[sllug-members]: DSL in SLC

[Corey Edwards]

On Tue, 2006-12-12 at 11:18 -0700, Steve Dibb wrote:
> 1.  Do I have to get an account with Qwest?  If so, how do I get them to 
> provide *just DSL*, and no phone line, or any other bundled stuff.  Is 
> that possible?  If so, what's my total monthly bill going to be from them?

To get Qwest DSL you'll have to have a Qwest account. You do not have to
purchase dialtone though. You can get a standalone DSL account, although
they charge you a $6 fee for the privilege and you can only go for the
high speeds (no 256k or 640k). For 1.5mbit that's $26 plus the $6 fee,
so $32 total to Qwest. Your Xmission fees will be on top of that. And
you'll probably have some taxes which I can't speak to because I
personally still have a dialtone.

> 2.  What are the speeds like?  I grew up with a 2400 baud modem and 
> BBS's so I'm familiar with kbps speeds, not megabit.  Right now I'm 
> averaging between 800K/s and 1.5 megabytes/second with Comcast.  I'm not 
> picky on speed though (as long as it's generally fast / stable).  It 
> looks like Xmission offers "multi-megabit" whatever that is.

I can't speak directly to Xmission's speeds as I'm not their customer.
Qwest does offer 3, 5 and 7mbit DSL. It's pretty simple for Xmission to
support it as well so they probably do.

> 3.  Do I have to sign a contract?

Probably not for Qwest, possibly for Xmission. I didn't sign one in
either case, but then again I work for my ISP.

> 4.  How does that work with the modem?  Do you just rent one, or can you 
> buy one and save paying an eternal renter's fee?

You can buy or rent. They've really increased their rental fees in the
last year. I'm paying $3 a month for my actiontec, but apparently they
charge $8 now. The new Qwest modem is a 2Wire which I hear good things
about. It's larger than the Craptiontec but it actually works, so that
may be worth it to you. I believe they charge $5 a month to rent them. I
don't know what the cost is to buy.

Corey