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Waiting for DSL? SNET Says: DIY
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Business New Haven
8/7/2000
By: John Florian
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Tapping into the Internet with DSL (Digital Subscriber Line) technology can make downstream connections up to 50 times faster for many users, in regions where the service is offered. But amid growing demand for this speed, getting the equipment installed in the first place has become anything but fast. Until now. That's because a DSL kit has hit the market that you can install yourself.
SNET's parent company, SBC Communications, recently began offering a DSL self-install kit through its Internet Service Providers, which the company claims can be installed in less than an hour. The kit includes a DSL modem, filters, software, instruction manual and network interface card. And technical support is available to do-it-yourselfers seven days a week from a toll-free help desk.
Initially, the DSL self-install kit is available for Basic DSL service and the Windows 95 and 98 operating systems. But later this year, says SBC, versions will also be offered for Enhanced DSL service and the Windows 2000, Windows NT, Macintosh, Linux and Unix operating systems.
SBC wants to make DSL service available to more than 80 percent of its customers nationwide by 2002. In Connecticut, the company says, service is already available to 530,000 homes in 44 cities and towns, with plans to expand to an additional 73 towns by the third quarter this year.
How fast is DSL? According to the company, the SNET Basic DSL Internet service provides downstream connection speeds up to 1.5 megabits per second, which is 50 times faster than a 28.8 kilobits per second analog modem - and a 128 kilobits upstream connection speed to the serving central office. Customers are guaranteed a minimum downstream sync rate of 384 kilobits between their location and the servicing central office, the company says.
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