Re: [PLUG] Distance to my local CO

[gabriel rosenkoetter <gr@eclipsed.net>]

On Tue, Nov 07, 2006 at 11:48:15PM -0500, TuskenTower wrote:
>  I've talked with both Verizon and Cavalier and they have told me
> that I am 17700ft from my local CO.  DSL reports says that I am 4480ft
> from my local CO.  The DSL reports site claims that Covad has a CO
> closer to me, http://www.dslreports.com/coinfo/clli/KGPRPAKP.  If this
> is true, then how can I use the Covad CO?  Am I forced to go through
> them only or can I find another service provider like Speakeasy to run
> through the Covad office?

With DSL service, there exist three logical entities: the line
provider, the DSL provider, and the ISP. Around here, you're stuck
with Verizon as the line provider (even if you get your phone
service from cavtel it's still V's lines). There are at most a
couple of options for the DSL provider (the people who terminate the
other end of your "physical" phone line in a building Verizon owns,
but possibly in a rack that someone else has a long-term lease on);
the only ones I know of are Verizon and Covad, but there may be
others (I don't think that Cavalier actually acts as a DSL provider,
rather just as an ISP for Verizon-provided DSL service, but I'm
speaking out of mostly-ignorance there). There are very many options
for an ISP, more if Covad is your DSL provider than if Verizon is,
unless I'm mistaken. Two very good ones are Speakeasy (national, a
bit more expensive, historically both good and competent customer
service) and DCANet (regional, a bit less expensive, smaller
organization who simply can't do some things, but very friendly and
competent--some people there have and probably still do read this
mailing list). I happen to be a Speakeasy subscriber, but it has
more to do with what was available when I first opened my account
and the ability to maintain that when I move. At least a couple of
here have bought me a free month's service by saying that I referred
them when opening a Speakeasy account, and if you'd like to too I
won't stop you (my username there is grammar), but if I were
starting now in the Philly area and intended to be around for a few
years, I'd probably go with DCANet.

Any one entity can be more than one of these logical units. Only a
baby bell can be all three (because they own all the lines), and
you'll get screwed on both cost and service, so that's probably not
a good idea (if what you want is single-stop-shopping, what you
actually want is Comcast). Covad can be your ISP in addition to
your DSL provider, but it's really not their specialization, and
they're not so much interested in home customers as business ones.
Using someone different for each logical unit has its difficulties
in communication, especially during installation, but in the long
run, it's a reasonable degree of abstraction given the different
services each layer provides.

If Verizon/Cavtel and DSLReports/Covad are giving you different
numbers on distance to a CO, that means that there's a Verizon DSLAM
at CO X and a Covad DSLAM at COs X, Y, and Z, where one or both of Y
and Z are closer to you geographically. Verizon doesn't, so far as I
can tell, put DSLAMs in as many of their COs as DSL providers using
their lines may, mostly because they're selling Internet
connectivity as an add-on service (as is Comcast, for that matter,
though Comcast's doing a much more thorough job of it).

We've gone into this in more detail than anybody wants to read in
the past... you may want to check the archives. So far as I can
tell, the lay of the land hasn't changed much in the past three
years. (Only big change is cheap wireless Ethernet through the city
of Philadelphia, serviced by Earthlink, and that's not exactly ready
for prime time yet. It may be worth seeing if you're covered, but
if you want is ample bandwidth, not just any old connection, that
may not be for you.)

On Wed, Nov 08, 2006 at 08:58:43AM -0500, Eric Hidle wrote:
> Heh, I had a terrible experience with SpeakEasy.

Care to expand on that?

My experience is that all negative experiences with Speakeasy (or
with any Covad reseller, for that matter) in the Philadelphia area
are actually problems with Verizon.

-- 
gabriel rosenkoetter
gr@eclipsed.net

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