One of the recurring themes in our newsletters over the years has been primary and backup high-speed access for supporting teleworkers as a part of the overall telecommunication network infrastructure. In fact, almost 15 years ago Steve was writing about the need to make sure that you were within a given number of cable-feet from a central office (or appropriate repeater) in order to receive ISDN service.
Telecommuting: Security a top issue as teleworking grows
It turns out that this is still a major concern, and you don’t have to be in the middle of the wilderness for this to be an issue.
In particular, Steve has been attempting for several months to investigate options for Internet access from one of his favorite semi-vacation locations. (For both of us, “vacation” is a term that means we try to be online less than four hours a day.) And even though he had the address of the location in South Carolina, finding out about DSL service was not easy. (The lack of cable service had already been established.)
Knowing that the address was mostly in legacy BellSouth territory, Steve first contacted AT&T. “Nope. Not in their service area,” he was told. But it was suggested that he contact Embarq (CenturyLink). No dice, but perhaps a local independent. Again, the address was not in their service area.
Sometimes a site visit is necessary. So, when Steve was at the premises in question a couple of weeks ago, he saw a BellSouth pedestal by the road. So this time AT&T indeed found the address in their service area.
Progress! And, indeed, South Carolina is a state in which DSL service can be ordered without POTS. But wait… No service at the address in question, but checked the house next door. The answer? Too far from the central office for DSL service.
Steve was further informed that there were no plans to upgrade for DSL service. Instead all resources were being redirected into fiber-based access. (And maybe something about flying pigs.)
The good news is that Verizon’s cellular data service works quite well, and the 5GB per month base would probably be difficult to exceed, especially since streaming video is marginal. But for backup? That’s a bit tougher.
The economic recovery plan and increased rural Internet access may be coming, but it won’t be a minute too soon.
