Progress in bringing broadband to Darwin
Simply switching the switch can
solve Darwin's broadband woes

Although stone-walled by Verizon and others for 10 years, Darwin residents continue their crusade for broadband.

Always darkest before the dawn, 2008 was a particularly depressing year for broadband-hungry Darwinians .... Until it was discovered that DSL was just a switch away.

2008 — Residents widely believe for many years that DSL is impossible because the switch would be too far away, about 35 miles too far away. After all, the phone company should know what they're doing, right?

Then, a couple hayseed rubes from Darwin fall off a rutabaga truck and look online (using 28.8k of course) and discover that, yes, in a traditional DSL setup, the switch cannot be more than about three miles away. But in remote areas, the switch can be moved to the remote area. This switch can be fed by a T1 line and is called a mini remote DSLAM. Since Darwin will NEVER have more than about 45 residents, a mini remote DSLAM is an almost perfect solution.

In conversations with manufacturers of these switches, researching Darwinians were told their cost was $1,000-$5,000. They are ready to deploy now, and are in use all over the world.

So what happens next? Does the phone company use a small amount of its cell-phone cash cow business to help out a community in dire need of a speedier internet connection. Nah, that would be too logical, fiscally wise and humanistic — and as we know corpoare America and the word "humanistic" rarely appear in the same sentence. What happens is that subterfuge and double-talk continues. As does the fascinating saga.