DSL for Dummies
by Angell, David; Angell, DavidFormat: Paperback
Pub. Date: 1999-05-01
Publisher(s): John Wiley & Sons Inc
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Summary
If you use the Internet every day and are fed up with all the time you waste waiting for stuff to load, you're probably already looking to trade up to a faster data line. Whether you're the owner of a small to medium-sized business, a telecommuter, a serious Web surfer, or an MIS professional, this friendly guide gives you all the information you need to hook up to Digital Subscriber Line, or DSL. So say goodbye to that 56K modem and make the most of the next generation of affordable, high-speed Internet access. Book jacket.
Author Biography
David Angell is a principle in angell.com (www.angell.com), a technical communications firm in Boston specializing in telecommunications, TCP/IP, and Microsoft Windows. He has made a career of demystifying computers, telecommunications, and the Internet. David is the author of 20 books, including ISDN For Dummies, 2nd Edition and Microsoft Internet Information Server 4 For Dummies.
Table of Contents
| Foreword | p. xxiv |
| Introduction | p. 1 |
| About This Book | p. 1 |
| Foolish Assumptions | p. 2 |
| Conventions Used in This Book | p. 3 |
| How This Book Is Organized | p. 3 |
| Getting Comfortable with DSL | p. 3 |
| Shopping for DSL | p. 4 |
| Connecting Your PC or LAN to DSL | p. 4 |
| The Part of Tens | p. 4 |
| Appendixes | p. 4 |
| What You're Not to Read | p. 5 |
| Icons in This Book | p. 5 |
| Where to Go from Here | p. 5 |
| Getting Comfortable with DSL | p. 7 |
| DSL: More than a Pipe Dream | p. 9 |
| A Bad Case of the Bandwidth Blues | p. 9 |
| Modems, POTS, and the PSTN | p. 10 |
| ISDN: Too little, too late, too expensive? | p. 11 |
| T1 and frame relay: High speed, high cost | p. 11 |
| DSL: The Bandwidth Sweet Spot | p. 12 |
| DSL is riding the winds of change | p. 13 |
| The Telecommunications Act and DSL | p. 14 |
| Meet the DSL family | p. 14 |
| The great DSL bypass | p. 16 |
| Availability and price | p. 16 |
| A DSL Connection Changes Everything | p. 19 |
| DSL Reality Check | p. 21 |
| Subject to change without notice | p. 21 |
| Keeping your distance | p. 21 |
| Please stand by, we're experiencing technical problems | p. 22 |
| Fragile competition | p. 22 |
| Waiting for interoperability | p. 23 |
| Bandwidth shell game | p. 23 |
| What's on Cable? | p. 24 |
| Should you check out cable modem service? | p. 25 |
| Cable competition can't hurt | p. 25 |
| The Telecom Side of DSL | p. 27 |
| Welcome to the Telecommunications Jungle | p. 27 |
| Gatekeepers of the last mile | p. 28 |
| Changing the rules | p. 28 |
| Through the regulatory maze | p. 29 |
| Inside the Telecommunications Network | p. 30 |
| All loops lead to the central office | p. 30 |
| Keeping tethered through local loops | p. 30 |
| Extending the reach of COs through DLCs | p. 31 |
| The big PSTN switch | p. 32 |
| Inside the DSL Network | p. 33 |
| DSLAM: Center of the DSL universe | p. 33 |
| Is your loop qualified? | p. 34 |
| Going the distance | p. 35 |
| End of the Line | p. 35 |
| Customer Premises Equipment (CPE) | p. 36 |
| The great divide | p. 36 |
| Getting wired for DSL | p. 37 |
| Know your connectors | p. 38 |
| CLECs and DSL Service | p. 38 |
| How a data CLEC operates | p. 39 |
| CLECs, ISPs, and DSL service | p. 39 |
| ILECs and DSL Service | p. 40 |
| The Zen of DSL | p. 41 |
| DSL Data Communications 101 | p. 41 |
| The nature of digital communications | p. 41 |
| Frequencies and bandwidth | p. 42 |
