[bwann]

Usually this meant the new neighborhood was put behind a subscriber loop carrier (SLC) which added an extra analog/digital conversion. Voice calls were getting digitized locally, sent across a T1 (only 4 wires needed, instead of 96-192), and back to analog to the normal frame at the CO. The effect of this was the telltale sign of carrier speeds only hitting 26,400 bps.

[MBCook]

That’s basically the kind of thing I suspected. Thanks!

I wonder if that config screwed them when it came time to try to sell DSL. It still wasn’t available years later when I moved out.