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Installing a DSL line yourself sounds appealing: No technician to wait for, no new cables to put in--everything works over your existing telephone line. And getting DSL from your current ISP makes the deal seem even sweeter.

Self-install DSL has been available before, but new offerings from EarthLink and AOL mark the first time national ISPs provide the option.

AOL offers a self-install DSL version of its AOL Plus broadband service, but only to existing users. You can order the service directly from AOL or buy a $170 Actiontec USB DSL modem (a PCI version is $150) with AOL Plus software from a local Circuit City. Check your eligibility for DSL service at AOL's site before you buy a modem, and note that when AOL lists Windows 95 or 98 under its AOL Plus system requirements, these are the only operating systems that currently work with the service. (AOL says Me support should be available in February.) We were unable to test AOL Plus in time for this story.

We tested EarthLink's self-install service ($40 per month, including modem), but our experience proved less than ideal. We faced a string of missed deadlines, bad communication, and appalling service. As for speed, well ... for the first three weeks, my DSL line was slower than a dial-up connection. It took some time for the company's promise of a fix "soon" to become a reality, and it was a bumpy ride.

Hurry Up and Wait

As with any DSL service, you must first see if you can get DSL at all--you may need to call your ISP (as you must with EarthLink), check its site, or call the phone company.

After I placed my order with EarthLink, the provider contacted my phone company to set an installation date, and then informed me. (Though a technician does not have to come to your house, your phone company still needs to reconfigure wires at its end--be prepared to wait.)

A DSL kit arrived about two weeks after I placed my order. Clear instructions covered the entire installation process, although nothing mentioned EarthLink specifically. Pacific Bell, which handles the physical DSL connection for EarthLink in my area, provides this generic kit for all ISPs using its DSL service. My kit contained a Westell WireSpeed DSL modem, a Kingston PCI ethernet card, and five microfilters that you place between your phone jacks and phones or fax machines to prevent DSL signal interference.

A few days later, the software arrived. It too was fairly easy to install, though it lacks native support for Windows 2000 and Me. However, the connection failed to work on the preset installation day.

The culprit was confusion between the various companies involved--a common problem with DSL service. Pacific Bell postponed its installation, but EarthLink didn't know. Another two days passed before I received a letter from Pacific Bell offering an explanation and a new date, set for a week later.

The line worked on that date, but I couldn't use the service. Another call to EarthLink tech support revealed I had not been entered properly into its database, which took another day to correct. Finally, slightly less than five weeks after ordering the service, I was up and running.

The Fix Is In

Unfortunately, the line was glacially slow. The average download speed was mired around 28 kbps--well below the several hundred kbps that DSL connections can offer, and far below the speed of a 56-kpbs dial-up modem. Numerous calls to EarthLink's tech support revealed there was "an issue" caused by a router that transfers data from EarthLink's network to Pacific Bell, which then sends me the data. Both companies were aware of the problem--although no one told me about it when I signed up--but it took several weeks to fix. EarthLink says it will offer refunds to customers in my area who have experienced that difficulty.

But that's not all. EarthLink tech support recommends I turn the DSL modem off when it's not in use to prevent DSL signal loss--odd for a service billed as an "always-on connection." It could also be a real problem with a home gateway, which lets several people use a single connection.

So while self-install kits may be convenient, our experience reveals that the long-anticipated nirvana of a DSL line that's easy to install and fast is still some ways off.