Do You Need Telephone Service to Get DSL?

Your home or business likely already has telephone lines connected to it. DSL Internet service uses these lines to send digital information. Even if you do not pay for a dial tone line, as long as these wires connect to your home they can be used to send the DSL signal. Since the DSL signal only uses the portion of your phone line that you do not use when speaking and listening, online communication and home phone dial tone service can occur simultaneously.

A technician may need to come to your home or business to turn on your service at your Network Interface Device (NID), but will likely not need to come inside. Your provider will send you a modem, which you connect to a power source near your computer. Then, you will connect a typical telephone cord from a wall jack to the modem. Finally, connect an Ethernet cable from the modem to your computer, and you're online.

Since there are likely phone lines already connected to your home or business, you will not need to order dial tone phone service to use DSL. Most residences and businesses have a Network Interface Device (NID) on the exterior of the building; this is where the phone lines enter the home. Usually, phone wires run from the NID to each phone jack in the building. As long as you have this connection with your phone company, you should be able to order DSL service as long as you are within the range of the signal. DSL signals are subject to attenuation, so the further you are from the source of the signal, the slower and less reliable the connection.

Dry-loop, naked, or unbundled connections all refer to the same thing -- DSL Internet without dial tone phone service. Since you have phone lines already connected to your home or business, the DSL signal can be sent over those lines. If the phone lines stop at the NID on the outside of your home, a provider may have to run a dedicated line from the NID to your modem inside your home.