Almost all DSL (actually ADSL) in the UK, is used over twisted pair (ie conventional) copper wiring.
I've never even heard of anyone getting this over optic fibre, and alwats assumed it was the same in America (I guess I was wrong).
I'm writing this over a BT (British Telecommunications (http://www.btopenworld.com/broadband/) ADSL line which gives 512Kbits/sec download and (on average) about 150Kb/sec upload (This is the 'A' in ADSL - assymetric), this costs me about £40/month (not cheap) - that's about $70.
For more cash I can get download speed of 2Mbits/sec (!!) over the same old copper wire.
Only prerequisites are:
1) Your local exchange must be a modern digital exchange (rather than analogue)
2) You must be within 2 miles of the exchange (or was it 3?)
All the engineer had to do when it was installed was to rewire from the front door (where the line comes in) to where the computer is (and this is only because the ADSL modem has a different shaped connector I believe) - then phone the exchange to get the techy there to flick a switch.
This has been available for at least a couple of years now, and is pretty much mainstream.
So this article isn't really news I'm afraid.
Yeah, and what about ArsOle?
Almost all DSL (actually ADSL) in the UK, is used over twisted pair (ie conventional) copper wiring.
I've never even heard of anyone getting this over optic fibre, and alwats assumed it was the same in America (I guess I was wrong).
I'm writing this over a BT (British Telecommunications (http://www.btopenworld.com/broadband/) ADSL line which gives 512Kbits/sec download and (on average) about 150Kb/sec upload (This is the 'A' in ADSL - assymetric), this costs me about £40/month (not cheap) - that's about $70.
For more cash I can get download speed of 2Mbits/sec (!!) over the same old copper wire.
Only prerequisites are:
1) Your local exchange must be a modern digital exchange (rather than analogue) 2) You must be within 2 miles of the exchange (or was it 3?)
All the engineer had to do when it was installed was to rewire from the front door (where the line comes in) to where the computer is (and this is only because the ADSL modem has a different shaped connector I believe) - then phone the exchange to get the techy there to flick a switch.
This has been available for at least a couple of years now, and is pretty much mainstream.
So this article isn't really news I'm afraid.