or customize off the "beaten path" for an individual scenario.

Some will drive a signal MUCH farther than a typical DSL signal - at lower speeds than typical "high-speed", but at much higher than dial-up.

Mainly, my point is there are a TON of options behind the scenes depending on how far they want to bend over backward for you.

Howard

rhouston pretty much nailed it. TELCOs are not interested in pouring $ into wired (land line) services, because the number of wired connections has been shrinking for over a decade & they are convinced that in the future, all will be wireless, in time. For those out 3 miles or more from a central office, where loading coils are used just to get you a telephone, you will not be seeing high speed internet service by land line. A cluster of users within a small radius, but too far from a central office, may stand some chance of getting DSL/ADSL/SDSL compatible equipment installed, but the onese twose scattered users will have to deal with SLOW, satellite, local wireless via tall antennas, or cell connections until the world is wireless.

I had the same situation...dialup....to many signal blockers (hills, trees) for the towers that transmit dsl

So I got virgin moble....the modem (novatell mc760) hooks into a usb port. My area on their map for availability is marginable....signal is up and down so I bought an antenna made specifically for the modem (13dbi external)..hooks right into the side of the modem and the signal is terrific!!

I might work. I was told there was no way DSL would work at the distance from my place to the nearest central office.
After much pleading, begging,groveling and telling the lady at the front desk how cute the picture of her children was. They gave us a DSL modem and said to try it with no expectations of success.
Typical speeds are 100-200K which is no prize but beats 3-4K on dialup. Testing with those pinging programs will obtain 3Mb down and 1.6Mb up. I'm assuming the local telco has throttled back the data speed on their end?
After 3 years of service we had trouble getting a DSL link. Our telco put three extra boxes in basement and the dsl has worked fine since.
There is a fiber optic trunk line running in front of our place. It would be great if they would tap in and give us service.No such luck.

Too bad if they don't have any fixed wireless towers you can access.

We are on the end of a six mile long, 50 year old copper line.
Dialup was terrible with our noisy old line, so we went to Wild Blue satellite internet through the phone coop. It was much better than dialup when it worked. It was very sensative to weather, a light rain or snow would kill the Wild Blue. We made do with WB for two years until this fall, Our phone coop wanted to abandon our old copper line, it needed replacing and with so few customers, would not be cost effective to replace.
Last summer they put up a fixed wireless tower 8 miles from our farm. We have only a tiny antenna up 30 ft on a tower pointing at this tower over the trees, hills etc. Phone and internet come from this tower, Phone service is very good and the internet, fixed wireless DSL is 2X faster upload and 5X faster download for the same price as wired phone and WB. Really glad this technology finally reached our very rural area of ND.

It's probably NOT DSL. Sounds like a 3G wireless modem. Basically a cell phone that plugs into your USB port. Both Verizon and AT&T have them, the cost with either carrier is 60 bucks a month with a 5 gigabyte limit. Not cheap, but they work well if you happen to be in the right area. Certainly far better than satellite service about the same cost.

I went with AT&T. For the first several months the dropped calls drove me nuts. But a couple of months ago the service cleared up and it works flawlessly now.

Patience, broadband is coming.

It was announced just last week that a western Kansas company had received over $100 million from the government to help build a broadband network in several counties.

Thanks guys for sending your tax stimulus dollars this way. For mine going your way---you're welcome.

Well, something to keep in mind with dsl service, is there are required phone system facilities that are needed to support the service. The bell system is very old infrastructure and an end user has no way to know what infrastructure is available unless you check back periodically. Get that lady to check it out for you. Sounds like you have a pretty good inside connection. I hope you get dsl soon. dial up sucks!

Had a similar experience here with Embarq. They said no DSL, then one day I decided to cancel Sprint long distance and get a package deal with Embarq, a few days later they called back and asked if I wanted DSL too.

We tried the Verizon card for internet but I was not overly impressed with it so we switched to Wild Blue. The service is similar to Verizon, not as good as dsl, but better than dialup. I must have got a good installer as weather does not seem to affect my dish. It is mounted on the house as opposed to a pole. The installer said this was better as frost will heave a pole and throw it out of alignment hurting the reception. Also he used some sort of meter to test the signal strength for a good alignment. I'm apparently fortunate to have gotten a great installer or a good location or both.

Mark B,
I use my Alltel cell phone tethered to my laptop when I am traveling. For the last few years it cost $30 a month but since Verizon bought out Alltel they now want an additional $10 for unlimited use. I can use my phone without this service but the minutes count against the ones allowed in our plan. As far as how fast it is, sometimes it is pretty good and sometimes I think that it is slower than dial up. It depends where I am located.

(quoted from post at 19:28:49 02/04/10) Patience, broadband is coming.

It was announced just last week that a western Kansas company had received over $100 million from the government to help build a broadband network in several counties.

Thanks guys for sending your tax stimulus dollars this way. For mine going your way---you're welcome.

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Well, if the 'government' had to pay for your phone service, you can thank the rest of us for footing your bill!

The technology exists to get DSL farther than 3 miles. The phone companies just don't want to pay for it. Two of our communities (one is 8 miles out and the other is about 5 miles)got DSL recently. It is not as fast as "in town" DSL but it is much faster than Dial-Up.

(quoted from post at 01:33:22 02/05/10) The technology exists to get DSL farther than 3 miles. The phone companies just don't want to pay for it. Two of our communities (one is 8 miles out and the other is about 5 miles)got DSL recently. It is not as fast as "in town" DSL but it is much faster than Dial-Up.

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This is a curious point of view. Does the phone company want DSL service to one's house out in the outback? No. But if they did they would weigh the need versus cost & decide if they wanted/needed it bad enough to pay for it.
Do you, the home owner want DSL to your house in the outback? Yes. Are you willing to pay the cost to get it there? No, you want someone else to pay that cost, right? I might enjoy someone else paying for my every need & desire, but it isn't going to happen. What is happening is that I am being asked (forced) to pay for more & more for the needs/wants/desires of other people! If myself and the other 177 million phone subscribers would pay X-times our current phone rates, then Joe Outback could have DSL at our expense.....or Joe could belly up and pay for what he wants & desires or needs out of his pocket. It seems to be the current state of America, & more so everyday, shamefully.
Old bc: The above is not really directed to you, your words were just the trigger for my general rant.

Can DSL reach beyond 3 miles? Sure, with enough money. Fiber optics instead of wire will do it. A mini- "exchange-in-a-box" installed within 3 miles from your house & properly tied back to the Central Exchange office will get it done, too. The problem isn't total distance per se. It is the insertion of loading coils, which limit the bandwidth of the wired connection. Such coils are added to runs at about 3 miles & longer to make voice telephone service possible over that length of wire. An unfortunate side effect is the bandwidth limitation and DSL needs that bandwidth. These are all old technologies and at this day in time likely wouldn't be used in a from scratch new network, but we have what we have and any investment needed to change all of that must be weighed against return on such investment.

You are right about the loading coils. They have to be removed for the DSL to work.

(quoted from post at 02:02:30 02/06/10) You are right about the loading coils. They have to be removed for the DSL to work.

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ood conversing with you, old bc....no harm intended.