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Why You Shouldn’t Write Off DSL Internet Just Yet

Dacvak

No one shall be brought before our LORD David Bowie without the true and secret knowledge of the Photoshop. For in that time, so shall He appear.
Robin Williams What Year Is It GIF
 

poppabk

Cheeks Spread for Digital Only Future
Aren't you still reliant on the phone company installing repeaters? How many are still gonna bother with that?
 

Hudo

Member
Look, man. It's 2024 and my fucking city just now got fibre optics installed in all districts (the country could've had it by the year 2000 but Helmut Kohl decided that it was a terrible idea and cancelled all the plans; fucking goddamn retard that guy was). I ain't going back to DSL.
 

diffusionx

Gold Member
DSL was the very first broadband internet in my town and my fam was an early adopter and was kino at the time. I used to play Everquest, Starsiege Tribes, Starcraft, Quake 3, etc. with it.

But, no.
 
Look, man. It's 2024 and my fucking city just now got fibre optics installed in all districts (the country could've had it by the year 2000 but Helmut Kohl decided that it was a terrible idea and cancelled all the plans; fucking goddamn retard that guy was). I ain't going back to DSL.
Still waiting on Telekom, they said it should be ready early this year...
 

6502

Member
When most people have the option to go fibre the telcos will put the copper price above fibre. To them there is no point maintaining two networks, especially an old expensive fault prone one requiring exchange switches etc. It will be dead within 15 years of fibre roll out max.
 

Hudo

Member
Sounds like he was a massive helmet.
I wasn't alive when he ruled over the country but from all the interviews of him, from his decisions he made and from shit he wrote, it's not hard to deduce that he wasn't a bright lad. But he was very good at social engineering, which is how he held onto power for so long. He got everyone who could've been a threat to him by the balls.
 

ShadowLag

Member
That site says DSL wouldn't be good enough for online gaming, and yet, that's literally the only thing it's good for; terrible speeds, but good latency. Seems like an AI generated article put out by some dying phone company.
 

Aesius

Member
DSL was the very first broadband internet in my town and my fam was an early adopter and was kino at the time. I used to play Everquest, Starsiege Tribes, Starcraft, Quake 3, etc. with it.

But, no.
I remember getting 1.5 mbps DSL in 2002. After years of dialup hell, it was a glorious technological advancement. I distinctly remember downloading HD versions of the LOTR: The Two Towers and Matrix Revolutions trailers shortly after we got it hooked up. And also being amazed that I could download things that were a full GB in size (even though that still took forever, at least it was feasible compared to dialup).
 

Pallas

Member
Once I got cable internet back in the early 2000’s, I have never looked back except for a small lapse when I had to use cricket broadband internet for a year.

I remember having dial up and all the issues of using the internet with having just one phone line in my younger teen years. 😭
 

StueyDuck

Member

Why You Shouldn’t Write Off DSL Internet Just Yet


I’m going to put this out there I had DSL as far back but not that long ago in 2006, GAF you’re a forum I idolize what did you think of internet back than? I looked forward to playing COD3, 4 even during those historic areas, how was your dial up?
Some numpties decided that for south africa our standard would be ADSL and that fucked us over for decades.

Eventually we were able to move to VDSL and get decent speeds but Fibre is a fucking life saver for us. (It also helped us remove a literal monopoly, and now we have multiple line providers, again a life saver)

Until then uploading for work/streaming/gaming was essentially pointless outside of businesses
 
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daffyduck

Member
When most people have the option to go fibre the telcos will put the copper price above fibre. To them there is no point maintaining two networks, especially an old expensive fault prone one requiring exchange switches etc. It will be dead within 15 years of fibre roll out max.
There are still rural areas which are waiting on fiber, and the copper price has been higher than entry level fiber pkgs for ages now. And I don’t think the telcos cared much about maintaining copper lines, even when fiber was in it‘s infancy.

”Can you hang up, mom? I want to use the internet!”
Or the opposite: “Can you get off the computer? I’m waiting for a call!”
 

Quasicat

Member
I live out in the middle of nowhere and have the choice of dial up for $24 a month or 500 down/25 up for $100 a month. That makes my choice really easy.
 

navii

My fantasy is that my girlfriend was actually a young high school girl.
I was happy with ADSL, then Australia introduced our stupid fucking National Broadband Network (NBN) and doubled the prices, granted, faster speeds, but right about that time my ADSL speed went to shit. I am on 5G now and love it. Though I am paying double compared to what I used to on ADSL. I blame our government.
 

eddie4

Genuinely Generous
”Can you hang up, mom? I want to use the internet!”
"MOM! Are you done with your phone calls, I want to go online and download an mp3! Also, I might browse some forums, and hope they don't have any .GIFs in there. I also need to check my email and chat with my friends on mIRC."
 

ahtlas7

Member
In Brussels Belgium DSL is primarily what’s available. Yeah. 2024. I can assure you it should be written off.
 

spons

Gold Member
I thought only Germans still used DSL. I can't believe such a rich, modern country is so backwards when it comes to internet infrastructure.
 
