You have a box, just like cable, though the connection runs through phone line instead of through cable. Though it goes through your phone line, your phone can still be used, unlike with dial up. Verizon DSL in this area is very good, I dont think mine has had any downtime in over 2 years and i think its cheaper. Also, your download speeds will be around 1/5 of a megabyte per second. Thats blazing fast, 200K per sec. Cant beat that for a cheaper price and with no downtime either.