FAQ:: DSL How Is It Installed? DSL operates on top of an existing voice phone line. No internal rewiring is required; just plug your DSL modem into an existing telephone jack, then plug the modem into your computer and you are connected. No change is necessary to your existing voice telephone service! Your DSL modem connects to your computer's Ethernet adapter, so you will need to have an Ethernet adapter. dsl faq pg. 2

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How Does It Work?
DSL service is applied to your existing home phone line. The circuit is directly connected to a high speed ATM network at the telco central office. The traffic is passed via ATM directly into ChicoNet's network and Internet backbones. You'll see just three hops between your router and the Internet!

When you connect to the Internet, you might connect through a regular modem , through a local-area network connection in your office, through a cable modem or through a digital subscriber line (DSL) connection. DSL is a very high-speed connection that uses the same wires as a regular telephone line .

Distance Limitations
Precisely how much benefit you see will greatly depend on how far you are from the central office of the company providing the DSL service. DSL is a distance-sensitive technology : As the connection's length increases, the signal quality decreases and the connection speed goes down. The limit for DSL service is 18,000 feet (5,460 meters), though for speed and quality of service reasons many DSL providers place a lower limit on the distances for the service. At the extremes of the distance limits, DSL customers may see speeds far below the promised maximums, while customers nearer the central office have faster connections and may see extremely high speeds in the future. DSL technology can provide maximum downstream (Internet to customer) speeds of up to 8 megabits per second (Mbps) at a distance of about 6,000 feet (1,820 meters), and upstream speeds of up to 640 kilobits per second (Kbps). In practice, the best speeds widely offered today are 1.5 Mbps downstream, with upstream speeds varying between 64 and 640 Kbps.

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