Getting DSL 11 miles from the nearest paved road

Posted on November 3, 2006 by Josh Bancroft

My friend Marianne left Intel to move to a place “off the grid” in the coast range mountains, and is thoroughly enjoying the nature and solitude. But since I convinced her to start a blog, to stay in touch, and also generally to stay connected, she’s having DSL installed. Her house runs on generators and battery power, and is truly “off the grid” – 11 miles from the nearest paved road, yet she’s having broadband installed to stay connected with the world, and share her writing. What a geek! :-)

Marianne, you’ll have to share the installation details once you get hooked up, and everything gets settled. And pictures are a must, of course! I’m especially interested in finding out what power solution you ended up going with.

Update: Marianne now has DSL! Yay! :-) No photos yet, but she’s online. 

About Josh Bancroft

Geek. Serial Experimentalist. Selfish, Obsessive, and Easily Distracted. I'm jabancroft most places. TinyScreenfuls.com is my home online.
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  • http://lowjib7.blogspot.com/2006/12/more-of-my-15-minutes-of-fame-thanks.html Cornish Pasty Blog

    More of my 15 minutes of fame Thanks to a blog post by Josh Bancroft

  • http://mklekacz.wordpress.com Marianne

    Josh, this is very cool of you. I just learned a new feature of my blog when your link popped up there. Someday I may really be a geek. . .;^}

    For now, I’m sticking with the generator–one thing at a time. But I’m definitely router shopping with 12v in mind, and if the phone company can’t come up with something better than tha Netgear RangeMax (runs on 12 amps, totally doable on a battery pack) that’s what I’ll stick with.

    Some folks from Intel came to visit us a couple of years ago as part of a project they were researching about living off the grid. It was a good visit, but the questions they ask were so naive that Ben finally said, “Look, I don’t think you’re getting it. I am the power company, the water company, the sewer provider, the road department, and frankly, the local law enforcement.” That about sums it up.

    Marianne

  • Mike

    God to hear Marianne is getting DSL that far out. I have a couple of ex-Intel buddies living in-between service areas in Washington County that will be interested to hear the results and maybe use them to take on their phone company.

    I’ve subscribed to Marianne’s blog, but please keep us informed.

  • IntelWife