Can someone decode this DSL geek speak?

[Matt Meiser]

I have been waiting for almost 9 years for wired Internet to reach me and it appears that it has as of this morning. The release information forwarded from the General Manager over my area says the technology is "ADSL2+ Bonded." Can someone explain what that means?

[David Weaver]

ADSL2+ specifies the download speed, theoretically at least, and bonding implies that you can use several lines at once for data transfer, without it appearing any different to you as a user.

It *should* be good if you're not too far away from the tie-in.

[Tom Esh]

ADSL2+ refers to the latest implementation standard (which is good of course). Bonded means it's "stackable" in a sense - for example two physical DSL lines would work together to provide 2x the performance.

[Greg R Bradley]

ADSL2 is the normal DSL in use today. The difference between that and the original ADSL is the equipment at the CO and your location. I would imagine most COs have been upgraded and most of the original ADSL equipment is gone. Anyone still using a Fujitsu modem for DSL?

ADSL is the normal home DSL and is faster down than up. The "A" stands for Asymetrical. Most home use is downloading files and browsing so the big demand is for speed down to your location. Most ADSL allow using a phone on the same wires so it is particularly useful for home and low end business use.

"Bonded" is more than one line bonded together to increase speed. Two lines equals twice the speed of one. Generally used where faster service is desired, but not available at that location. That is unusual for home use. Is that their higher end service?

[Brian Kent]

It means "better". Best might be fiber optics, but ADSL2+ Bonded is a fast way to use regular copper wire. So it will be fast.

[Matt Meiser]

We'll see how fast. Last I heard the back haul was going to be copper rather than fiber so we'll see what happens once more than a few of my neighbors get on board. We're 2.7 miles from the location that went on sale this morning and wired to it through special circumstances (read: Matt ...um...lets use the words "complained a lot"... and we just want to shut him up.) Normally we'd be 6 miles. I kind of thought bonded meant the ability to use multiple pair. I guess that means even if the 2.7mi slows things down the bonding can help speed that back up.

Funny thing is that someone is running orange innerduct about a mile south of me. Normally that's used for fiber as far as I know and the cable company just to the south of me has been sitting on a plan to bring us cable for a few years. They have to install a new central office or whatever they call their gear to reach us which has been making it impractical given the economy. Watch that happen sooner rather than later too.

[paul cottingham]

Nice thing about dsl is that, unlike cable, your neighbors will not affect your throughput. So if it starts fast, it should stay fast.
For years, my dsl was on copper pair, and was pretty damn fast. Now my tv is coming over it as well, so I have fibre to the pole, and copper in to my house. Now it's really damn fast. None of the aggravations of cable Internet, either.

[Matt Meiser]

Well, unless my neighbors and I collectively saturate the backhaul connection. I don't know a ton about it but I got the impression that copper meant several bonded T1's. Or is there a different technology they might have used there?

[paul cottingham]

Cant say I know for sure. I do know I have had no problems with through put with dsl and I have been usung it for 15 years. We used to set it up for clients as well, as we got way fewer complaints with it as well.

[Matt Meiser]

Well, in theory we'll find out Monday as I have an install scheduled. I believe it when they show up and get it working. I never thought 9 years ago when we bought this place the wait would be this long.

If it doesn't work out, we'll have Verizon 4GLTE sooner or later. I'm betting on sooner because they've been doing work on the tower near us. They have a plenty livable data plan for home use. If we go that route, Frontier will lose another landline as well.

[Mike Henderson]

Funny thing is that someone is running orange innerduct about a mile south of me. Normally that's used for fiber as far as I know and the cable company just to the south of me has been sitting on a plan to bring us cable for a few years. They have to install a new central office or whatever they call their gear to reach us which has been making it impractical given the economy. Watch that happen sooner rather than later too.

What they might be doing is planning to install a DSLAM (Digital Subscriber Line Access Multiplexer) in your area. The DSLAM is an active unit (it has power and electronics in it) and it functions like a mini "central office". It can terminate your telephone line (it'll provide voltage on the line, give you dial tone, detect the number you dial, and digitize your voice). It will also house the DSL modems. The connection back to the central office is fiber.

The advantage of a DSLAM over just running copper to the central office is that the copper portion is shorter (only the distance between you and the DSLAM) so they can provision higher speed DSL.

Most of the telephone companies are going that way (to DSLAMs). The step beyond that is to run fiber to the curb, then copper to your home. That gives an even shorter copper run so you can get really high speed.

In my area, we have the DSLAM technology. I doubt if we'll get fiber in my lifetime.

Mike

[Jim Becker]

Matt, bonding does use multiple pairs to help increase available bandwidth. But it's DSL and still has distance limitations that are additionally affected by the wire size and condition between you and the DSLAM. As you have pointed out, while your connection back to the DSLAM is "yours" and not affected by neighbors, the backhaul will definitely come into play and likely limit performance for the neighborhood.

It's really a pity that folks in rural areas still have very limited access to high-speed network technologies, especially since our society essentially revolves around communication at this point. I honestly couldn't comfortably move somewhere else unless it was into another area already served by FiOS. Giving up the performance I have would be very difficult...especially because I'm actually IN the communication technology business. For the past two years I've been at 35mb/35mb (effectively 42mb/32mb) and recently moved to 75mb/35mb (effectively 83mb/38mb)...and we live on the Internet.