Is it Really DSL or Just Dialup Moving Briskly?

Living in rural America has its blessings. Nature. Peace. Quiet. Unfortunately, it's often so natural and peaceful that DSL has yet to appear.

I thought I'd subscribed to DSL. That's what I was told it was. It certainly seemed a little faster than the dialup I'd been using.

Then I went out of town on a business trip. Since I stayed at the conference hotel (high price) I had to pay for Internet access in the room. (Funny how that works - Internet is free at cheap hotels.)

After going through the "yes, please, add it to my room" routine and much grumbling about high end hotels charging $15 a day for Internet, I was connected.

The connection speed took my breath away. At least the DSL was worth paying for. Which left me wondering what I was paying for back home.

When I arrived home, I checked with all of the local providers. (Roughly, a ten-minute process.) My DSL, the fastest available, was all of 3x the speed of dialup. It was the same speed as accelerated dialup.

Talk about back to life in the boonies reality. Something called Wild Blue offered fast access. The subscription fee, however, would empty my wallet at an extremely accelerated pace.

Dish network offered Internet access. I could sign up for it if I wanted to delete food or housing from the budget. Once I spoke with a few area residents who'd tried it and found it less than satisfactory, I decided I didn't need to go on a Dish inspired diet.

I'm currently using the fastest DSL available here (literally and figuratively). It isn't cheap. It certainly isn't turbo charged. But it's still faster than dialup. I'm grateful for small favors.