Quite a number of Lake Burton homes off of Murray Cove Road are too far from Windstream’s existing telephone switching equipment to receive DSL broadband Internet service. If you have a home in this area, we encourage you to contact Tim McCabe at palduck@bellsouth.net. He is compiling a list of homeowners requesting DSL service along Murray Cove Road. His list will periodically be sent to Windstream management.

Thanks in part to ongoing efforts of the LBCA membership, Windstream has provided high speed Internet access for most of the Lake Burton community in the form of Digital Subscriber Line (DSL) service.

Providing DSL service required the upgrade of remote telephone switching equipment in various locations throughout our community. There are at least seven remote switches serving Lake Burton. In the Batesville telephone exchange, the Goldmine, Wildcat, and Dick's Creek switches have all been upgraded to provide DSL service. Windstream customers served by the Clayton telephone exchange are served by the Timpson, Tallulah, and Bridge Creek remote switches. By October of 2006 each of these three switches were upgraded. If your telephone service is not provided by one of the upgraded switches . . . or if you are too far from your switch to receive a DSL signal . . . DSL service cannot presently be made available to you.

If the Windstream telephone customer service representative tells you that you are in an area where service is not available, we encourage you to contact a local Windstream manager or technician to make sure that you have been given accurate information. They are much more knowledgeable about how the cables providing telephone service are routed through our remote mountainous areas. Sometimes special arrangements can be made to extend service past the "official" limits. Once you have verified from local Windstream personnel that service cannot be made available, you will need to seek other means of acquiring high speed Internet service.

The first alternative you might consider is Verizon Wireless. Verizon provides a PCMCIA card which will provide connectivity to your notebook computer. Please note, however, that their service is for limited Internet usage. If basic email and brief web browsing are your only needs, this may be a workable solution. There are pricing incentives if you are already a Verizon customer. For additional information, you may wish to contact Patrick Kennedy with Verizon:   patrick.kennedy@verizonwireless.com, 800-482-0890 Ext. 2128.

As a second alternative, you may be able to install a satellite Internet system. This technology (similar to that in satellite television systems) has proven to be an acceptable solution to some area residents. You will need to have a site survey done to make sure there are no physical barriers - such as mountains and trees - that obstruct the satellite signal. For additional information on this option you may wish to contact HughesNet. For information regarding their services, follow this link:  http://www.hughesnet.com.

Copyright © 1999 - 2009 by Lake Burton Civic Association and Scot Roberge.  All rights reserved.