DSL is here - YEA!

[jinman]

Well, I guess I am officially out of the stone age of communications. For several months, my phone company, CenturyLink, has been sending me offers for DSL. In the past, I'd go online and type in my zipcode only to find DSL was not available. With this lastest offer, that didn't happen. They said DSL was available and at very good price points for high speed service.

I signed up for 3 Mbyte download, 500 kbyte upload. I got my modem the next day by UPS, but had to wait 4 days for the phone line to be tested and enabled to my junction at the telephone pole. They did nothing to the line coming to my house. We got a call from the installer saying our service was enabled and we could hook up the modem.

Following the instructions that came with the modem, I plugged it into my wireless router instead of the computer and into the phone jack. The DSL light just blinked. I still have my cell phone modem, so I searched online and found that probably all the phones and satellite boxes needed to be disconnected. After doing that, the DSL light came on steady and the internet connection light showed up. I opened my browser and was right at CenturyLink's site to complete the installation. They guided me through filter installation (one dual and two single filters). Except for needing two more single filters, everything was in the box and worked just as described. I tested the speed and it actually slightly exceeds what I signed up for. I have lots of speed at my desktop and very good speed through my wireless CradlePoint MBR-1000 router.

The DSL service is much cheaper than our Verizon cell phone modem, so I think we'll cancel that service. On a recent trip to Washington State, we found that we mostly used wireless along our trip and didn't really need the modem that much. One thing for sure, DSL seems blazing fast compared to anything else we have ever had. I think I'm seeing the benefit of being rural, but only a mile from a major highway. This is really cool.:thumbsup:

 

[frogfish]

Welcome to the information highway! Once you come to the fast side you won't want to go back

 

[Bird]

Jim, when we moved here in September, 2005, I'd never even heard of Centurytel Telephone Company, but that's what serves this area, so we have their telephone and Internet DSL service. I guess it was last year that they "merged?" with Embarq, or one bought the other, or whatever, and became CenturyLink, but it really didn't have any effect on us (at least so far). Anyway, we've been pretty much satisfied with them now for four and a half years.

 

[brin]

Jim, I remember when we first got DSL and I was able to kiss dial up good bye...The MRs. ad I celebrated that night...what a difference, I know you are happy ! Our local service is thoroug our phone co. and they provided a modem /router combination so we have a wireless network in the house as well. Does yours have that too ?

 

[CCWKen]

They're just now laying lines and boxes in this area for DSL. I kept asking the phone company when this area would have it. It's been 10+ years. Well, about two years ago, I got fed up and went with a wireless offering when my ISP installed transmitters on several towers in the area. Satellite was just too high dollar for my use. So many web sites are bloated with junk, dial-up just wouldn't cut it any more. The wireless is about as fast as DSL and most times faster so if they want my business, they'll need to have a pretty good offer.

 

[jinman]

Our local service is thoroug our phone co. and they provided a modem /router combination so we have a wireless network in the house as well. Does yours have that too ?

They had the router available, but I already had the CradlePoint MBR-1000. It is nice because I could take our cell phone modem and plug it into the CradlePoint and have wireless at a pretty darn good clip. The cell modem could be unplugged from the router and plugged directly into the laptop when we went on the road. With a strong signal, that cell modem would provide almost 800 kbyte speed, so it wasn't too shabby even being shared between my wife on the laptop and me on the desktop. However, the DSL from the phone company is a third less money and almost three times as fast. I like that.

CCWKen, I had a WISP provider, but my experience was nothing like yours. Ours was unreliable and would drop instantly when a storm cloud approached, only to take hours to come back online. When it developed a nasty habit of going down on Friday night and being off until Monday at noon, I started looking for another service. The Verizon USB modem worked perfectly until DSL came along.

 

[VABlue]

I've been using Hughesnet for the 4 years we've lived here. If DSL, fiber, or cable shows up it'll take me about 2 seconds to make the switch! It's been reliable and stable for the most part - its downfall is two fold: 1) customer service is lousy rotten (based in India); 2) the download limit is 200MB/day (unless I want to spend even more each month). At only 200MB/day we need to stay away from video, so any website that auto-downloads video is a threat.

 

[CCWKen]

CCWKen, I had a WISP provider, but my experience was nothing like yours. Ours was unreliable and would drop instantly when a storm cloud approached, only to take hours to come back online. When it developed a nasty habit of going down on Friday night and being off until Monday at noon, I started looking for another service. The Verizon USB modem worked perfectly until DSL came along.

Well, I have noticed it will slow down during a gully washer but a normal rain shower doesn't seem to affect it. Clouds have no affect since the antennas are below them. I'm about 1.75-2.0 miles from the tower. I guess the quality limit is around 3 miles. I've been with Wireweb since about 1995. They were taken over by Internet America about 4-5 years ago but I still have my original email addresses. In fact, I can still drop back to dial-up if necessary. I did just that last year when lightening hit a repeater tower North of here and took out this whole area. The wireless was down for a couple of days. Other than that instance, I can't complain a bit and the speed is super fast for my needs.

 

[ronjhall]

Well, I guess I am officially out of the stone age of communications. For several months, my phone company, CenturyLink, has been sending me offers for DSL. In the past, I'd go online and type in my zipcode only to find DSL was not available. With this lastest offer, that didn't happen. They said DSL was available and at very good price points for high speed service.

I signed up for 3 Mbyte download, 500 kbyte upload. I got my modem the next day by UPS, but had to wait 4 days for the phone line to be tested and enabled to my junction at the telephone pole. They did nothing to the line coming to my house. We got a call from the installer saying our service was enabled and we could hook up the modem.

Following the instructions that came with the modem, I plugged it into my wireless router instead of the computer and into the phone jack. The DSL light just blinked. I still have my cell phone modem, so I searched online and found that probably all the phones and satellite boxes needed to be disconnected. After doing that, the DSL light came on steady and the internet connection light showed up. I opened my browser and was right at CenturyLink's site to complete the installation. They guided me through filter installation (one dual and two single filters). Except for needing two more single filters, everything was in the box and worked just as described. I tested the speed and it actually slightly exceeds what I signed up for. I have lots of speed at my desktop and very good speed through my wireless CradlePoint MBR-1000 router.

The DSL service is much cheaper than our Verizon cell phone modem, so I think we'll cancel that service. On a recent trip to Washington State, we found that we mostly used wireless along our trip and didn't really need the modem that much. One thing for sure, DSL seems blazing fast compared to anything else we have ever had. I think I'm seeing the benefit of being rural, but only a mile from a major highway. This is really cool.:thumbsup:

Hmm. First we got cable. Never have been able to get DSL. Then we got a Walmart. The city is moving closer to you everyday.

 

[ayelvington]

Congrats Jim!

I honestly know how you feel. We moved from a house with cable to here in Pennsyltucky and dial-up. I was doing mobile command-and-control stuff for the service, and my wife was adament that I put some talent to work at home! We went from dial-up to cellular (yagi antenna in attic getting only two bars from fresnel clearance over ridge) to satellite (Wild Blue) to DSL (Verizon). We are both heavy users (she watched Netflix over network), so we opted for the 6MB package. Life is back to the way we like it!