IDSL (Was: Re: [NTLUG:Discuss] Newbie Questions)

[Steve Baker]

Mark Bickel wrote:
> 
> > From discuss-admin at ntlug.org Wed Sep 27 20:03 CDT 2000
> > Date: Wed, 27 Sep 2000 20:06:32 -0500
> > From: Steve Baker <sjbaker1 at airmail.net>
> > Subject: Re: [NTLUG:Discuss] Newbie Questions
> 
> > > Last, any thoughts on the best DSL/(other fast/cheap) hookups for Linux?
> > > AT&T is making a big deal here but I want to ask.
> >
> > There has been a lot of discussion of this on this mailing list - check out
> > the archives.  IMHO, DSL is *the* way to go - and at least one of the local
> > ISP's is "Linux friendly" (Try Internet America for example).  The only
> > reason I know to choose cable/satellite is if you live outside the DSL
> > service area.
> >
> > I live outside the DSL service area (Doh!) and my home is too far from
> > the street to get cable (Doh!) - and I live on a steep hillside and
> > aparrently have several of the Cedar Hill hills between me and the
> > Satellite (DOH!) - so I'm in deep trouble.  I have to look into ISDN?
> 
> My wife and I are in a similar predicament. We live out in the country,
> 6 miles East of McKinney. Our loop is 34,000 feet from the CO, the CATV
> service out here is primative (no bidirectional amps, notch filters used
> to block premium channels, "Can you say BubbaVision?"), etc. We were
> able to get IDSL recently, which works over ISDN repeaters. IDSL should
> be deliverable on any loop which qualifies for ISDN service, provided
> that there is a IDSL provider co-located in your CO. We are using Covad
> for the DSL portion and firstworld.net as our ISP.

That sounds interesting.  I guess I should talk to Covad about that.  I
chatted with a guy from Internet America (my current ISP) and they didn't
think there was a solution - but since they deal with Covad, this should
work without me having to change ISP's!

> No problems at all with
> the DSL service (Covad provided a Flowpoint144 router), but a few outages
> so far with the ISP, which is a bit pricey, though they do include decent
> dialup (several thousand numbers nationwide plus U.K.) 2 statics, 20MB web.

Cool!

Many thanks - I'll check it out!
 
> IDSL give you max 144Kb/s up/down, and requires a separate pair as it is
> not superimposed over POTS line.

Yes - that adds somewhat to the price...but it's tolerable.
 
-- 
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