I am not sure if they are called POTS lines or not ... it would just be the
regular phone line you get for your home or office.  Dial up in this area ..
in rural areas is typically limited to 40-45K - or less - based on the
connection, distance from central stations, etc.  He is looking into adding
the compression feature that many ISPs are offering .. not sure if that
would help him with the analog line issue or not.

He does not offer ISDN .. but he does offer a high speed wireless option
instead ... he has done a very nice job with that and the local telco has
dropped their DSL prices a lot as a result of the competition.  His true
niche is customer service ... that is why he is snatching away customers
from the local telco that has their own ISP.

It is a rural area ... west central Minnesota ... and there is only one
local telephone company.  But, other ISPs are available as one can make a
local call to another area with a different telco / ISP.

Randy


----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Adam Maloney" <adam at whee.org>
To: "Randy Clarksean" <rclark at lakesplus.com>; "TCLUG Mailing List"
<tclug-list at mn-linux.org>
Sent: Thursday, August 26, 2004 1:57 PM
Subject: Re: [TCLUG] OT: ISP Dialup hardware / options


> If by regular lines you mean POTS lines, like regular, analog telephone
> lines, then he won't be able to offer 56k or ISDN service.
>
> This may be more of an issue for the PUC than the FCC - those rates are
> supposed to be tarriffed, so the telco is supposed to get approval for
> rate increases on basic services.
>
> And if he is in a rural area, maybe just him and the telco offering ISP
> services, there is a very strong case with the PUC about the phone company
> trying to ice him out.  Fun to watch.
>
> Is your friend in MN?  If so, what area?  I've run ISP dial services in 3
> different calling areas in MN, so I've dealt with a lot of the smaller
> carriers in more rural areas.  Maybe there's a better option.
>
> On Thu, 26 Aug 2004, Randy Clarksean wrote:
>
>
>   [NON-Text Body part not included]
>
>



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