Options for DSL connection
Options for DSL connection
I recently relocated and purchased a home in the countryside of America. My internet providers are Ziply (formerly Frontier) or Earthlink. Satellite isn't feasible since I'm surrounded by dense trees. I've been using Ziply for three weeks now; the initial two weeks showed speeds around 16Mb download and 1Mb upload. That's decent for DSL, and I was quite satisfied. Last week, my connection was unexpectedly cut off by a technician. After about eight hours of calling Zipline, my speeds dropped to 8.5Mb download and still 1Mb upload. In short, they gave me more bandwidth than what my area allowed, and even if I asked for a new line, it wouldn't have changed things. So I was frustrated and reached out to Earthlink last week about starting an installation. During our first call, they confirmed I qualified for 25 down / 2 up, but two days later they informed me I was limited to 6 down / 1 up, matching Zipline's offer. My question: Are there any steps I can take myself to improve performance? From my experience, switching ISPs likely won't help because my region's infrastructure is the limiting factor. At 8.5Mbps download and 1Mbps upload, my connection barely meets basic needs (I actually upload a lot to Dropbox for client files). The upside is my bill is very affordable, and my ping times are excellent—less than half the cost of Comcast in town, with lower latency too. In CS:GO, my pings are in the 20s, compared to 40s–50s with Comcast. Plus, I'm using Ethernet directly, which is solid.
Both providers claim the region only supports those speeds because of home infrastructure. To improve speed, consider installing cable or fiber by reaching out to your local council or ISP—maybe the mayor or other officials about internet upgrades. If you decide to cover installation costs yourself, expect significant expenses.
Nope. DSL is distance limited. The further from the co or the remote box you are the slower it gets. This is the biggest CON of living in Rural America. Because your home is not profitable enough for any ISP to give a crap about. Companies like Comcast won't run service to there because they need to be able to have at least 100 people on a node, with the population density in rural areas, that's just not possible. So Slow ass DSL is all you get. You can try to find a WISP (Wireless Internet Service provider) or go to an LTE cellular connection, but those connections may have limits. This is just how the cookie crumbles.