[geeks] Roll your own DSL

[Jonathan Katz]

Mike asked:
> I talked to our local phone co about this a year or so ago and they 
> basically said it couldn't be done. Usually what you want is an "Alarm 

Legally I thought they *had* to offer alarm loops.

> My friend and I are about 1 block away but across a major road. We've 
> been toying with the idea of simple running the wire down the street 
> and doing something like stapling it to the road. Or maybe walking up 
> to the sewer guys with a case or two of beer and a roll of wire. These 
> difficulties are why I was asking about wireless a while ago. That 
> brings up another question, say we have three houses in a line like so:
> 
> A----B-----C
> 
> Now A and C are too far away to talk to each other but both can reach 
> B, will B automagically regenerate/route the signal so A and C can talk 
> or does B need to do routing?

Different idea. Roll your own wireless.
Build your own wireless optical network.

Provided you have line of site (you should if you're across the street
from one another and have rooftops higher than traffic) you can setup
laser pointers. All you need are two laser pointers, something from
radio shack which will generate a signal when a pinpoint of light hits
it (should be easy to find) and then hack it into a serial port. You
should be able to do 1-2Mbps with it.

-Jon