| Changing channels | p. 43 |
| Signaling and modulation | p. 43 |
| Asymmetric or symmetric | p. 44 |
| Data swimming upstream or downstream | p. 44 |
| Throughput (bandwidth in the real world) | p. 45 |
| The Many Flavors of DSL | p. 45 |
| ADSL | p. 46 |
| UADSL (G.Lite) | p. 46 |
| SDSL | p. 48 |
| RADSL | p. 49 |
| IDSL | p. 49 |
| HDSL and HDSL-2 | p. 49 |
| VDSL | p. 50 |
| MVLDSL | p. 50 |
| DSL Standards and Forums | p. 50 |
| Know your DSL standards organizations | p. 51 |
| The current state of DSL standards | p. 51 |
| All Nodes Lead to TCP/IP | p. 53 |
| TCP/IP and Your DSL Connection | p. 53 |
| The five layers of TCP/IP | p. 54 |
| The life of packets | p. 55 |
| Gateway to the TCP/IP universe | p. 56 |
| Any port in a storm | p. 57 |
| Creating Identity with IP Addresses | p. 57 |
| IP addresses have class and no class | p. 58 |
| Subnet subdivision | p. 60 |
| Using private IP addresses | p. 60 |
| It's all in the translation | p. 61 |
| Using registered IP addresses | p. 62 |
| Using static and dynamic IP addressing | p. 62 |
| What's In a Name Anyway? | p. 63 |
| Host names, domains, and subdomains | p. 64 |
| Top-level domain names | p. 64 |
| A new crop of top-level domains | p. 65 |
| The domain name game | p. 66 |
| IP Configuration Recipes | p. 68 |
| Using a block of registered IP addresses | p. 68 |
| Using NAT and private IP addresses | p. 69 |
| PPP on DSL | p. 71 |
| PPP over Ethernet | p. 72 |
| PPP over ATM over DSL | p. 72 |
| DSL CPE Field Guide | p. 75 |
| Types of DSL CPE | p. 75 |
| DSL CPE Interoperability | p. 76 |
| Chipsets, Firmware, and DSL CPE | p. 77 |
| Single-User DSL CPE Options | p. 77 |
| USB: Say goodbye to UART | p. 78 |
| In the PCI modem cards | p. 79 |
| Single-computer bridges | p. 79 |
| Multiuser DSL CPE Options | p. 81 |
| Bridge over DSL waters | p. 81 |
| Going the DSL router route | p. 82 |
| Sharing a DSL Connection | p. 83 |
| To Serve and Protect: Internet Security | p. 85 |
| Internet Security 101 | p. 85 |
| Understanding Firewalls and Proxy Servers | p. 87 |
| Packet filter firewalls | p. 87 |
| Proxy servers | p. 88 |
| Security Solutions for the Rest of Us | p. 90 |
| DSL routers as firewalls | p. 92 |
| Software proxy servers | p. 93 |
| Proxy server in a box | p. 94 |
| Security as an appliance | p. 95 |
| Isolating your protocols | p. 97 |
| Shopping for DSL | p. 99 |
| Getting Your DSL Connection | p. 101 |
| Creating Your DSL Game Plan | p. 101 |
| The big three pieces of DSL service | p. 101 |
| DSL game plan checklist | p. 102 |
| Checking DSL Availability | p. 104 |
| Tracking down DSL service | p. 105 |
| Have your phone number and address ready | p. 108 |
| Behind the scenes in DSL local loops | p. 109 |
| Figuring Out Your Need for Speed | p. 109 |
| Checking Out Your DSL Service Options | p. 112 |
| Finding a good Web site | p. 112 |
| Getting the quote | p. 113 |
| The devil is in the details | p. 113 |
| Crunching the Numbers | p. 114 |
| Start-up charges | p. 116 |
| Monthly recurring charges | p. 117 |
| TCP/IP Applications for Your DSL Service | p. 119 |
| Stop, Take a Deep Breath, and Think | p. 119 |
| Harnessing your DSL connection | p. 120 |
| Monitoring Your DSL Performance | p. 121 |
| Using ping and tracert commands | p. 122 |
| Visual Route | p. 122 |
| Net.Medic | p. 123 |
| Running a Web Server | p. 124 |
| Going with a Web hosting service | p. 124 |
| Web server bandwidth requirements | p. 125 |
| Web server software | p. 127 |
| Running an E-Mail Server | p. 129 |
| Microsoft Exchange | p. 129 |
| Deerfield's MDaemon | p. 129 |
