Product/Link: Bell Atlantic's Infospeed DSL. Synopsis: An ultra-fast, dedicated link to the Internet. Requirements: Click here for full set of Windows and Mac requirements. Price: Varies depending on whether you're a home or business and the speed of service. Rating: There's been a few hickups but I wouldn't go back to 56KB dialup. Comment: Lord have mercy I've finally joined the ranks of the broadband set. Oh, I'm not talking T1 lines or cable speeds but 640Kb sure beats 56Kb. Did you know that the RealPlayer can show actual movies not just slide shows? I use to dread getting 1MB files in my email. Now I wish someone would please send me one. Based on what I've read most of you readers will be upgrading to DSL or cable over the next 18 months. So, I would like to help you avoid some of the setup nightmares you may have read about. Here's how it worked/didn't work for me: External Modem After discovering I was able to receive DSL service I signed up online with Bell Atlantic. They set up the following schedule of events. For $99.00 they shipped me a 3Com EtherLink Network card, a Westell ADSL external modem and the necessary software to make it all run. This package arrived a week before the installation. They scheduled a serviceman to arrive before the installation to make sure I had a "direct" connection to my computer. Network Card If you have a phone number with various phones attached to it from different locations this will not work. I had to pay about $150.00 to have a direct connection wired to the wall by my computer. Now I was ready for the actual set up and installation of my DSL service. They arrived on time! The installation took about two hours. Everything went smoothly but there are a few things you want to take care of before you let that service person leave. One, if you're now using a new DSL service how will you get your email from your old email address? In my case where I use Eudora we just changed the SMTP server address. Two, do you want to keep your old dial up account as a backup incase your DSL goes down? I did, and I made sure it still worked after they added all that new software to my computer. "...make sure everything is working on your computer before anyone leaves." Lastly, make sure everything is working on your computer before anyone leaves. I discovered, too late of course, that the installation of the 3Com EtherLink card caused my computer's sound card to stop functioning. I called Bell tech support and they tried to help but it was an IRQ conflict and they couldn't come up with an answer. I paid $100.00 to our local Computer Doctor to get my sound back. So, if you only take one thing away from this article let it be this: After the serviceman has added all that software and hardware to your machine do not let him leave until you've made sure everything works the way you want it to. Check your sound, check your new service, check your old dial up, try getting your email. PS. Let's not even discuss what we're going to do about transferring all this madness to a newly purchased computer!