[GLLUG] Question - Opinion on DSL

[Nicholas Kwiatkowski]

Cavalier Telecom is a non-facilities based CLEC in the majority of the
Michigan market.  They bought the former Talk America (which was the former
LDMI).

Cavalier runs over the exact same copper plant that AT&T (SBC) runs over.
This means that if you had a poor experience with another DSL provider,
chances are you will have the same issues with them.  Since they are a
non-facilities based CLEC, if you do run into problems, you will most likely
run into some finger-pointing.  Most SBC linemen still don't like the fact
that CLECs exist, and often don't put as much a priority on their lines.

In reality, you will not see the speeds listed in their advertisement unless
you live across the street from the CO (wire-center).  To find the location
of your nearest CO, take a look at : http://www.dslreports.com/coinfo .  @
3k feet, you can expect to get around 10Mbit, @ 5k, up to 8Mbit, and @10k,
up to 4Mbit.  It really starts to drop off past that.  ACD used to have an
awesome graph that gave people an idea of the speed degragration of DSL over
distance, but I can't find it anymore since they redid their website.

I would also check out some of the other local players in town for local
phone service.  ACD provides pretty descent phone + internet bundles.  TDS
is another company that comes to mind (both of the above are facilities
based in this area).

Of course, you should also check AT&T and Comcast for pricing too.  I
wouldn't go with them, but it doesn't hurt to see what they charge.

-Nick Kwiatkowski



-----Original Message-----
From: linux-user-bounces at egr.msu.edu [mailto:linux-user-bounces at egr.msu.edu]
On Behalf Of Benjamin Cathey
Sent: Friday, January 11, 2008 8:48 AM
To: linux-user at egr.msu.edu
Subject: [GLLUG] Question - Opinion on DSL

Okay - I've had DSL twice in my life (YEARS ago) and was thouroly
dissasisfied with the speed.  The phone company blamed the the DSL provider
and the DSL provider blamed the phone company and the wiring inside my
house.

ANYWAY,  I got a flier in the mail the other day and we are going to change
our phone service to a company called Cavalier (cavtel.com).  They have been
around about 10 years but only 1 in MI.  Anyway, I was thinking of switching
to their DSL service as well.  We are looking to save some money (just got a
new job, etc) and the DSL + Phone (Unlimited Long Dist) is 49-59 dollars.
They say up to 15 Mbps, however, due to my distance, they said I should get
between 5 and 10.  Mainly I am concerned with the speed (up and down for
things like ekiga or skype).

I am looking for opinions on this if anyone has one or has heard of this
company.

Thanks,

Benjamin Cathey
System Administrator
Cathey Company
4917 Tranter St.
Lansing, MI 48910 USA
Phone:     517.393.4720
Fax:       517.393.4225
Toll Free: 800.333.1972
"Service is Our Profession"

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