Re: a number of things - esp DSL

["J. R. Fox" jr_fox@xxxxxxxxxx]

Richard Giering wrote:

> In General, your DSL explanation is correct. There are some items you
> failed to mention:
> 1) The "high speed" that you obtain is UNIDIRECTIONAL! That is you get
> the hish speed for downloading material from the web. For those of us
> who have and maintain a web site, the uploading is actually slower with
> DSL that with a normal telephone modem.

I (probably like the vast majority of users) Upload anything larger than basic email
only infrequently. Once in a while there may be a large attachment. Even so, the
u/l speed I get doing this smokes any 56K modem. I mean, it's _way_ better than the
2x reported by Carl. Besides which, you rarely get close to the theoretical 56K modem
speed on dialup, due to poor phone lines somewhere on your route. The best I ever
saw on dial-up was around 47K, and that rarely. Where my Dad lives, you count
yourself fortunate whenever you connect at 32K.

> 2) For this item, I've been given conflicting information so it may not
> be factual: If you have two or more residences at which you access the
> Internet for only parts of a year, you pay for each DSL for the
> full-year. For example, I spend six months each year (summer) "up
> north" and the other six months in Florida. The annual cost for the DSL
> when you only use it part of the year is greater than anticipated.

EarthLink offered (I think they still do) a Suspend / Resume feature on their
dial-up accounts . . . but I would be surprised if they offered this on their
broadband accounts. They are in effect a national ISP, plus have been developing
a presence in a number of foreign territories. In different regions of the U.S.,
they now offer either cable or DSL or both. They seem to have more flexibility
than most: it wouldn't cost you anything to ask them. I did not choose them for
my DSL, because SBC controls all the infrastructure here, so in effect EarthLink
would be subleasing service from _them_. I chose to go with the source.

> This also applies if you have a traveling laptop. In this latter instance,
> you will need both the DSL connection and a telephone modem (when you're
> away from your DSL location.

Yes, but you'd probably need or want that dual functionality as a fallback,
anyway -- esp. for business use. Your broadband account typically gives you the
option for using 20 hours per month of dial-up service, as needed. I don't travel
with a laptop at present, but one's cable service does go out on occasion, no matter
what they tell you. My (phone co.) voice line was just down for 24 hr.s.
Gotta have alternatives.

Jordan