| Eudora WorldMail Server | p. 130 |
| Show and Tell through IP Video Conferencing | p. 130 |
| DVC system primer | p. 131 |
| Microsoft NetMeeting | p. 132 |
| CU-SeeMe | p. 133 |
| WebCams and video clips | p. 133 |
| Net Phones, Faxes, and Pagers | p. 134 |
| IP phone home | p. 135 |
| Net faxing | p. 136 |
| Buzz me (IP paging) | p. 136 |
| I Want My VPN | p. 138 |
| Practicing Safe Downloads | p. 139 |
| Working by Remote Control | p. 140 |
| Checking Out DSL Providers | p. 143 |
| CLECs and DSL Service | p. 143 |
| The CLEC and ISP relationship | p. 144 |
| Checking out CLEC DSL | p. 145 |
| CLECs and CPE options | p. 145 |
| NorthPoint Communications | p. 146 |
| DSL service options | p. 146 |
| DSL service availability | p. 146 |
| CPE options | p. 147 |
| ISP partners | p. 149 |
| Covad Communications | p. 151 |
| DSL service options | p. 151 |
| DSL service availability | p. 152 |
| CPE options | p. 152 |
| ISP partners | p. 153 |
| Rhythms NetConnections | p. 157 |
| CPE options | p. 157 |
| DSL service availability | p. 157 |
| ISP partners | p. 157 |
| ISPs Acting as DSL CLECs | p. 158 |
| ILECs and DSL Service | p. 159 |
| Pacific Bell | p. 159 |
| DSL service options | p. 160 |
| DSL service availability | p. 161 |
| ISP partners | p. 161 |
| US WEST | p. 162 |
| DSL service availability | p. 163 |
| ISP partners | p. 164 |
| Bell Atlantic | p. 164 |
| DSL service options | p. 164 |
| DSL service availability | p. 165 |
| BellSouth | p. 166 |
| Southwestern Bell | p. 167 |
| Ameritech | p. 168 |
| GTE | p. 169 |
| DSL service options | p. 169 |
| DSL service availability | p. 170 |
| ISP partners | p. 171 |
| Facing the ISP Interface | p. 173 |
| The DSL and ISP Connection | p. 173 |
| Walking through a DSL service installation | p. 174 |
| Navigating your CPE options | p. 176 |
| Bridged DSL service | p. 176 |
| Routed DSL service | p. 177 |
| Putting Your IP Package Together | p. 178 |
| Getting IP addresses | p. 178 |
| Domain Name Service | p. 179 |
| Getting your domain name | p. 179 |
| Transferring your domain name from another ISP | p. 180 |
| Internet E-mail Services | p. 181 |
| Internet e-mail primer | p. 181 |
| Hosting your Internet mailboxes with the ISP | p. 182 |
| Running your own e-mail server | p. 182 |
| Network News Service | p. 183 |
| Web Hosting | p. 183 |
| Connecting Your PC or LAN to DSL | p. 185 |
| Building Your LAN Foundation | p. 187 |
| The LAN Plan | p. 187 |
| The LAN-to-DSL connection | p. 189 |
| Go fast with Fast Ethernet | p. 190 |
| A star is born | p. 191 |
| A Matter of Networking Style | p. 193 |
| Nice and easy with peer-to-peer networking | p. 193 |
| Power networking through client/server networking | p. 193 |
| NIC Your Computer | p. 194 |
| Taking the PCI magic bus | p. 196 |
| Installing a NIC in a PC | p. 196 |
| Installing a NIC driver in Windows 95 and 98 | p. 197 |
| Installing a NIC driver in Windows NT | p. 198 |
| Connecting a notebook using a PC Card NIC | p. 200 |
| Adding multiple NICs on a PC | p. 201 |
| The Media Is the Message | p. 201 |
| Twisted pair isn't a deviant couple | p. 202 |
| Getting wired | p. 202 |
| One-on-one with crossover link | p. 203 |
| Journey to the Center of the LAN | p. 203 |
| What's all the hubbub? | p. 204 |
| Making the switch | p. 206 |
| Windows 95/98 Meets DSL | p. 211 |
| Windows 95/98 and DSL Connections | p. 211 |
| Setting Up TCP/IP in Windows 95/98 | p. 213 |
| Configuring Windows 95/98 TCP/IP Clients | p. 215 |
| Configuring Windows 95/98 clients for DHCP | p. 215 |
