Many Internet Users Happy With Dial-Up 571
prostoalex writes "With cable and DSL operators constantly pushing the values of broadband, and with the President of the United States himself announcing broadband access a priority, the New York Times reports (free reg. req.) that some people actually are perfectly satisfied with their 56K connection. In February 2003 Pew Internet conducted a survey, where they found out 60% of dial-up users weren't interested in switching, a year later in 2004 the percentage was roughly the same."
well. the logic is simple. (Score:5, Funny)
Re:well. the logic is simple. (Score:3, Funny)
In February 2003 Pew Internet conducted a survey, where they found out 60% of dial-up users weren't interested in switching, a year later in 2004 the percentage was roughly the same."
Hmmm - wonder how a typical response went like ... I'm thinking something among these lines:
2003:
Q: Are you interested in switching to broadband?
A: Broadband? Bah - in my day I used cans and a string to access the local bulletin board, and that was good enough for me! This fancy schmancy broadband is just marketing schmuck
Re:well. the logic is simple. (Score:5, Funny)
I don't want to spend $50 a month just so hackers can set my computer on fire, impregnate my wife, and steal my inner child.
That and,
I don't know what I would need the extra speed for, all I use is AIM and email.
Re:well. the logic is simple. (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:well. the logic is simple. (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:well. the logic is simple. (Score:3, Insightful)
I second that. I'm still transfering the last of the old time radio I found and downloaded on lunch two weeks ago. DSL reports makes DSL and Cable look like Dial-up compaired to my work connection. I need a bigger keyfob. 128 Meg is too small for a lunch break download session. I'd rather have my ~20 Meg DL speed instead of DSL or cable at 0.128 Meg/sec. Dial-up a
Re:well. the logic is simple. (Score:5, Funny)
Re:well. the logic is simple. (Score:5, Insightful)
For argument's sake lets assume that the other 40% switched to Broadband after they were surveyed in 2003. Now if 60% of the remaining people have no interest in switching a year later then we have an increase in broadband interest.
Re:well. the logic is simple. (Score:3, Informative)
Given 100 users surveyed, we might assume that the 40% who were interested made the switch between the survey in 2003 and 2004. That leaves 60 users for the survey in 2004
60% of 60 users is 36 users so in reality, only 36% of the original population has not switched and is still not interested.
Re:well. the logic is simple. (Score:3, Interesting)
Many people HATE dial-up but have no alternative.
Real Response (Score:4, Funny)
Q: Are you interested in switching to broadband?
A: Well, I haven't really considered it before. I mean, the costs are high, but it seems to be the rage these days, so I'd really be in-NO CARRIER
Re:$30 a month for what? fast web pages? come on ! (Score:4, Insightful)
My ISP connection sucks (Score:5, Insightful)
I went through the @home/ATT/Comcast shake-ups, but I ALWAYS loved my broadband. Even with Comcast I didn't have much downtime and the speeds were just great. I loved it.
But now, me and my family had to move to St. Joseph, Michigan and the only high-speed (where I am) is this fly-by-night ISP called "Green County Cable". I mean, they SUCK. They are down quite a bit, and their speeds are 400 kilo bits sec...down from the great 3Mega bits sec I was getting when I was last on Comcast (they upgraded from 1.5 to 3).
Add to the fact that I'm paying the exact same price I was paying for Comcast...and it SUCKS. But even after all that, no way would I ever ever ever go back to plain dial-up. It's just way too slow.
I have a feeling that if all those people that are satisfied with dial-up were given a taste of broadband, they'd never go back. I know from experience my mother-in-law. She's been on AOL for years, and had no intention of ever switching. But Comcast came through her neighborhood and offered to hook her up for free for 30 days...and she's never gone back to dial up.
It's like the drug pushers...the first hit is always free.
Re:My ISP connection sucks (Score:3, Interesting)
I stick with dial-up at home because the fix at work is free. I do the DL/s at work at much higher than DSL or Cable speeds and dial-up gets me on Slashdot and e-mail on the weekends.
