NATCO Now Offers ADSL, An 'Always On' Internet Connection, in Flippin
May 2000

FLIPPIN, Ark. - Northern Arkansas Telephone Company announces that it now offers customers in the Flippin area ADSL, or asymmetric digital subscriber lines. ADSL is a high speed line with the ability to provide regular phone service and Internet, fax, data or video at the same time.

"ADSL is 'always on,' in terms of being connected to the Internet. There is no logging on and off with ADSL," said Steven Sanders Jr., vice president and plant manager of NATCO. Sanders emphasized that ADSL service is provided on the customer's own dedicated line, so the service is not affected by other users going online, the way that cable, telephone and modem services are affected where the backbone connection is shared with others. Also, basic telephone service continues to work even when you have a power failure.

ADSL is over 50 times faster than 28.8 Kbps modems and over 30 times faster than the 56 Kbps modems. ADSL delivers download speeds of over 1.3 Mbs and upstream speeds of over 256 Kbps. While it is faster than NATCO's 128 Kbps ISDN, it does not offer the two voice channels simultaneously as ISDN does (or one voice channel and one data channel), and it is not available to all customers, as ISDN is.

Gearing up for the next wave of Internet broadband services requires a technology such as ADSL or ISDN, Sanders points out. "The evolution from the Web's first generation services of text and still pictures to the next generation of audio and video streamed to the user in real time requires the new technology we are presenting to our customers," Sanders said.

ADSL is a new modem technology that converts existing telephone lines into paths that can carry multimedia and high speed data communications, similar to broadband services.

"More and more residents and small businesses now use the Internet or receive information in video and multimedia formats, increasing the demand for telephone lines," said Sanders. ADSL technology makes it possible for NATCO to deliver affordable high speed remote access to the Internet, to corporate networks and online services over ordinary phone lines.

ADSL and Internet are packaged together for $65.95 per month. When the cost of the regular telephone line is added in, the total is $78.85 per month for residential customers and $89.10 per month for commercial customers. For more information on ADSL, call NATCO at 1-800-775-6682.

NATCO is an independent telephone company, family-owned since 1951, providing service to a 658-square-mile area covering portions of Marion and Boone counties located along the south shore of Bull Shoals Lake. Company offices are at 301 E. Main St., Flippin, AR 72634.