Stopping The 56K Hate

A just-barely-Anonymous Coward writes: "Every day, hundreds of people are discriminated against by their Internet connection, banned from video/audio downloads, video/audio streaming, gaming, webcasts, and many other everyday Internet activities. The damage starts small -- hurt feelings, a little anger -- but soon it all escalates into pure rage that often leads up into the cutting of the aggressors' broadband line. The broadband users of the internet are the ones that torment the little people. All too often they forget their true origins; where they came from back in the good old days before there were even 56k modems. This website is dedicated to stopping the hate of 56k modems. Show your support by joining the ranks." No accounting for taste, but I laughed from this end of a 53K connection to my ISP.

I stopped the hate...

[Jace of Fuse!]

I stopped hating 56k when I stopped using it.

Out of sight, out of mind.

It's an amusing idea...

[Rendus]

But not nearly as amusing as watching their counter skyrocket :) They're up to 277 or so hits since this was posted.

Do something about it....

[case_igl]

Everyone loves to complain about the lack of high speed access in their area, but most people don't actually do anything about it.

Sure, they put their phone number in the little box on the telco's DSL web page...It says "Not available" and then they leave it at that.

You've GOT to be persistant to get service going in your area. I called every few weeks to the phone company and cable company for a year. Have your friends call, use payphones, etc. These companies are in business just like any other. If there is no "demand" for the service they will put it somewhere that they THINK there is demand.

I know some people are hopelessly stuck with modems because they live way out there. I'm five miles outside of a small town. There's a dairy farm next door...It's pretty rural here, but I've been on a DSL connection now (the first person activated in my area, imagine that!) for a few months.

After ordering the service, the technician who came for the install told me that the local switch had been "DSL ready" for nine months but they never activated the equipment. I think calling often and having friends and neighbors doing the same got them to actually do something.

It's a shame that you have to chase after something you want to BUY so badly, but it's amazing how clueless the companies are. I ordered my service, they did a line test, I received my modem...Then they told me my line didn't qualify because I was too far away (I can SEE the local switch out my window). Turns out the guy on the phone was reading the wrong screen...

Be persistant and don't believe anything they tell you, hehe...
Case
1ee7 LPB

make it simple

[victwenty]

junkbuster is great way to speed up a 56k when it comes to browsing. take out all the adds and html will actually load a lot faster. combine with squid and sharing a 56k isn't even *that* painful if it's all you've got.

..and you can live without downloading much media.

Re:Who needs broadband?

[Da Web Guru]

Go to university for high-speed access? (And while we're on education, can we have some decent grammar...) Um, what happens when you graduate, get a job, and get out into the real world? That 100Mbps connection doesn't follow you wherever you go...

And who needs broadband, you ask? I do. I build web sites for a living, so it's kind of important that I have a high speed connection for work.

Also, my cable modem's uploads are capped at 256kbps, not 128kbps, and my downloads have exceeded 2Mbps...

Anyway, when I was in school we didn't have 100Mbps, we had 10Mbps. And upload speeds (which happened to be full speed) didn't really matter anyway because our campus network admins blocked incoming connections for security purposes. (i.e., no personal FTP/WWW/game/etc. servers) What good is a fast upload if you have nothing to send and nowhere to send it?

Re:Bandwidth is not a right

[uucp]

www.m-w.com

Main Entry: 1 privilege
Pronunciation: 'priv-lij, 'pri-v&-
Function: noun
Etymology: Middle English, from Old French, from Latin privilegium law for or against a private person, from privus private + leg-, lex law
Date: 12th century
: a right or immunity granted as a peculiar benefit, advantage, or favor : PREROGATIVE; especially : such a right or immunity attached specifically to a position or an office

Damn. Where are the BLINK tags when you need them?

I can't even get cable TV.

[nihilvt]

Everyone loves to complain about the lack of high speed access in their area, but most people don't actually do anything about it.

I live 15 milies away from the capital of the United States and I can't get cable/DSL. Why? Unforunately because of my location zoning requirements require livable areas to have lots no smaller than two acres. Most other land is agricultural. I can't even get cable TV. It's not profitable. Am I anywhere near the Telco? Nope. What does Verizon tell me? No DSL any time soon, buddy. I can't get broadband because I can't do ANYTHING about it. I'd say most of us that gripe about it simply can't get it at all.

What really steams me is the people who don't think they can 'afford' broadband, or just plain wont pay the extra few pennies for it. These people deserve our wrath and then some

I'd pay. Believe me, I would pay if it was even possible to get ANYthing here.

Consumer broadband is here. Your only excuse for not having it is geographical.
Amen.

Telcos: chronically behind on their own data

[Old Man Kensey]

Chanc_Gorkon wrote:

I bet Database's not being updated is the primary reason that DSL is not available in more places.

I don't know about the primary reason, but certainly a big one. My rule has always been (and it's worked for 4 attempted DSL installs, 2 successful):

1. Get an as-the-crow-flies distance estimate. Don't just trust what getspeed.com or dslreports tells you -- check the address of the CO they give you on a map, then check with the telco to make sure it's the right CO. Draw a line from where you are to where it is and figure the distance. Then drive there and check your odometer (cabling tends to follow streets so the cable distance is probably at least as long as the shortest driving distance). If you come up with more than about 20,000 feet, you're hosed (except see below). Otherwise, keep going.
   
2. Call the DSL provider in question. If they say they don't provide to your area, make them tell you why not. A lot of places will not provide to apartment complexes because they don't realize that the lines generally all go to a phone closet with everything nicely labeled (for varying values of "nicely"). If they say your line didn't test clean, make them tell you when it was tested. If it was more than a few months ago, make them test it again.
   
3. If they start the order process, keep after them. If they say they'll be there at 4:00, call them at 4:15 if nobody shows up. Don't waste your time thinking the guy might have gotten stuck in traffic -- they will have phone contact with their installers, make them use it.
   
4. If they stop the order process halfway through, make them tell you why. Is there something wrong with your lines specifically? Is it an equipment issue? Don't let them call your operating system "unsupported" -- make it clear that you expect a physical install and a usable signal even if they refuse to support your specific connection to it.
   
5. If all else fails you can usually get IDSL. The bastard child of the DSL family, it's slow and it requires a phone line all to itself, but if your switch supports it you can get it no matter how far from the switch you are (just like an ISDN line). It's not out-of-band signaling like the others are so it's not subject to filtering out. The only thing is multiplexing might degrade it (just like it does a voice signal).
   
6. If you've made reasonable efforts, waited for installers who never come, paid in advance for service you still haven't gotten, and the response you get is basically "screw you, Bell was our daddy", take it to your Public Utility Commission. Most (all?) states have one and their raison d'etre is to redress poor customer service and abuses by regulated monopoly utilities. Here in Virginia that job is handled by the State Corporation Commission (other places it's usually its own agency) and they have the power, they know it and they do not hesitate to use it. I've had a vice-president of a regional telco call me personally to apologize and had Verizon ask me what day and time is most convenient for their installer to serve me. It's a last resort, but here at least, one that gets fast results.
7. Most of all, be informed. Know how the technology works and why it should work for you.
   

Sometimes you just can't get DSL (or cable as the case may be, and most of the above suggestions apply there too), but more often the telco or cableco is just going with the easy install over anything that even whiffs of being complicated. Be persistent. Be a pain in the ass if they feed you lines. Don't be afraid to use the consumer agencies whose whole purpose is to make the telco give you the service you're paying for. Recognize when they really can't do it, but make them prove it.