>She said as far as she knew they used DSL with no prefix and but after a >lot of discussion, I determined that it may actually be HDSL - she seemed >to scoff at ADSL as being something very old fashioned. > >This scoffing alone may decide me on switching over. Although I know that >ADSL is very prevalent (and may work perfectly well on my supposedly not >all that dirty lines), the idea that it is outdated technology makes me >wonder if I should be investing in such a modem at this time.
When it comes to technologies that need to mature, like DSL, then you want to take the opposite mind set. What is the old, tried and true, well tested and matured technology. HDSL has virtually NO adoption. If you go HDSL, you are working with something that very few people understand, or can help you with. You basically become totally at the mercy of Sympatico and they don't seem to be scoring many points in the support department (they don't understand their own spam services, nor do they seem to have a clue what DSL forms they offer). ADSL has been around for a little while, it is well adopted, well understood, and well supported. It isn't going away any time soon, so there should be no fear of it being "old and outdated". And of course, if you use HDSL, and your router/modem dies... you'll be stuck buying a new one from Sympatico at whatever cost they feel like charging you. If you use ADSL and your router/modem dies... you can pick up a new one from a dozen different places including ebay and get them for next to nothing (I have two right now sitting on a shelf that I'm not using, one hasn't even been opened and is brand spanking new). But what it really boils down to is, who can provide you with the best offer. Weigh your options of price vs speed vs extras and go with whoever has the best deal and don't worry about what form of DSL it being used. Looking at the Sympatico web site again, they claim under both their basic DSL and their High Speed DSL that you do NOT need an additional phone line, that their service rides on top of your existing phone line. That rules out SDSL and IDSL as both need their own line. I can't speak for HDSL as I'm not really up on all its details (that should tell you something right there), it may or may not ride on an existing line. They also say their basic DSL is only a 128k down, 64k up connection. Sounds like ADSL, but again, not knowing much about HDSL I can't say if their connection speeds are symetric or not, so it could be HDSL. But regardless, 128/64 is CRAPPY for DSL. Their "High Speed" version claims a max of 3 Mb down (I didn't notice an upload speed for it), so at least that version has good download speeds (of course that speed is based on a best case, and with DSL best case is usually when you are right next to the central office). And finally, with all that above said... I just did some quick research on HDSL. It has a max speed of 1.5 Mbs (768k x2). It works by having two 768k lines that are bonded together. This means it won't work on top of your existing phone line, in fact they would have to install two additional phone lines. It will work with crosstalk present on the line (in fact, it appears to be designed with that in mind, that's one of the reasons for doing two pairs as they can do signal comparison and cancel out the crosstalk interference). So that makes me think that Sympatico is NOT offering HDSL. 1: Cost. They aren't going to pay for TWO loops to your house AND internet access, and only charge you $20.00 a month (low end price is $20/mn). And 2: if they were going to absorb that much cost to do HDSL, they wouldn't throttle down the speed to 128k/64k which is their advertised low end speed, and HDSL doesn't go as high as 3 Mbs which is their advertised top end speed. Not unless they bond two HDSL lines, which means covering the cost of 4 phone lines into your house and still only charge you $35/mn (high end price is $35/mn). And 3: HDSL is a symetric service, that means upload and download speeds are the same, their advertised low end is assymetric speed so it is unlikely to be HDSL (they could throttle the upload speed to prevent you from running a server). 4: Their web site specifically says you will NOT need an additional phone line, and that is simply not true with HDSL as it requires not one additional line, but TWO. Taken the info on HDSL I just learned, it just wouldn't make economic sense to offer HDSL for the type of service their web site says they offer. They would be jumping thru hoops to make HDSL function the way ADSL was designed to work. It would just make more sense to use ADSL. So, my honest opinion at this point in time is... Sympatico shouldn't be touched with a 10 foot pole. There are LOTS of DSL providers out there, I'm sure you can find others (I use and am very happy with SpeakEasy.net, and Covad.net). And given what you have relayed to me about Sympatico, they haven't a clue about their own services and technology, which is just going to be a MAJOR headache for you going forward. Thats enough of a problem on its own, but you are going to compound it by using a Mac and obsolete email software. So in my opinion, signing up with Sympatico is just asking for trouble, and frankly doesn't make sense when you have other options out there. But really, you should do what you feel comfortable with doing. Check DSLReports.com to see reviews on different providers and compare their offerings. -chris <http://www.mythtech.net> ___________________________________________________________________________ To unsubscribe send a mail message with a SUBJECT line of "unsubscribe" to <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> or <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