| Configuring Windows 95/98 clients for static IP addresses | p. 217 |
| Managing network card properties | p. 219 |
| Managing your protocol bindings | p. 220 |
| Working the DUN Way | p. 221 |
| Installing Dial-Up Networking | p. 222 |
| Setting up a new connection profile | p. 223 |
| Configuring your DUN connection profile | p. 223 |
| Making the DUN connection | p. 225 |
| Bypassing the Connect To dialog box | p. 226 |
| Handy Windows 95/98 TCP/IP Utilities | p. 227 |
| What's your IP status? | p. 227 |
| Reach out and telnet someone | p. 229 |
| Ping, ping, ping | p. 230 |
| Tracing your routes | p. 232 |
| Windows NT Meets DSL | p. 233 |
| Windows NT and DSL Connections | p. 233 |
| Setting Up TCP/IP in Windows NT | p. 234 |
| Configuring NICs for TCP/IP in Windows NT | p. 237 |
| Configuring Windows NT for dynamic IP addressing | p. 238 |
| Configuring Windows NT for static IP addressing | p. 238 |
| Beyond basic TCP/IP configuration | p. 241 |
| Working the DUN Way | p. 243 |
| Installing and configuring RAS for DUN | p. 243 |
| Creating a Phonebook entry | p. 244 |
| Configuring your Phonebook entry for TCP/IP | p. 245 |
| Keeping up appearances | p. 247 |
| Making the connection | p. 249 |
| Handy Tools of the IP Trade | p. 251 |
| What's your IP status? | p. 251 |
| Reach out and telnet someone | p. 251 |
| Ping, ping, ping | p. 253 |
| Tracing your routes | p. 255 |
| The Part of Tens | p. 257 |
| Dave's Top Ten Reasons for Getting DSL Service | p. 259 |
| Cut Your Web Surfing Times | p. 259 |
| Move Big Files Quickly | p. 260 |
| Run Your Own Web Server | p. 260 |
| Add Show and Tell to Internet Communications | p. 261 |
| Telework in the VPN Fast Lane | p. 261 |
| Use Push and Pull Applications | p. 262 |
| Level the Data Communications Playing Field | p. 262 |
| Run Your Own E-mail Server | p. 262 |
| Share Your Internet Connection | p. 263 |
| Tap into Flat Rate Service | p. 263 |
| Ten DSL Service Shopping Tips | p. 265 |
| Use the Caveat Emptor Defense | p. 265 |
| Shop around to Compare DSL Offerings | p. 266 |
| Know What You Need Before Ordering | p. 267 |
| Don't Be Afraid to Ask Questions | p. 267 |
| Know Your CPE Options and Prices | p. 267 |
| Ask about Promotional Deals | p. 268 |
| Ask for Price Protection Guarantees | p. 268 |
| Get a Written Quote | p. 268 |
| Read the Fine Print | p. 269 |
| Ask about Backbones and QoS | p. 269 |
| Ten Questions to Ask about DSL Service | p. 271 |
| Is DSL Service Available in Your Area? | p. 271 |
| What's Your Need for Speed? | p. 272 |
| Which Type of CPE Do You Want to Use? | p. 273 |
| What's Your IP Configuration? | p. 274 |
| What's Your TCP/IP Application Strategy? | p. 275 |
| What Will DSL Service Cost? | p. 276 |
| How Helpful Is the ISP? | p. 277 |
| What Are the ISP's Terms and Restrictions? | p. 278 |
| Do You Plan to Connect Multiple Computers? | p. 279 |
| What Other Services Do You Want from an ISP? | p. 279 |
| Appendixes | p. 281 |
| DSL Products, Services, and Resources | p. 283 |
| DSL CPE Vendors | p. 283 |
| DSL Proxy Server and Security Products | p. 284 |
| TCP/IP Utilities and Applications | p. 285 |
| TCP/IP utilities | p. 285 |
| Video conferencing | p. 285 |
| Web servers | p. 286 |
| E-mail servers | p. 287 |
| Net phones, net faxing, and IP paging | p. 287 |
| Remote control programs | p. 288 |
| Virtual private networking | p. 288 |
| ILEC and CLEC Web Sites | p. 289 |
| Other DSL Resources | p. 290 |
| Glossary | p. 291 |
| Index | p. 307 |
| Table of Contents provided by Syndetics. All Rights Reserved. |
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