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How to Find DSL Internet Service Providers in Rural Areas
How to Find DSL Internet Service Providers in Rural Areas
In today’s technologically enhanced world, having access to high speed internet has nearly become a necessity. Without it, most people wouldn’t be able to stream their favorite movies or music content, nor would they be able to handle online bill payments, interactive websites or even the most mundane of tasks such as checking one’s email. But there are those who still don’t have access to a high speed connection. The reasons are varied, but one big reason is the simple fact that they may be located in remote rural areas of the country. These areas may be only miles from a major metropolitan area or they may be in remote places of the country that are hundreds of miles from the nearest large city.
According to a study conducted by the Center for Rural Affairs, only 38% of people living in rural areas have access to high speed internet, while the United States ranks 16th worldwide when it comes to the percent of people that have high speed internet access. The lack of necessary infrastructure and high costs are two reasons why most Americans in rural areas don’t have high speed internet access.
Why Rural Access Is Hard To Come By
In most rural areas, the only available options for internet access in general are 56k dial up service (since the service can be run on existing copper lines used for telephone service), and satellite internet. While satellite internet access is available in even the most remote areas, the speed of the service can potentially be slower than dial up, plus the service features harsh bandwidth limits that may curtail how often you surf and how much content you can download (if you have the patience to wait on it). Satellite service can also be very expensive.
Direct Subscriber Line service is a cheaper and faster alternative to both dial up and satellite, but the main issue is availability, especially in areas that are just a few miles outside of a metropolitan area. DSL lines require a Digital Subscriber Line Access Multiplexer (DSLAM) installed near the “last mile” of connectivity. DSLAMs are often located in a telephone company’s central office. DSLAMs tend to lose speed and quality at longer distances and having a service extended beyond 4 or more miles may not be feasible.
In fact, running a DSL line to a small rural area may not be financially feasible for the service provider, since doing so takes quite a bit of money, time and effort. It is very unlikely that a line will be run for one single customer due to the desire for the company to recoup their initial investment in the line. Even if a line was run to the rural area, the quality of the service may suffer due to the degradation of the service because of distance. Remember that a DSLAM has to be located at least 3 miles of the “last mile” in order to obtain fast internet speeds.
How to Receive Rural Service
There aren’t many options for those living in the most remote of rural areas, but for those living close to the city, having access from a DSL internet service provider may not be very difficult, although it may take some time and effort. The following are a couple of steps you can take to possibly receive high speed internet access:
- Talk with the DSL service provider and address your desire to use their service in your rural area. This generally works better if you are not that far away from the city and in close proximity to a DSLAM junction. In some cases, a service provider may agree to offer service, contingent on signing a long term contract or shouldering the costs of running a line to your home.
- Ask neighbors about using DSL service as well. Service providers are more willing to run a line if there is a demand for high speed internet access. Also, the costs of running a line to the area can be split between you and your neighbors.
If you live in a small community where more than 50 households are interested in DSL service, you may be able to persuade the service provider to extend service to that area, as long as you and your fellow neighbors are willing to foot the costs of running a line to said area. Other than that, you may find it very hard to convince a service provider to perform this service, since they are counting on the revenue from those households to recoup those costs in a timely manner.
There are also some illegal methods of obtaining DSL, but not only do you have to have a “digital ready” phone line that is capable of receiving digital data, but the quality of the service may be very poor, or even unusable to a degree. You will also run the risk of receiving large fines or incur legal action, plus forfeiture of existing phone service.
This entry was posted on Monday, March 1st, 2010 at 10:44 am and is filed under Internet. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.