Why spend the extra $30/month if you don't have to? With the (30*12) $360/year saved, I buy a toy like a digital camera or GPS.
In my area Comcast is the only provider. They charge an extra $10/month if your not a cable TV subscriber. The extra surcharge is keepin
Re:well. the logic is simple. (Score:3, Funny)
Area man constantly mentioning he's happy with dial-up.
NOWHERE, IL: Area resident Jimmy Jacobs does not have broadband, a fact he repeatedly points out to friends, family, and coworkers - as well as to his mailman, neighborhood convenience-store clerks, and the man who cleans the hallways in his apartment building.
"I, personally, would rather spend my time doing something useful than reading web sites," Jacobs told a random woman Monday. Last week, there was a printout of
Re:well. the logic is simple. (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:well. the logic is simple. (Score:4, Insightful)
In addition, I'm not even at 56k. I'm connecting on a used 28.8 modem because my computer came with one of those stupid winmodems and I had to switch with my parents.
It's really not a bad gig. I have SDSL at work, so I can download anything I want overnight at work, and burn CDs to bring it home. I'm not missing anything.
In other news.. (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:In other news.. (Score:5, Funny)
Most people eat hamburger not fillet mignon.
Most people buy at WalMart not Maceys.
Most people....
Re:In other news.. (Score:5, Funny)
Most people spell it Wal-Mart, not Walmart.
Most people spell it Macy*s, not Maceys.
No malice intended
You missed (Score:5, Funny)
You could have had every line in the parent post but you blew it.
In still other news.. (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:No they don't (Score:3, Funny)
Re:In other news.. (Score:5, Insightful)
While the "premium channel" analogy has validity, I'd say that broadband is more like a microwave oven in the late 70s.
Many people (my grandmother, for example) said that they didn't see the need for a microwave. The stove and oven were more than sufficient for their needs.
Until they actually got one.
My grandmother was a holdout until 1992, when she finally bought one. A week later, she mentioned to me that she couldn't believe she'd waited that long, and that it had changed the way she cooked (and she was always a really good cook).
However, unlike a conventional oven (which is still better than a microwave for certain things like turkeys, bread, and pizza), there's not really anything a 56k connection does better than a broadband connection. Dial-up's only real advantage is that it requires no additional equipment or infrastructure, but that won't last long as the equipment becomes more common.
Another example would be the cell phone or a TiVo... something that doesn't seem all that necessary until you actually use it, then you can't stand dealing with the old way. I'm not chained to my desk anymore because I can always forward my phone to my cell. I can't stand watching "live" tv now, because TiVo has unshackled me from the temporal fetters of the network programming droids.
And I shudder inside when I have to stay in a hotel that doesn't have a broadband connection in the room... even text-email seems to take forever to download. I don't bother with web sites much when on dial-up.
Spoiled? Yeah... but then I don't see many folks using rotary phones these days, either.
Re:In other news.. (Score:4, Informative)
Even picking that phone up will cause problems on DSL. Dialing it can damage your DSL modem, since a "pulse" is just a quick short in the line.
I was quite annoyed when I had to track down a new DSL modem at Best Buy because the freaking ancient phone on the kitchen counter was dialed while I was online. And don't tease about Best Buy, either, 'cause that's where the SBC guys told me to go. It was either $75 to Best Buy or $200 to SBC for a new modem. Bastards.
Can you tell I'm bitter?
Re:In other news.. (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:In other news.. (Score:3, Insightful)
Just today cnn is reporting that 2 of 5 [cnn.com] "web users" do have broadband. The trend over the last 5 years is pretty clear!
silly people (Score:5, Insightful)
I'd be very interested to see how many of these people have ever experienced broadband, and if their attitudes would change if they had.
I realize that broadband can be overkill for many people, but even casual web-surfing can be painfully slow on dial-up.
