 Number 216 - May 2001 |
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| "DSL For Dummies" | ||
| by David Angell, reviewed by Yves Barbero, SFpcUG, eBLUE NOTES, Sep/Oct 2000 | ||
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DSL For Dummies by David Angell
0-7645-0475-4 312 pages, IDG Press, $24.99. www.idg.com Why they say, "The Fun and Easy Way to get up to speed on a Digital Subscriber Line [DSL]" is beyond me. There is nothing fun about waiting for the telephone company all day only to find out that they came and went without bothering to tell you, having hung the wrong type of line so that you have to do it again a couple of weeks later. After that the DSL provider, in my case, Northpoint, will come along and do the inside wiring. Two weeks drags to two months by the time all is said and done. This is not to distract from this excellent and informative book. It's certainly not the author's fault that a crippling strike against the regional phone company on the East Coast has had its ripple effect all the way to San Francisco, or that Pacific Bell is overselling its services and is way behind in its orders. Don't misunderstand! I'm all for the employees of Verizon getting their share of the pie in these boom times, and anyone who thinks PacBell is going to get it right the first time should have his head examined. No matter who your provider is, it is the local phone company that will hang the wire. Northpoint is the CLEC (Competitive Local Exchange Carrier), while Pacbell is the ILEC (Incumbent Local Exchange Carrier), thanks to Telecommunications Act of 1996 and one of the myriad of details you will learn from the book. I'm doing contract work for an Internet provider and it is their nickel that is paying for this so they chose the system. But if it had been up to me, I would certainly have read this book first just to understand exactly what is going on. DSL, even at its bargain rate of $40 from the local phone company, is still a commitment of at least a year if you don't want to purchase the DSL modem ($200-250). What's a hub? What's a firewall? Do you know the difference between a twisted pair and a coaxial cable. What's a protocol? Do you really think the phone company has your best interest in mind when it removes the cover from computer, puts a strange network card in, adds software and pounds strange commands in your system settings? Are you paranoid yet? Flashcom brought a line into my client's house (he's a day trader), hooked it up to the DSL modem and said, "Where's your network card, buddy?" The client had waited a month for his connection and he was stuck high and dry. The technician had the decency to write down what kind of card he should get. He got it. The client then had me install it and set the protocol (with Flashcom being on the other end |
of the POT (Plain Old Telephone) with the numbers for the IP address). The client then wrote me an unplanned check. It's best not to get caught in that situation.
In addition, if you have an existing network, you certainly don't want to have protocol conflicts or open your system to the outside world. On a couple of occasions, I've gone in after a DSL installation to clean up protocol conflicts. The phone company techie is good at what he does, but is probably not very knowledgeable about other computer setups. This book is written in a good clean journalistic style. It tells you what to look for; how to plan; what the technobabble means; and most important, what your choices really are. It may be that a simple ADSL (Asymmetric DSL) connection from your local ILEC is all you need But for small businesses or sophisticated users, especially if they already have a network, this is unlikely to be the case. The book has more details than most people need, and frankly, I skimmed about half of it, figuring that it's on my shelf with a good index if I need to find out something further. It is thorough. A word to the wise. Buy this book if you 're considering DSL. Consider DSL seriously! Most programs will be sold on the Internet and they tend to be in the 100 megabyte range these days, but they are cheaper that way. Manuals will be in Adobe Reader format (PDF), and those tend to be large. Not too long from now, you'll be downloading rental movies through DSL or cable. Forget downloading music without DSL. Even a single song can take an hour. If you like long symphonies, you'll be crying in your beer without DSL. It is likely to be the standard for a few years anyway. David Angell brings it home without requiring a degree in engineering, just some of your attention. [Yves Barbero (415-285-4358 - http://www.yvesbarbero.com - ybarbero@yvesbarbero.com is a computer consultant specializing in the writing of web pages, the training of staff and the setting up of computers and networks fro small businesses, non-profits and individuals.]
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Number 216 - May 2001
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