DSL on foreign exchange line
Ag1000
Newbie

Hello,

I recently contacted Verizon about a billing issue (they resolved it quickly), and the Verizon representative attempted to sell other services to me.  She asked if I would like to sign up for 3 megabit Verizon  DSL, and  I mentioned that my home phone is on a foreign exchange line.  She shocked me by replying that "it did not matter."

I have wanted to purchase Verizon DSL for years, but they always claimed that my foreign exchange line was not suitable for DSL.  The last time I inquired about DSL service was over five years ago.  Is it now possible to get Verizon's DSL service on an FX line?  If so, does anyone have any experiences to share?

Thank you for any help.

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Re: DSL on foreign exchange line
mattheww50
Contributor - Level 2

If my understanding of how FX service works is correct, the lady at Verizon is probably right. Your FX line is in fact routed through the local CO. There is no single copper connection that goes from your location to the 'foreign' exchange.

As long as that is the case, I could be wrong, but I cannot think of a technical reason why DSL couldn't be provided from your local CO. The fact that your voice service comes from somewhere else shouldn't matter as long as it actually goes through the local CO. 

Voice and DSL services are split off at the local CO anyway, in fact in some markets you can have DSL without any voice service (dry loop), so the two services aren't really intermingled except in the copper pair between the CO and your house.

The only real issue is how long is the copper pair between your home and the local CO.

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