Is there a difference between DSL and phone line?

Question

The internet company said there's no line at my location to provide DSL, they can only hook up the phone line. I've always thought DSL was through the phone lines? They weren't really helpful in telling me what I had to do so I can get DSL. Does anyone know what you have to do to enable DSL for you home?

Answer 1

DSL service is provided thru phone lines but not all phone lines can provide DSL service.

~

To have DSL service your line must meet certain criteria. It must be within a certain number of feet from a phone switching office, the lines must meet DSL standards, etc.



Obviously yours don't. Until your area is brought up to the standard there is nothing you can do.

Answer 2

What Is DSL?



What is DSL, and why is it important? First, when using the Internet for browsing and checking mails we are concerned with one thing, and that is the speed of the Internet. There are various types of Internet connections that are made available depending upon your country or location. The Internet was introduced with a low 128 Kbps speed of dial-up which was slow, unstable and with a lot of issues. That made way for the DSL connections later. But what is DSL connection and how has it changed the way we surf the Internet.



To answer the question, “What is DSL,” lets first define the term. DSL is an acronym that means Digital Subscriber Line. DSL is a faster more stable connection that is made available over the same copper telephone lines that are used for transferring the voice and data signals. Traditional wired telephone connections turns the voice acoustics and converts that into a electrical signal that is transferred to the telephone company and then to the subscriber at the other end. Our wired telephone systems uses copper lines which are twisted together in a pair and connected to each subscribers telephone at one end and the switching mechanism at the other end at the telephone exchange. It uses an analog system to convert the voice signals into an electrical signal and transfer that back and forth. Traditional phones do not utilize the full amount of the signals that are available and as a result the maximum speeds that you can get using a dial-up connection are only 128 Kbps. A DSL modem takes the analog signals and converts them into digital signals or bits. Thus they can transfer higher bandwidth of data and using the modulation and demodulation processes.



What is DSL connection speed and how does it matter?



A basic different of DSL connection over normal dial-up lines is that they are faster and much more stable. While a dial-up connection offers about 128 Kbps a DSL connection ranges between 128 Kbps to 3 Mbps. Comparatively the DSL connection is a lightning fast connection. Another big advantage is that DSL connections do not block your voice calls when you are using the Internet. While using the dial-up connection you cannot use your telephone line for making calls.



What is DSL connectivity and the main disadvantages of it?



A few disadvantages of using the DSL connection include the upload speeds. The download speeds are usually pretty fast, however the same speed is never offered while uploading. Also the speed tends to vary with the volume of the users. Some ISPs offers lesser speeds in the name of DSL so before buying a connection it is better to test the speed on a trial connection. Another disadvantage is that the farther your location is from the ISP, the slower is going to be the speed of the connection. As per the US and European standards the range for a DSL connection is a maximum of 5.5 KM without the use of any repeater. For all connections beyond the range of 5.5 KM most ISP or telephone companies would use a fiber optic cable to extend the reach of the local loop and thereby maintain the speed and the quality of the service.



Which DSL provider to use?



Depending upon where your location is, you will have a lot of DSL providers of Internet connections. Verizon offers lightning fast DSL connection based on its fiber optic connection. Compared to a standard DSL connection which offers a maximum connection speed of 3 to 7 Mbps, Verizon offers a connection speed which will range from 15 Mbps to 50 Mbps of download. Verizon’s services are great for business DSL requirements where the connections speeds required are fast, stable and both download and upload speeds are great. When choosing a DSL provider it is pertinent to ensure that the download speeds and upload speeds are equally great as otherwise the browsing experience will be bad. Especially if you are sharing the connection over a network the overall experience will be really unsatisfactory.



If you are in an area served by AT&T, it is one of the best service providers in terms of DSL connections. The company has a entry level speed of only 768 Kbps of download, but that is still significantly faster than the normal download speeds that you will get and moreover the connections is far more stable.



What is DSL wireless modem?



The final piece of the puzzle in answering the question, “What is DSL?” is to learn about wireless modems. A DSL wireless modem is a modem that enables you to share a connection across a network using wireless technology. If you are looking for a DSL wireless modem start your search on the Internet reading for user reviews. They are often a good reference point for the DSL wireless modem experience. The Belkin 802.11g Wireless DSL/Cable Gateway Router is a Wireless router that offers Ethernet, Fast Ethernet, IEEE 802.11b and IEEE 802.11g connections protocols on a frequency band of 2.4 GHz. Hopefully this article has answered, in detail, “What is DSL?”

Answer 3

2

Answer 4

What they mean is, "would you like DSL service and phone service for making and receiving calls?" You need a one phone line for DSL and another phone line if you want to make phone calls from a landline. Edit: Some people really do get it without the second line. I, for example, use my cell phone for all calls and don't have to pay for a landline.

Answer 5

Dial-up and DSL are both through the telephone line. The telephone company does not have the added equipment on their lines to provide DSL. It cannot be added for a single customer. All they can offer is dial-up service.

Answer 6

yes dsl does run on the phone lines but all internet services connect to a device called a "exchange". an exchange can only manage the local area around it (<10 miles) so it is most likely that you don't have any exchanges that are equipped to manage DSL connections in your local area. for example, my exchange can DSL and LLU services but not SDSL, cable or wireless.



you can check what your exchange can handle at this page:

http://www.samknows.com/broadband/exchange_search