How does it work.

[Twylyghtzzz]

Can someone explain to me just how DSL works? Is it really as fast as a cable modem?

[dent]

Its fairly complicated, so I'll point you to the all-powerful wikipedia entry, and the most layman howstuffworks, respectfully.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dsl
http://electronics.howstuffworks.com/dsl.htm

To understand DSL, you first need to know a couple of things about a normal telephone line -- the kind that telephone professionals call POTS, for Plain Old Telephone Service. One of the ways that POTS makes the most of the telephone company's wires and equipment is by limiting the frequencies that the switches, telephones and other equipment will carry. Human voices, speaking in normal conversational tones, can be carried in a frequency range of 0 to 3,400 Hertz (cycles per second -- see How Telephones Work for a great demonstration of this). This range of frequencies is tiny. For example, compare this to the range of most stereo speakers, which cover from roughly 20 Hertz to 20,000 Hertz. And the wires themselves have the potential to handle frequencies up to several million Hertz in most cases.

The use of such a small portion of the wire's total bandwidth is historical -- remember that the telephone system has been in place, using a pair of copper wires to each home, for about a century. By limiting the frequencies carried over the lines, the telephone system can pack lots of wires into a very small space without worrying about interference between lines. Modern equipment that sends digital rather than analog data can safely use much more of the telephone line's capacity. DSL does just that.

The main thing in DSL speed is how close you reside to the central office, or to a routing station. The closer, the faster; the futher, the slower; whereas cable its generally equal everywhere. If you can find out how close you live to a routing station, you could find out if it is slower or faster than cable.

That is, if they offer it in your area.

[cokesat]

Yes i agree with Dent i might add that I will have Bellsouth DSL soon

my RT will be located about 1.3 miles by road away from my house Everyone

on My RT will be able to get speeds of 1.5/256 some of those people will be

up to 3 mile from the RT. So the Advantage I Have is if the RT will support

speeds of 3megs or 6megs I should be able to upgrade to them but

the people that are let say 2 to 3 miles out my not be able to get the

higher speeds. Because of there Distance from the RT.

Hope this helps

[Lorelai]

Since it works with your phone line, if the phone goes out due to a storm or something, will you also lose your DSL connection or are they entirely seperate things?

[cokesat]

Lorelai, Not 100% sure but I'd say no phone no DSL

But on the another hand No DSL But you may still have phone

And yes they travel in on the same copper Phone line to your home.

But I cannot remember the last time my phone did not work.

maybe someone with more knowledge will chime in.

[Marlin]

If the power goes out, your phone will still work, but your DSL may not depending on if the routing station went out. But the again, when was the last time your phone went out in a storm?

[Lorelai]

Originally Posted by Marlin

If the power goes out, your phone will still work, but your DSL may not depending on if the routing station went out. But the again, when was the last time your phone went out in a storm?

Where I used to live, my phone went out all the time during storms. So it does happen.

[Marcel]

Originally Posted by Lorelai

Where I used to live, my phone went out all the time during storms. So it does happen.

You had your phone line running from the outside. Those tend to go out in storms. Trees fall on the lines and stuff, or they get struck and surged out. Buried cables are safe from storms.

[sunnigirl313]

Very interesting subject. I've always wondered how DSL worked. Now I don't have to ask! LOL

As for the phone going out durning storms. I found that if you use what I call a "walk around phone" or portable it will go out in a storm but, a standard phone can be plugged into the jack and the phone serive is still woprking (in most cases.) So, I'd pretty much say you would still have DLS unless the whole phone system is taken out by a storm.

[Kendrick]

Portable phones go out because they depend on the base having power to broadcast the signal. Without power, the base can't operate, and thus you have no signal for the cordless to work off. However, landline phones that are connected can feed off of the phone line, so even if your answering machine doesn't work, you can still make calls without the power on.