# Who has DSL, and which company is best **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [August 10, 2005, 4:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-has-dsl-and-which-company-is-best/316461 "2005-08-10T16:36:39Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Duke\_of\_Rat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ad7895/32.png) [@Duke\_of\_Rat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duke_of_Rat)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2005, 12:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-has-dsl-and-which-company-is-best/316461/21 "2005-08-11T00:49:45Z")
Go to the SBC/Yahoo DSL homepage, and enter your phone number. They’ll tell you if you can get it. ---
**Author:** ![Wesley\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wesley_clark/32/20581_2.png) [@Wesley\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wesley_Clark)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2005, 12:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-has-dsl-and-which-company-is-best/316461/22 "2005-08-11T00:53:06Z")
We don’t have a phone yet. The lease doesn’t start until august 18th. ---
**Author:** ![Neptunian\_Slug](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ce7236/32.png) [@Neptunian\_Slug](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Neptunian_Slug)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2005, 2:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-has-dsl-and-which-company-is-best/316461/23 "2005-08-11T02:53:39Z")
> [@Wesley Clark](#): > > Do I have to get my DSL through Covad to take advantage of the CO that is only half a mile away? Will any DSL company go through that station or just Covad? I live in a highly residental area (about 20 apartment complexes in a square mile) so I’d assume a CO is nearby. > > CO = central office, I missed that the first time around. If you are a half mile I would guess that DSL provider who operates in your area can take care of you, SBC, Earthlink, Covad. Be sure to shop around. There are deals out there since it is a competitive marketplace. ---
**Author:** ![Wesley\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wesley_clark/32/20581_2.png) [@Wesley\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wesley_Clark)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2005, 2:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-has-dsl-and-which-company-is-best/316461/24 "2005-08-11T02:55:31Z")
But would that CO be specifically for CO or for any provider? ---
**Author:** ![Neptunian\_Slug](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ce7236/32.png) [@Neptunian\_Slug](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Neptunian_Slug)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2005, 3:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-has-dsl-and-which-company-is-best/316461/25 "2005-08-11T03:07:42Z")
> [@Wesley Clark](#): > > But would that CO be specifically for CO or for any provider? Same CO. Same wires. In a lot of cases, a Covad or Earthlink is actually just a reseller of service from Verizon or SBC. Same service, they may just charge a different price. So the CO is the same. If you have problems you can call your ISP, but all they are doing is calling Verizon to tell them to fix it. In other cases the ISP is a telecom startup like Cavalier or US LEC. In markets where they have a critical mass, they will actually rent space at each CO from Verizon. So again its the same CO. ---
**Author:** ![mike1dog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ba9def/32.png) [@mike1dog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mike1dog)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2005, 4:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-has-dsl-and-which-company-is-best/316461/26 "2005-08-11T04:18:35Z")
I went with Earthlink, only because my dial-up service had been with them. I’m sure it’s the same service I would get if I went with Bellsouth here, but it’s about the same price, and was easier for me to do since I already used them. ---
**Author:** ![Ethilrist](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ethilrist/32/4604_2.png) [@Ethilrist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ethilrist)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2005, 1:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-has-dsl-and-which-company-is-best/316461/27 "2005-08-11T13:41:42Z")
I used to have SBC DSL, then cancelled it when I got laid off. A year and a half later, I tried to get it started up and they no longer offer DSL service in St. Paul… so I signed up with Earthlink, which seems to go through Covad. I’ve been pretty happy with it, although I sent them a tech support question a couple days ago and they haven’t replied yet. One thing to consider with Verizon–can you get a deal that includes cell phone service along with your DSL? The discount might make it worthwhile… ---
**Author:** ![nesta](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/a4c791/32.png) [@nesta](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nesta)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2005, 4:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-has-dsl-and-which-company-is-best/316461/28 "2005-08-11T16:10:10Z")
> [@zoid](#): > > I’ve said this before but it bears repeating. > > If your ILEC (Incumbent Local Exchange Carrier - basically you phone company) is SBC and you buy Verizon, EarthLink etc. DSL for whatever reason, guess what? > > You have SBC DSL. While this is mostly true for the actual DSL signal, the internet traffic is backhauled to the ISP and routed to the internet from there. So although the **DSL** service is the same as SBC, the **internet** service is completely different. If SBC has sold too many DSL circuits and doesn’t have sufficient bandwidth to the internet, but Earthlink has plenty, an Earthlink DSL connection is going to be much better. > [@Wesley Clark](#): > > Offhand the only companies that serve our area for DSL are direcTV, verizon, SBC & Earthlink. There might be a local or regional ISP in your area offering DSL. The customer service from the nationals is usually pretty bad, and most of their technical support is outsourced overseas. A local company might care more about your business and offer you better service. ---
**Author:** ![Guy\_Incognito](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guy_incognito/32/3920_2.png) [@Guy\_Incognito](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guy_Incognito)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2005, 5:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-has-dsl-and-which-company-is-best/316461/29 "2005-08-11T17:59:13Z")
You might want to check out the picing from Kiva to see if they might be right for you. ([http://www.kiva.net](http://www.kiva.net)). I believe you’re well within their service area. I live on South Rogers in the Broadview area and I could get service from Kiva, but I went ahead and sprung for Insight instead. Kiva doesn’t have the lowest price in town, but you still get a backup local dial-up number for internet connectivity plus you get free access to all of the “K” spot wireless access points in town. If you don’t have a laptop with wireless capability this won’t be very handy, but it’s a nice side benefit all the same. ---
**Author:** ![Wesley\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wesley_clark/32/20581_2.png) [@Wesley\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wesley_Clark)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2005, 6:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-has-dsl-and-which-company-is-best/316461/30 "2005-08-19T18:50:00Z")
At the new apartment they have integrated T1 lines into the building. However we are only downloading at 400 kbps. Would DSL give something closer to 1 Mbps, considering that a CO is only 2000 feet away? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-has-dsl-and-which-company-is-best/316461.md?page=1)