Does DSL require local phone service?

Edwards Finance > Phones

Q. Does DSL require local phone service? I'm wondering b/c my local phone service costs me $32 a month. If I get DSL, can I eliminate the local phone service, even though it'll probably use that phone line?

A. You'll need a copper pair back to the CO. The people to ask would be your ISP and phone company. Theoretically, DSL doesn't need local phone service, but you might not be able to convince the phone company of that. Ah, the memory has come back now: my assistant got rid of his local phone service because he was using his cell most of the time. A few months later he was considering switching from cable to DSL, only to find out that the the local DSL provider insisted on local dialtone. The pair already runs to his house, but the DSL company (which is also the phone company) said the two services are tied together in their equipment. No, you'll need to keep your land line. However, if you want to give up your land line, you'll need to go with cable broadband. Check with your cable supplier to see if they offer digital voice. I just had OptimumVoice installed, which adds 24/7 all day every day voice service to my cable bill. Voice service is a flat $34.95/month. Downside is you lose voice service if your local power goes down (because you lose cable service then, too) and no access to certain dial up services, e.g., 900 & 976 numbers. I'm keeping my landline until further notice with services cut to the most basic I can get, but might cancel it eventually, as well. The one really good advantage of landline service is that it's self powered, so you usually have phone service even if your local power co. goes down, e.g., last summer's big blackout in the NE. My cable internet does not go down when there is a power failure. I have my cable modem and computer setup on a UPS, and it continues to operate when the lights go out. I would not expect voice to disappear. I expect that the self powering cable arrived at about the same time as the cable internet, to avoid their own infrastructure problems with fluctuations and recovering from outages.

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