[lug] Internet Access

[D. Stimits]

Kyle Moore wrote:
> 
> I can't believe it.
> 
> I can't get DSL...just out of range.
> 
> I can't get Cable Modem...not in my area yet.
> 
> Looks like I can get Sprint Broadband....I'm psyched. I sign up for it,
> set the install date, buy a larger hub, arrange to buy another computer
> and then...They leave a message on my voicemail today that they did a
> site test and it looks like I can't get that either because Green
> Mountain is blocking the signal or something.
> 
> I can't f*!*(@#)(*& believe it! I live in the one area in the whole
> country that can't get anything better than a 56k connection....this is
> pissing me off. I guess it is time to start looking at fractional T1's.
> 
> Sorry to rant...just had to get it off my chest.
> 
> -kyle

<MyTurnToRant>
Could be worse than that, you could live in the Siberian district of
Longmont. My part of town has filtered lines, so no dsl. It is too far
from Boulder without expensive boosters for ISDN. Cable doesn't do
Internet here. The radio stuff I know of requires a phone line for one
way and runs only 28.8k that way, it isn't two-way. Even second phone
lines are a problem, mainly made available by splitting the original and
giving half-speed max to either one. Not long ago there was a news story
about the first and second highest complaint areas for telephone
providers, of which Longmont was second, first being somewhere in
Oregon. Then the phone company bragged about how it was adding a new
switching station to allow 10,000 more connections, all during a time
when phones were unusable for hours at a time due to "no circuits
available, try again later". Now that it is in, I'm starting to get
those same unusable line problems during evenings, and the old lines are
still filtered and split, so even if there were 1000000 more switches
in, it wouldn't be possible to get dsl here. The choices in this area
are basically: 1) really bad service from a sucky phone company, or 2)
pay for a T1, or 3) move.
</MyTurnToRant>