DSL service questions

[Jason Stephenson]

pll at lanminds.com wrote:
[Deletia]
> When subscribing to DSL, do I:
> 
> 	- use my exising phone line obviating the need for 2 lines
> 	- convert my dial-up line to DSL, thereby maintaing 2 lines
> 	  and therefore 2 bills
> 	- or have them use the old FR line but get to cancel the 
> 	  dial-up line?

The answer to your question, as others have pointed out, is it depends. 
I've had ADSL and SDSL with three different ISPs using different 
equipment and different setups.

For instance, my wife has ADSL thru Verizon in our apartment. It uses 
the same line as the telephone, and all you do is plug your DSL modem 
into one phone jack, and put filters on the jacks where you want to use 
your phone, so you don't hear the noise. She also has to use their "keep 
alive" agent to establish a PPPOE connection.

In my home ofice (a studio apartment on the third floor of the same 
building), I have SDSL through an ISP. For this, Verison came out and 
installed an additional box on the house, and I ran wire from the box up 
to the third floor. A tech came from the ISP to make the connections, 
hand over my SDSL modem, and see that everything worked.

When I lived in KY, I had ADSL from an ISP other than the phone company, 
and this was installed on the same lines as the phone, but didn't 
require filters. Apparently, it ran over the "other two wires."

In each case, we've gotten a different brand of xDSL modem because each 
provider has used a different brand of DSLAM. You see, your modem has to 
match the DSLAM, and the different manufacturers of course make them 
incompatible.

So, the answer depends upon your ISP and what type of DSL service you get.