how do i find out what dsl service is available in my area?

[ascendant]

moving into a new house. i have a cell phone, so i don't use a home phone and am hoping i don't have to have one for dsl. i've always used cable modems though, so i don't know exactly how dsl works.

anyway, just wondering how or where i can find out who offers dsl in the area i'm moving to? maybe also if there's anyone else who does the cable modems there as well, which personally i'd much rather have. thanks in advace guys.

[zimmy]

go to who ever you want to have dsl through in your area (usually your phone company) and there web sites will have a dsl locator by phone number /area code. But usually it's available as long as you live i think 1.5 miles from a phone company. SDSL is slower but avaible farther away. Cable is better.

[Ufa]

Cable modems rule. They have different bandwidth selections. Some from
$29.00 up to $100.00 They $100. one they give me free basic cable. Brings the price down to something like $70 per mo. Faster than hell. 50x to 100x phone modem.

[Ufa]

Cable modems rule. They have different bandwidth selections. Some from
$29.00 up to $100.00 They $100. one they give me free basic cable. Brings the price down to something like $70 per mo. Faster than hell. 50x to 100x phone modem.

[ascendant]

Cable modems rule. They have different bandwidth selections. Some from
$29.00 up to $100.00 They $100. one they give me free basic cable. Brings the price down to something like $70 per mo. Faster than hell. 50x to 100x phone modem.

right, that's why i'd rather use a cable modem. plus, i don't use a home phone so i'd rather not connect one if i don't need to. otherwise, i'll be spending money for a phone line and dsl and blowing much more money than i'd like. already pay for 2 cell phones, i'm good on the phone bills.

i know comcast doesn't offer the cable internet where my new house is. would any others offer it, or does it simply mean that it isn't available in my area?

[Ufa]

Don't have a clue. Make a few phone calls. Maybe on c/net they can
help you with your zip code.

[Coop77]

Unfortunately 99% of the time you need to have a basic phone line to have DSL service. It is technically possible to have DSL without phone service (called "Dry DSL" or "Naked DSL") but very few phone companies offer this because it requires extra equipment on their part.

[macktownmac]

it doesnt require extra equipment to only have DSL opposed to POTS w/ xDSL. My local Telco lets you have just DSL without the phone line. I would imagine some wouldnt allow you to do this because they could sucker you into getting phone service with them too.

This will all change soon. With VoIP and h.264 (Video compression) Cable companies can compete for phone service, and lauching soon the Telephone companies will offer cable TV services (starting with AT&T). When this happens you will notice many of these little restrictions will go because competition will be fierce.

[Ufa]

it doesnt require extra equipment to only have DSL opposed to POTS w/ xDSL. My local Telco lets you have just DSL without the phone line. I would imagine some wouldnt allow you to do this because they could sucker you into getting phone service with them too.

This will all change soon. With VoIP and h.264 (Video compression) Cable companies can compete for phone service, and lauching soon the Telephone companies will offer cable TV services (starting with AT&T). When this happens you will notice many of these little restrictions will go because competition will be fierce.

You seem very wise in the electronics area. Do you know anything about
the new 1080p LCD flat panel TV's.

[Lavinco]

Verizon
Qwest
Road Runner
Comcast

I have had dsl through verizon and now use comcast so I don't have to have the phone line.

Other than having to have a land line, there really is no noticable difference in speed from Cable to DSL. It's all just a bunch of advertising BS.

BTW, if you get DSL, you are connected all the time and there is no need to connect or disconnect. In fact, you can't unless you shut your modem off anyways.

[Phreak101]

Other than having to have a land line, there really is no noticable difference in speed from Cable to DSL. It's all just a bunch of advertising BS.

BTW, if you get DSL, you are connected all the time and there is no need to connect or disconnect. In fact, you can't unless you shut your modem off anyways.

My Comcast cable modem downloads at 1.3 megabytes per second at it's fastest, meanwhile my parents, who live about 3 miles away, have yahoo DSL and they are lucky to get speeds above 150kb/sec. You may wanna revisit that last statement!

Cable modems are always faster than DSL, simply b/c of the data transfer available over cables as opposed to phone lines...

[Lavinco]

My Comcast cable modem downloads at 1.3 megabytes per second at it's fastest, meanwhile my parents, who live about 3 miles away, have yahoo DSL and they are lucky to get speeds above 150kb/sec. You may wanna revisit that last statement!

Cable modems are always faster than DSL, simply b/c of the data transfer available over cables as opposed to phone lines...

I stand by what I said.

150kb is rather slow I will agree but I never had less than 700k and some times up to 1.5 d/l speeds.

My upload speed was restricted (as with any highspeed provider) to 128k so maybe that's what you mean by 150k.

As far as browsing goes, you cannot tell the difference between dsl or cable internet.

Most web hosting servers also have speed limits set on file download transfers. So all that porn can still only be downloaded at whatever the website hosts of that site have it set to.

The only time you will see a difference is when your buddy has a cable connection too and you are transferring files.

[macktownmac]

You seem very wise in the electronics area. Do you know anything about
the new 1080p LCD flat panel TV's.

without getting into it into too much detail 1080p is currently the highest consumer resolution avaiable. It is also considered as True High Def TV.

I would reccomend you pay the extra money for a 1080p TV if you plan on watching alot of DVD movies, the aspect ratio on 1080p screens are 16:9.

If your going to be watching only Cable or Satelite a TV like this would be overkill since no Cable or Satelite providor actually offers 1080p signals.

DVD and Free-To-Air are the only ones that will give you actual 1080p. You have to also make sure your DVD player supports 1080p.

Another thing to watch out for is 1080p vs 1080i, p (or progressive scan) is better than i (or interlaced)

[macktownmac]

My Comcast cable modem downloads at 1.3 megabytes per second at it's fastest, meanwhile my parents, who live about 3 miles away, have yahoo DSL and they are lucky to get speeds above 150kb/sec. You may wanna revisit that last statement!

Cable modems are always faster than DSL, simply b/c of the data transfer available over cables as opposed to phone lines...

The physical wiring cable uses (Coax) does have more bandwidth, and is usally faster. But It can get slower.

The difference is DSL gives you a dedicated line to your providor, The speed doesnt vary much because of this dedicated pipe your speeds are not affected by how other users are using their connection.

Cable uses a shared topology, meaning that the connection is virtually shared between all customers in the same neighborhood. So if everyone on your block is downloading huge files at the same time, your connection will be affected.

This isnt a big issue anymore with cable because they have been implementing guaranteed speeds, and cable companies have installed more equipment over the years to shrink the size of these shared connections.

[Phreak101]

Makes sense

I used to be DSL all the way back at the turn of the century, mainly b/c of cable's shared connections causing awful sppeds, but lately my cable modem is just so damn fast! Best part is Comcast registered the MAC address of my cable modem but for some reason is not charging me for service!

Ive been getting free inet for over 3 months now, love it!