Project Pronto

Update:

SBC has drastically slowed the rollout of Project Pronto. The current situation is basically if it's already in the ground they'll finish it up, but RT's that were scheduled but not in ground will most likely be cancelled for now. New construction that would require an RT anyway will most likely be DSL capable. Areas that have a high enough POTS density that require an equipment change may also get DSL capable RT's.

The following pages are an attempt to better explain what exactly Project Pronto is. So what is Project Pronto? Basically it is a $6 billion effort by SBC to provide DSL to 80% of it's customers. This includes Pacbell, Southwestern Bell, Ameritech, Nevada Bell, and SNET. Project Pronto makes DSL available to customers who would normally be too far away to get normally provisioned DSL service.

DSL service depends on the distance from your house to the CO (Central Office) of the phone company. Distance limits vary, but todays orders usually require that you are within about 14,000 feet from the CO. This is where the RT comes in to save the day. If your house is served from an RT, then the distance that matters is now from your house to the RT. In my case, I'm about 33k feet from the CO, no way of getting DSL without an RT. However, the RT is only about 4k feet from my house.

Instead of standard copper phone lines going all the way back to the CO, the RT has fiber optic lines going back to the CO. Currently the RT's are setup with a pair of OC-3 (155Mbps) lines back to the CO. One is for the DSL signals, and the other is for your POTS (Plain Old Telephone Service).

One very common question is, "Where and when will an RT go live in my area?" That can be a very difficult question to answer. First of, most people that you talk to at SBC will not have a date for you. This information, along with location, is considered private. People seem to have the best luck asking the local tech when they see them around the neighborhood. Keep in mind, that not all of these guys will know about the RT's, and some that know may not tell you everything, it's not really their job. Just be nice to them, and they often will help you out if they can.

Putting in an RT is not just throwing a box out there with some equipment in it, and firing it up. Keep in mind that this is a $6 billion project. The RT cabinets are quite large, and the CEV's require quite a bit of work because they are so huge (18ft underground). SBC needs to get local government to approve of building these facilities, they also need to get power. All of this can throw a huge wrench in things. Many RT's in the Los Angeles area are sitting there full of equipment, and ready to go, if they could only get them powered.

Pictures: Pictures of the different types of RT's you may see in your neighborhood.

Technical Explanations

Graphics that show the path from your house to the internet