Name: Linda
Status: Student
Age: 20s
Location: N/A
Country: N/A
Date: Around 1999
Question:
Dear Sir or Madam:
I have a computer at home and I want to hoot it up to the Internet.
The cable company would not do it for another two years, and the
phone company says that I'm too far away from a swith to get
DSL and ISDN. A friend tells me that the fastest I can go is 56kbps!
But I have stuff to do! Why can't phone lines handle speeds more
like cable modems (around 10Mbps)? What other options might I have
other than dialup?
I would be so grateful if you could give me a reply.
Thanks!
linda
Replies:
That is a great question.
The main reason the phone lines cannot accommodate anything faster than
56k, is due to the fact of old lines and public telephone switches that
are not capable of 600k-1.5mb like DSL. Your phone company is right
when they say that you are too far from a switch, this means that your
DSL line will use the same line technology that is in your house, they
are the ones that have to change the hung, or underground lines to
accommodate the fast data rate. To accomplish the high speeds, your
house has to be physically close to a switch, these length restrictions
are usually around 2-3 miles from a switch.
Thanks for the question and using NEWTON.
Thanks for using NEWTON!
Joe Noga MCP, N+
Network Support
Argonne National Laborator
NEWTON is an electronic community for Science, Math, and Computer Science K-12 Educators, sponsored and operated by Argonne National Laboratory's Educational Programs, Andrew Skipor, Ph.D., Head of Educational Programs.
