Answers (to the best of my knowledge) inline below.

>Pacific Bell has finally come of age in my Central Office here in Los
>Angeles and DSL is now available. After weighing the cost of an ISP and a
>second phone line, I am just about convinced to switch. Granted the set up
>is not inexpensive.
>My questions are:
>1. Is the NIC card something special, or could I get a hub and connect to my
>system that way? (system being Novell 4.11server and Win95SR2.1 WS.

I don't know about connecting to a hub (never tried at another place, and I
don't have it here yet, waiting for EarthLink) but there is nothing special
about the Ethernet card they use, if he computer already has a network
card, they can just use that one, for example, on an iMac I have used it
on, they just used the internal network card on the iMac.

>2. Is the NIC PCI or ISA or either?

You would have to ask PacBell this, but I would imagine you can get either,
or just get your own.

>3. Does anyone have any feedback on reliability of service for their DSL,
>and is it a worth while upgrade?

From the people that I've talked to who have it, I have heard that it is
very reliable, and absolutely worth the upgrade if you use the Internet
much at all.

>4. Any pointers as to what to look for in a provider? I don't believe that I
>am limited to Pac Bell for this service.

You can use the PacBell DSL service and use your own ISP from the list on
PacBell's website (
http://www.pacbell.com/products/business/fastrak/dsl/pricing.html#internet
).  I know that EarthLink will be offering service in the next month or two
(it's currently in beta testing for ELN).  The cheapest ones that I have
seen are PacBell's own service ($49 a month, 384K-1.5Mbps down, depending
on a few factors, and 128Kbps up, with a one-year contract), Orconet for
$49.95 a month, and EarthLink for $49.95 a month.  The other option is to
use Covad's DSL service (if offered where you live), but it is more
expensive for what you get.

Matthew Ballard
Computer Consultant

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