DSLAM on telephone line is changed...

[Chuck Wintle]

2 weeks ago my internet connection went dead....the ISP had no idea where to troubleshoot. So I went with a new ISP and they were proactive to solve the problem. Turned out the DLSAM was faulty.

[Jim Becker]

Do multiple ISPs share the DSLAM hardware in your geography?

[Chuck Wintle]

Do multiple ISPs share the DSLAM hardware in your geography?

I think so because the repairman called it a multiplexer when i questioned him a bit. anyways glad to be back on line as no access was a little strange.

[Jim Koepke]

Do multiple ISPs share the DSLAM hardware in your geography?

It sounds like they may have been a service broker. They sign up subscribers and get a cut of selling the true ISP's product.

jtk

[Brian Elfert]

Way back in the late 1990s US West/Qwest/Centurylink started offering DSL Internet service. They came up with a plan where any ISP could supply IP connectivity over the US West DSL network. US West would supply the DSLAMs and run the DSL over their existing copper network.

I am pretty sure this service went by the wayside years ago. Many of the original ISPs are long ago merged or out of business. Centurylink still offers DSL, but I am pretty sure Centurylink offers all of the IP connectivity.

[Jim Becker]

DSL is (unfortunately) still common in many non-urban areas, Brian, where subscribers are still within the serious distance limitations of DSL. In many of those areas, there's no other option. There are folks who still use dial-up out there...it's that or very expensive satellite Internet.

[Brian Elfert]

I'm not talking about DSL being gone. The ability for other ISPs to deliver IP connectivity over US West/Qwest DSL lines I believe is long gone.

DSL from Centurylink is still going strong, but Centurylink provides all of the IP connectivity directly.

[Derek Meyer]

In my town, the phone service provider is Frontier, and they offer DSL service to customers. However, you do not have to buy Internet service through them - we have two local providers that have been in business since the 90's that offer Internet service over DSL (and their own wireless systems). I had service from one of them until about 2006, when I changed over to Time Warner (now Spectrum in our area).

[Jim Becker]

Brian, if the copper lines involved were put in place pre-split of the Bell System, then because taxpayer money was involved, the LECs must still provide access to alternate providers over that last mile copper infrastructure, AFAIK. New parallel infrastructure built post-divestiture doesn't carry that burden. For example Version doesn't have to provide access to their FiOS fiber network to other providers. It's the same for Frontier relative to the FiOS fiber they obtained when they bought territories from Verizon a few years ago, but not the copper infrastructure. Of course, those old copper networks are not being meticulously maintained at this point, either, so it would be a crap shoot for any ISP wanting to leverage it when still legally able to do so relative to reliability...

[Brian Elfert]

Brian, if the copper lines involved were put in place pre-split of the Bell System, then because taxpayer money was involved, the LECs must still provide access to alternate providers over that last mile copper infrastructure, AFAIK. New parallel infrastructure built post-divestiture doesn't carry that burden. For example Version doesn't have to provide access to their FiOS fiber network to other providers. It's the same for Frontier relative to the FiOS fiber they obtained when they bought territories from Verizon a few years ago, but not the copper infrastructure. Of course, those old copper networks are not being meticulously maintained at this point, either, so it would be a crap shoot for any ISP wanting to leverage it when still legally able to do so relative to reliability...

What US West/Quest was offering was not dry line technology. US West/Quest owned and operated the DSLAM and the copper line. They had an ATM network that an ISP could buy a connection into to offer IP connectivity to DSL customers. US West/Quest billed the customer for the DSL line and the ISP billed the customer for the IP connectivity. I owned and operated an ISP at the time.

It sparked a number of PUC complaints and lawsuits by ISPs as US West/Qwest made it easier to sign up with their own ISP rather than a competing ISP.

[Jim Becker]

Ah, I misunderstood the sequence you were speaking of. My bad. Apologies.