'splain to me, please

[Veronica]

Thom says Broadband is technically all high speed Internet access. Probably most people use broadband when they mean cable.

DSL uses a phone line not cable.

V.

PS Now T. wants to check Wikipedia for the definition of broadband.

[Fredwina]

V is right.
DSL and Cable Modems are both Broadband.
DSL is via the phone line

[SadieKate]

Ah ha! So that explains why I was confused.

Qwest's website says DSL isn't available at our new house, but when I called they said their database was down. I really don't want cable so let's hope Qwest can do it.

Thanks all, including Mr. T.

[Fredwina]

Ah ha! So that explains why I was confused.

Qwest's website says DSL isn't available at our new house, but when I called they said their database was down. I really don't want cable so let's hope Qwest can do it.

Thanks all, including Mr. T.

If I remember right, you have to be within 2 miles of your central office (phone co. talk for building where the switching equipment lives) to get DSL.

[emily_in_nc]

If I remember right, you have to be within 2 miles of your central office (phone co. talk for building where the switching equipment lives) to get DSL.

I think that's actually closer to three miles -- and you don't have to be that close to the central office, just to a remote off the central office. Our rural neighborhood was in dial-up hell for a few years until our telco put in a new remote (a switching box that serves a certain number of subscriber lines) within three miles of our road. Thankfully, we all have DSL now, and we can't imagine what we did without it! (We also can't get cable out here in the sticks -- we have satellite for TV.)

Emily, who works in the telecom industry

[SadieKate]

We have DishNetwork which we can just move with us. It's been OK once we re-pointed the dish and replaced the cables. The contractor tried 3 times and just made it worse. Interesting that we could do a better job than the pros.

[SadieKate]

Whew, just called Qwest again and they even have the fastest service available to that neighborhood.

They use the word broadband also but it is definitely DSL.

Thanks all!