LAFN provides DSL service for many of our California users. DSL provides a fast, unlimited (24/7) connection to the Internet and does not require separate telephone lines for voice and computer.

If you currently have broadband service (DSL or cable) and are considering switching to LAFN's DSL, please carefully check your contract. It may have a minimum time period with penalties for early termination. Also, do not terminate any existing DSL service. Instead, sign up with LAFN and we will do an ISP conversion. This will save you at least 5 business days without service and a lot of aggravation.

DSL service is only available in some AT&T (previously known as SBC or PacBell) areas. Service in the following LATAs is available:

There are various LATA maps available (on the web and in the front of your local phone book), but none of them are very accurate around the border areas so they are not all that helpful. Here is a simple LATA Map. The most detailed LATA map we have found is available here. Please note that the map is 2 MB (quite large) and will take awhile to download. You will need to have Acrobat Reader available and zoom in quite a bit to be able to read it. Note that LATAs 7, 10, and the Palm Springs Market Area are not available at this time. Likewise Verizon areas are not yet available. In addition you need to be within a reasonable distance from the telco central office for DSL to be effective.

DSL Programs

Note, Bronze DSL is only available in situations where you are too far from the Telco Central Office to be able to guarantee 384 Kbps service. In these situations DSL may or may not work well.

Prices

Please note that there are DSL services available from AT&T with prices around $20 - $27 per month. These are for DSL service with download speeds of 384 or 768 Kbps. LAFN does not offer such slow DSL service. Our minimum service is 1500 Kbps (1.5 Mbps).

The prices for DSL service are paid yearly in advance. There is an initial one year committment. See the DSL Terms and Conditions in the LAFN User Agreement for details. Please note these are not introductory prices. These prices will not change as long as our costs to provide the service stay the same. There is no jump in price at the end of the first year.

In addition, there is an installation charge to cover the cost of the DSL modem and line filters. There are two different DSL modems available. The Regular modem which provides a single ethernet port for connecting to a single computer or to a router. In addition, the Zoom X6 WiFi modem/router is available which provides 802.11g WiFi and 4 ethernet ports. The standard modem is available for $56, which includes tax, and shipping and handling. The WiFi modem (X6) is available for $95, which includes tax, and shipping and handling.

Please note that the retail version of these modems come with a CD. LAFN does not distribute that CD. Instead we are providing the DSL line filters and instructions for the complete setup. The CD only contains drivers for a specific DSL configuration that we do not use. If you do obtain the CD and load it, your computer will not work with the LAFN DSL. We also have no idea how you would go about removing those drivers.

If you currently own a compatible DSL modem and the appropriate line filters, then you will not need to pay the installation charge. We do recommend that you contact ops@lafn.org with the manufacturer and model number for that modem so we can determine if it needs to be recofnigured for use with LAFN.

When deciding which DSL modem to use, one factor to consider is that the regular DSL modem is an IP bridge. That means there is no way to connect to it from our end to see if it is working. Your computer must be on and connected to the DSL modem before we can test your connection if there is a problem. That means that problem resolution will take longer because we must wait till you have it all running before we can test. The wireless DSL modem has a full IP client in it so it is always available for us to test even if your computer is turned off. With the wireless DSL modem, it has 4 ethernet ports so you do not need to use the wireless. You can connect to it with ethernet just like the regular DSL modem and have the benefit of our being able to test the circuit.

If you have a bridge type modem, it can be setup to be testable by using a ethernet router between it and your computer. Routers also have a full IP client so they will be always available for us to test the circuit.

We believe these prices are reasonable compared with other available DSL services. While other providers have a lower initial rate, after that initial period is over (usually 6 months to a year), their prices rise above what our costs are. The LAFN costs do not change. This is not an introductory price, but the normal price. Obviously if the provider of these services has to raise their price to us we will also need to raise the fees.