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D

Deleted member 1159

Unconfirmed Member
I thought only Germans still used DSL. I can't believe such a rich, modern country is so backwards when it comes to internet infrastructure.
America is a giant country made up of 50 states with their own rules and regulations and there are tons of people that live in rural areas where that kind of investment is hard to justify.

Honestly I was able to get 80mbps down through DSL for $40/mo and that was fine, but once Google fiber came to town…that was an easy upgrade
 

spons

Gold Member
America is a giant country made up of 50 states with their own rules and regulations and there are tons of people that live in rural areas where that kind of investment is hard to justify.

Honestly I was able to get 80mbps down through DSL for $40/mo and that was fine, but once Google fiber came to town…that was an easy upgrade
Should've made clearer that my comment was about Germany. I get the US' predicament, same as taking Europe as a whole - e.g. Netherlands is super modern, yet one country to the east (Germany) is some kind of internet 'void'.
 
D

Deleted member 1159

Unconfirmed Member
Should've made clearer that my comment was about Germany. I get the US' predicament, same as taking Europe as a whole - e.g. Netherlands is super modern, yet one country to the east (Germany) is some kind of internet 'void'.
Well, I still kinda feel like if it works, it works. I feel like the 80mbps I was getting on DSL was totally adequate…I only upgraded because I can afford it, but I didn’t need to. I don’t think the average person, or even me who downloads huge vidya games on a regular basis, needs more than what DSL can offer.
 

6502

Member
There are still rural areas which are waiting on fiber, and the copper price has been higher than entry level fiber pkgs for ages now. And I don’t think the telcos cared much about maintaining copper lines, even when fiber was in it‘s infancy.
It may not seem like it but the Labour cost and technical tools and knowledge to maintain copper is far higher than fibre. I used to do it for a living. It brings me no joy to say it but those skills and technologies are definitely on the way out.
Where fibre is not feasible wireless broadband or satellite will take over. DSL worked due to cheap install across a huge customer base, that copper will be worth more in scrap than the revenue recieved when the majority switch. There won't be enough revenue to keep the workforce required to maintain the last standing customers. A few rural customers costs exceptionally more to keep going than a few hundred in a town centre... bare in mind the service end users recieve versus costs to maintain is inverse due to attenuation etc... I expect 10 years of dsl with voip as pstn is phased out then a mass recovery of copper for scrap.
 
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ShirAhava

Plays with kids toys, in the adult gaming world
I went from slow ass net zero/aol dial up right to Broadband

DSL was a thing for like 6 months where I lived at the time

Tried it at my sister's place didn't think it was a big enough jump

even low end coaxial connections far outclass DSL not really worth it today with things like mobile and starlink
 

Garibaldi

Member
Be lucky you didn't have dial-up internet with per-minute cost. That was shit.
I remember downloading CS back when I had hair and knees that worked. I had to run an extension reel downstairs and download it over night as I couldn't hog the phone line for more than 30 mins during the day. The download was about 90MB iirc.

What a time to be alive. If you were lucky the connection window hadn't been hijacked by a premium number scammer and your siblings hadn't ruined the browser by installing 15 or more search bar extensions.
 
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6502

Member
Don't write off DSL just yet, G.fast is the latest evolution and can do 1Gb.
Only when run to the final pole / distribution point. Savings vs fibre are by utilising the final drop of copper so no expensive digs (if existing duct / poles can't be used)... but there are other costs introduced.
In the UK after only a few years gfast is being decommissioned and overlayed with fibre. Only 300k out of circa 3million homes covered ever took it up; but they installed it at the cabinets not the poles (cheapskates) so only those within 250M of it got near the 300meg speeds. And those people will probably have been happy with the full 80meg on vdsl anyway.

There are a lot of ways to get more out of dsl, bundling - phantom pairs, ring networks... even wireless signals pumped down the copper cables (using them as a guide).

Ultimately the closer you get to the premises the easier it is to bite the bullet and finish the fibre run and save on the dslam power and maintenance issues.
 
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Mithos

Member
Dialup (14k4->33k6->52k0) -> ADSL 8/1 Mbit -> 4G 30-50/10-20Mbit -> Fibre 250/250 Mbit
 
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