DSL/Cable in the W. Lansing area?

[Paul_Melson@keykertusa.com]

>I've been stuck on a 56K (actual speed more like 33.6) dialup for 5 months
>now, and it sucks and blows at the same time.  Better connectivity on the
west
>side of town is difficult to find; I've Googled and gone to various pages
>claiming to offer broadband service in Lansing and come up empty every
time.
>So I humbly ask the other folks on the list:  What options exist for
>better-than-modem connectivity on the west side, and what are your
opinions of
>the various options?
>
>At this point, I don't care so much about speed, certainly not about
download
>speed.  Last year, I shared a 384Kbit SDSL with 4 other folks, and that
was
>fine with me.  What I'd really like is a constant connection of some type.

>I'd pay $40/month to have a 24-7 128/128 connect, more for higher speeds,
but
>the number I'm really interested in is the upload speed.  (Yes, I know
about
>ISDN, but that per-minute charge thing sounds hideous, not to mention
>potential difficulties with the terminal adapter under Linux.)


     ACD.net for dynamic addressing, 512K SDSL or 512K/128K ADSL (your
choice).
     Velotel.com for static addressing, 144K IDSL - their only offering in
517.

     I was very impressed with both companies, but more so with ACD.  Their
prices
     are better and they're local (Velotel is in MN).  The extremely
upsetting part
     of all of this, though, is Ameritech (I know - you can hardly believe
it!).
     If you are attached to the 1ESS switch at the South CO, chances are
you have
     load coils on your line, which have to be removed in order for DSL to
work.
     If you live within 1200ft, Ameritech will remove them for free.
Anything
     beyond that and Ameritech will hit you with a prohibitively large
service
     charge (nearly $1,000 in my case).  It's worth calling, though.  It'll
cost
     you nothing to find out if this is the case with your line.

     On the up side, AT&T is hoping to roll out @Home again this summer.  I
guess
     they're part of a suit involving the MPSC against Ameritech (for
breach of
     contract, among other things) which is supposed to be heard shortly.
If
     things go the PSC's way, AT&T will get their line and turn on cable
access
     in the coming months.


PaulM