SBC DSL Issues

Perhaps they were referring to HDSL2? See

for a reference. This passes DSL traffic along a single copper pair.

As for getting high speed Internet I could only recommend 1) getting a wifi card and seeing if anyone nearby is broadcasting an open signal and doesn't care if you "borrow" it or else 2) looking into one of the cellular broadband cards like Sprint, Verizon Wireless, Cingular, etc. have available. Option 2 obviously would be a lot more expensive than option 1 :-)

Another option would be something like DirecTV satellite Internet access. This option likely pretty expensive from what I've checked out but it's available anywhere you have clear unobstructed view of the Southern sky.

Yes but there's serious latency issues which while it won't really impact e-mail and browsing would preclude more time sensitive uses like VOIP.

Good call. I didn't see this when I first was browsing the satellite service a few months ago. I saw the disclaimer regarding latency this time around

.Makes sense seeing the 45K mile round trip!

Probably some sort of 'pair gain' gear. lets them multiplex 2 (sometimes more) over a single copper pair. Unfortunately, the multiplexed signals use frequency spectrum that interferes with DSL. In which case, you're simply SOL.

when DSL is not available, you have choices of: 'cable', which is also 'not viable' for you 'wireless', dunno if -that- is available in your area IDSL -- limited to 144k up/down, and may be relatively expensive. dedicated data circuit -- something like a 'T-1'. *expensive*, but available almost _anywhere_. also has the advantage that it comes with a service level guarantee -- typically outages of 4 hours or more cause 'escalation' to telco management. While, with DSL, you can be down for a week or more, while they're 'working' the problem.

last of all, 'dial up'.

Complicated trade-offs.

good luck.

I have a similar issue where I need to send DSL for about 5 miles past where its available. I'm looking at a radio solution. I have found a radio system that is basically a really long ethernet cable. 900MHz, not B or G. I'll install the DSL service at a location where it is available and 'ship' it to my location where I need it. If you're interested, drop me a line and I'll give you more info and the name of the company.

Bob

Plan Three: A varation on gregarican's #1 above:

Find someone in LOS who has broadband. create a wireless link between their router and your router and share the connection.

Suggest you pay the difference between what bandwidth they have and the next level up, or otherwise share the cost.

Also suggest you buy them a firewall box to connect between their broadband router and their LAN so they can't accuse you of hacking their systems. A no-hard-drive PC with a P3-500 CPU and 256MB RAM, booting from running a Linux Live CD which contains a firewall is the cheap way, or you can just buy a firewall appliance.

Use 802.11a

802.11b, g or whatever, as 802.11a was rare enough so Teen Age Hacker-San won't have it on hand and will inctead go hack someone else. Also, 5GHz is used far less than 2.4GHz so you might find less chance of interference.

Of course, implement WPA instead of the useless crack-it-in-three-minutes WEP.

Very directional antennas are very useful will will need to rescale any homebrew antenna if you take my previous advice and use 802.11a (on 5GHz) instead of 802.11b/g (2.4GHz). If you're not a DIY guy, either buy the antennas or get a ham radio operator to make them.

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Then, if you can get a 'dry pair' from telco, there's Plan Four:

If you have more than a few phone lines, an Integrated T1 (combination data and phone lines,) may be economical. Or if you are using or interested in using VoIP, just a fractional T1.

Randy R