[mythtv-users] OT: SBC DSL -- pair gains - 19,903 ft.

[Robert Denier]

Has anyone had experience getting DSL from southwesternbell (sbc) under  
rather less than favorable conditions?

My distance according to the phone company is 19,903ft which is 903 ft 
above them considering it.  Cyberonic (DSL provider) thinks I'm at 
15,211 and were willing to give it a try but they found pair gains that 
are incompatible with DSL. (Pair gains are devices that multiplex 2 
phone signals onto 1 pair of wires.)  They said if I can get a line 
without them then they will try again.

I called sbc's business office to try to get some estimate on whether 
they  could remove the pair gains, or get a new line, or something...  
They said up to a week before I would hear something back.  I can't 
really afford to spend a fortune on getting DSL setup, but I really 
hate  ISDN and its costing me like $192  (US dollars) a month between 
the line and the ISP fee for 128k.

Similarly I hate Satellite with its Fair Access Policy which basically 
says if you use it, its unfair.  There is no cable service in the area.  
My next best bet is wireless, but even that has a 20GB usage cap for  
384k/384kbps symmetric and $100 a month for usage.  There is also no 
gaurantee that can be setup even though I think I may be ok  with that 
cap.  The worst  part of that one is an 18 month contract that cannot be 
gotten out of if something better comes along.

As near as I can tell my best bet is to somehow wait and see what the 
business office finally says, and then call back cyberonic if I indeed 
get a line without pair gains.  Of course then there is the issue with 
the 19,903  ft to the central office.  As near as I can tell if the line 
is clean it should still work, but well if I was going to bet who has 
the right distance measurement I'd tend to bet my  local telephone 
company.  Someday they may install equipment for a remote  terminal, but 
well it could be years as near as I can tell..

I'm tempted to give up and try for the wireless, or just deal with ISDN 
until my contract expires next fall so I don't have to pay the $150  
termination fee.  Still ISDN is annoying.

So has anyone had any luck getting  DSL under similar conditions?