[ale] OT: DSL in older house (no NID)

[John Mills]

Robert, ALErs (many of whom must have done this)-

On Fri, 16 Apr 2004, Robert Story wrote:

> My sister just called me to ask about getting DSL at her place. She lives in an
> older house that has a really thick one-pair wire running from the pole,
> through a hole in the wall, to a screw-down connector in the middle of the
> basement.

Actually I would say this is a _GoodThing(TM)_, at least it was fine for
me. I suggest you put an RJ-11 block in-line between the incoming-wire
block and her existing house phones, and either (1) mount BellSouth's
modem near the block, tying directly to the lines into the house, or (2)  
run a separate phone line from that point to wherever it is convenient to
put the modem, router, and whatever other bits you hang on her conection.
Only two lines are used in most home phone setups any that's all coming
into the house, so you can hardly go wrong.

Either way, you split the however-many telephones on one 'Christmas Tree'
(all wired in parallel) from the single phone line to the DSL modem.

Now put one of the install-kit filters in the branch going to the _phones_
and they are all covered. The filter cuts off a 'hiss' from the DSL that
might otherwise be a nuisance when you're talking on the phone. It doesn't
help the DSL work.

You should find a broad range of blocks and connectors at your nearby 
RadioSchlock. (They have the filters, too, I think.)

> The Bellsouth people are trying to sell her a self-install kit. I'm concerned
> that she'll sign-up, I won't be able to get the self-install kit work, and
> she'll end up having to pay some exorbitant fee to have them come out and
> install a NID or some other inside wiring work.

> Any thoughts, suggestions or stories of similar experiences greatly
> appreciated.

Probably worth what it cost you, but ...

 - John Mills
   john.m.mills at alum.mit.edu