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Published on 09/15/1999 All articles from this issue

They want their DSL - and the Hills is getting it for them

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By Leslie K. Martin / Town Crier Staff Writer

os Altos Hills Mayor Elayne Dauber is adamant about the timely installation of DSL technology for residents.

"It's essential to the town because we are in a high-tech town and people will stop moving here without it," she said. High-speed modem lines are one of the first things prospective homeowners ask realtors about, Dauber said.

According to Pacific Bell's Web site, Digital Subscriber Lines (DSL) is a digital data service that can offer data transfer speeds up to 200 times faster than a standard 28.8 modem. With DSL, it's possible to talk on the phone or send a fax, while simultaneously downloading data, graphic, audio, or video files.

Because of the unusually high demands from Los Altos Hills residents for additional phone lines, Randy Okamura, director of external affairs for Pacific Bell, said that the phone company is playing catch up. "We have an obligation to deliver plain old telephone service," he said.

The standard rule-of-thumb used to be one and a half lines per household. But Okamura said homeowners are now requesting three and four lines. Home-run Internet businesses can require as many as 25 lines.

Negotiations are under way between the Los Altos Hills City Council and Pacific Bell for the construction, over the next two years, of the first of a possible five controlled environment vaults (CEV).

Each CEV provides the infrastructure that will allow installation of the copper lines necessary for up to 2,000 additional phone lines, and ultimately for faster services such as DSL. Pacific Bell will pay Los Altos Hills $10,000 per CEV for the rights to build on town property. The first vault is to be installed at Purissima and Elena roads.

CEVs currently have the capacity to serve an area of three linear miles along the path of wires, though Pacific Bell is working on a product that will break the three-mile barrier.

Once agreement is reached on terms for planting and maintaining camouflage landscaping, the resolution to authorize Pacific Bell's CEV construction should be rapid.

Dauber said the town wants to send a clear message to Pacific Bell. "We want DSL to go into the whole town as fast as possible," she said.