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Originally Posted by Joelacrane

Did you call the company and just ask and argue for a connection in hopes that it would just work?

Pretty much. I talked to a rep of theirs about a promotion they were having, and he did some digging, and decided that if my line didn't have load coils I should be able to get DSL. That pushed me to start complaining, and eventually it worked.

However, the fact that it worked for me on Frontier is no guarantee that it would work at the same distance on Verizon, or even in another situation on Frontier. It's very much a lucky break on my part, as rated DSL distances seldom exceed 18,000 feet. Of course, there are lots of other factors, such as remote terminals which can boost distance, load coils which kill signal, various strange wiring arrangements that can greatly increase your distance, etcetera.

Now, I'm a little confused about your connection speed. Are you downloading files at 35k or just "connected" at 35k? For example, windows reports that im connected at 21.6kbps, but when I download a file, it comes down the POT at 2k. Which is it? If you are downloading files at 35k, I would call Verizon and start asking and arguing with them TOMORROW.

That's the difference between Kbits and Kbytes. The 21k figure on your modem connection is Kbits, but your downloads are measures in Kbytes. 8 Kbits = 1 Kbyte. In my case, my actual download speed (tested) is around 32 Kbytes, or 260 Kbits.

So now I have a completely new set of questions for you.
Did you just argue that it might work until they finally let you try?

More or less. I also had the advantage of a tech who thought that it should work even at this distance, and who really did everything he could to make it go, shortening the line in several places, fixing some signal attenuation issues, etcetera.

How reliable is the connection this far?

It's worked perfectly other than one extended period where it dropped out--I think as a result of someone messing with something on the central office end. Very stable at around the same speeds.

What ISP is it? (As i mentioned, we have Verizon here)

Frontier Telephone of Rochester, owned by Citizens' Communications.

Is latency an issue? What kind of ping times are you getting?

Last time I checked, averaging 93 milliseconds.

Thanks for all the help, I think this might be an option. I might take a trip to town tomorrow specifically to see how far it is. I hope im not getting my hopes up for nothing.

One thing to remember is that the wires don't always follow the shortest or most logical route. Your best bet for figuring out if it's possible is to find a good street tech and ask them their opinion, and possibly get them to test out your line. They should be able to tell you whether there's a chance, or if it's not doable.