Really stupid DSL question

[Deja Q]

DSL uses higher bandwidth than the regular phone system and requires a special modem.

Have you heard of anybody (or do you do this) lease a DSL connection WITHOUT a standard phone line? Or is having both mandatory?

[DeposeTheBoyKing]

1. I think you need a landline

but I could be wrong.

[DS1]

2. You could have DSL without phone service, sure

Companies do it all the time.

[Blue-Jay]

3. You can have DSL without a land line. <n/t>

[DeposeTheBoyKing]

4. Okay, now I'm curious, too

How?

[Blue-Jay]

9. easy.

Sure, you have to have the necessary wiring for phone service. That said, you don't have to have a phone number. The two services have nothing to do with one another, aside from the wires used.

[trof]

5. Believe you need the phone line, BUT

I don't think you necessarily have to use that company for your voice/phone line.

[rooboy]

6. I know in my part of the world...

that you can't have DSL without the line having a phone service as well. It seems to be a requirement of the phone company, since the DSL connection has to be made at the switch. I don't know if there is a technical reason to require a phone account, though...

[CharlesGroce]

7. DSL

is simply a digital line with 3 channels and one of those channels is designated for voice transmission. The other channels are for data.

[Sentath]

13. Erm Ahh

Perhaps thats how one of the protocols works, but its certainly not the one that my employer uses.

{rlg}

[Kellanved]

8. well

That sounds more like legal question. Anybody with a land line can use DSL. In theory using the line for DSL is independent of using the line for actually calling someone.

Here (Germany) it is posible to get DSL without a contract for the phone, but only due to a recent court decision.

[Not Me]

10. DSL is a separate service

But is usually bundled in with phone service. Some telcos offer it a la carte, but their advertised pricing is with phone service thrown in.
That will likely change soon as the growing competition with cable broadband heats up.

One other consideration with dsl is that there are proximity requirements...you have to be close to a telco switch facility. So if you are out in a rural area,(or even a distant suburb) dsl may not be available to you.

I get my broadband from the cable company, and my voice-over-IP phone service comes through my cable modem. Pretty sweet deal.

[denverbill]

11. Yes, Qwest now offers it that way.

You obviously need a physical land line still, but you don't have to subscribe to Qwest's residential phone service to have a DSL line. I think most other baby bell's are starting to offer that as well.

[BigMcLargehuge]

12. here's the scoop on DSL

To enjoy the benefits of DSL service you need some form of media connecting your home to the central office. This could be a standard local loop (i.e. copper), bundled copper or multiplexed digital signals from a Remote Switching Unit (copper or fiber) or a wireless local loop.

The Incumbent Local Exchange Carriers (ILECs) are required to lease space within their central offices, and capacity on their lines, to competition (1983 - Judge Green made this possible when he broke the Bell system). Therefore, any company offering DSL service can, theoretically, set up shop in your Local CO. However, the ILEC is no longer required to lease their space or capacity at a reasonable rate and there may be no provider of DSL in your area except the ILEC.

DSL works by harnessing the bandwidth above 4kHz, between your home and the local switch. Voice is only sampled at 4kHz a filter at the CO clips the signals over that rate. DSL requires installing special filters between the phone and the CO, usually between the phone and wall jack, to preform the 4kHz conversion. All data traffic is sent at frequencies above 4kHz.

The ILEC or DSL providers removes the 4kHz filter at the CO switch and installs a Digital Subscriber Line Access Multiplexer that moves your data signals to the appropriate output port for web access while switching your regular voice signals over the standard switch fabric.

ILECs are reluctant to service a home with no existing local loop service because it cannot effectively guarantee the quality of the loop between your home and the CO. And ILECs offer lowest priority service to competitition residing in the CO.

So, in a nutshell, you might be able to get DSL without local loop service, but I doubt it.