[BC] Digital STL

[Dana Puopolo]

Chip,

You are correct about modems-they do fail once in a while. I have mine on a
gas discharge surge suppressor and also back to back zener protected acress
the line. The modem is also AC coupled (DSL response is roughly from 100 kHz
through 1.25 mHz) with .22 uf 400 volt Orange Drops. I also have a couple of
spare used modems-one bought on ebay for 5 bucks and the other at Saver's for
$2.50. The one I use now is the Savers one. It's a Netopia and it has a built
in 4 port switch (My ISP gives me five dynamic public IP addresses). This
means that I have one less box on my desk. My home is about two miles from the
C.O. and the loss is 42 db on the download side (with an 8 db noise margin) so
I can not sync at the full 6014 speeds. Instead I sync at about 5100 and get a
solid 4000+ on my downloads. I use the DSL for all my VOIP lines and also for
one 160 kbps Barix stream. FIOS will never be available for me here (I live in
AT&T country) and U-Verse (AT&T's answer to FIOS-fiber to the local node and
copper to the home) is about 1/2 mile from me-but AT&T has stopped node
deployments for the near future.

-D

From: Broadcast List USER <Broadcast at fetrow.org>

Dana:

I'm happy your DSL is reliable.  Mine was too, until it wasn't.  A  
good friend of mine who is in the "Internet" business scolded me for  
using it when FIOS is available to me.  He explained that it was just  
a bridge, because dial-up was too slow, and the wireline phone  
companies were not ready for fiber or other faster technologies,  
similar to T-1, which never were deployed.  Hey, I get it.

In my case, I had my DSL "modem" on a UPS, yet it kept failing.   
Verizon refused to replace it unless I BOUGHT a new "modem."  I didn't  
want to REWARD Verizon for bad service, so I went back to Comcrap.   
When I called to cancel my DSL, Verizon offered me a FREE replacement  
"modem."  Imagine that!  I explained that they had already lost me as  
I had new service.  WHO WOULD CANCEL SERVICE UNTIL THEY HAD THE  
REPLACEMENT IN PLACE?  What idiots.  Why do they try to save customers  
at the point where they are canceling?  It is TOO LATE!  Anyone with  
any common sense has already made other arrangements.

Oh, well.

Back to the actual technical issues, using "super sonic" audio to  
transmit data on POTS is a kludge.  It is limited in distance, and is  
not totally reliable.  I'm glad you have a back-up.

--chip

On Feb 22, 2010, at 9:00 AM, broadcast-request at radiolists.net wrote:

> Message: 9
> From: "Dana  Puopolo" <dpuopolo at usa.net>
>
> I disagree!
>
> My DSL has been rock solid for years and consistently is good for  
> 4000/650
> actual bandwidth. My Roadrunner cable goes down more then a cheap  
> prostitute.
>
> -D
>
> From: Broadcast List USER <Broadcast at fetrow.org>
>
>> DSL is, at best, a technology bridge.  It was never ready for prime
>> time, and has never been reliable.