Oh well, more bandwidth for me
Re:silly people (Score:5, Insightful)
At work: T3, DVD-Burner, USB Flash drive.
At home: USB port, DVD-reader. 56k modem for emergencies.
Total mantenance cost: around $4 a month on top of my phone bill.
Re:silly people (Score:3, Funny)
At home: USB port, DVD-reader. 56k modem for emergencies.
In unemployment line: Priceless.
Re:silly people (Score:5, Informative)
I'm one of them.
We have 100Mb throughout the work organization, with a link to Internet2. I've got a DSL connection to a remote system for work. Yes, I think I've experienced broadband.
I almost never surf at home. When I do, I sometimes think "I ought to get broadband", but when it comes down to doing it, it's not a high priority. Because it is slow, I never enable images or scripts, which means I never get popups or annoying ads.
I does email and sends a bit of data out to be posted on a website. Most of that is automatic. I have more media (music, radio, and TV) than I can watch and listen to already, I don't need to download more. I gets distros on DVD or CD, either from work or in Linux Format.
Why do I need broadband at home?
As an aside, I actually did "get" broadband, for a day. I experienced the Qwest "Spirit of service Inaction". The qwest sales team lied to me and told me that static IP was included in the price they had quoted me. When it came time to deliver, they wanted $15/month more. That was after they installed the service on the wrong line, and then said it would take another week to get it right. They lied to the state public service commission when I complained, so I never got any action taken against them for the fraud they committed.
So, why do I need broadband?
Re:silly people (Score:5, Insightful)
If, on the other hand, I was like my friends who only check their email every couple of days, there'd be no value to going to DSL... I can wait an extra 3 minutes for all of that spam.
As a general rule, I'd say that if you don't go online enough to make getting a second line worthwhile, there's a low probability that you could reasonably justify a broadband connection (and vice-versa). People who are wealthy enough that they wouldn't even pause to think about the $20/month but want their spam and porn right now the 3 days a week that they are online are an exception.
Some people can find better things to do with the extra money (like paying for theatre tickets).
Re:silly people (Score:5, Insightful)
Kind of like how many people remain virgins until they're married, but once you KNOW about sex, you're far less likely to intentionally be celibate for many years.
LK
Re:silly people (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:silly people. It depends on priorities, silly (Score:5, Informative)
We've got dialup at $12 on top of our standard phone bill.
DSL is cheaper than cable modem and the cheapest I could find DSL is $40/month.
Thats a savings of $28/month ($336/ year)
Sure, that's not a ton of money saved, but we also don't have cable tv or eat out much and have only one car. It all adds up, especially when you are working to be debt free.
always connected... (Score:5, Insightful)
The people I know who are staying with phone lines do so because they like getting all of their internet chores done is a single short session.
I think the overall download speed really is a secondary issue to how you organize your online time.
Re:silly people - this is exactly it (Score:3, Interesting)
I understand... (Score:5, Funny)
Maybe... (Score:5, Insightful)
Definitely the case of 'once you've tried it, you'll never go back...'
Re:Maybe... (Score:5, Interesting)
Give all those people 1 or 2 months of free trial broadband, and then force them back to dial-up and I garauntee that those percentage's will change pretty fast.
Problem with free trial is setup costs (Score:3, Informative)
I'd love to see a few ISPs offer a free trial, but I fear that the ones who will are the biggest players, who offer the worst possible contracts compared to the real val
Re:Maybe... (Score:5, Insightful)
My logic is pretty simple:
1) I have high-speed at work for anything serious.
2) When at home, I really don't want to spend time on the Internet. I get to read, garden a little, talk to my wife, generally behave like a non-geek.
3) When I had high-speed internet, I would always be on. It's addicting.
So I discontinued my cable-modem. I can honestly say that I much more enjoy saving the $40 than the experience of high-speed internet (but maybe just because I get that at work.) Still, it's remarkable how much you can do on the Internet over a dialup. Google, for instance, is fast even on a dialup (as is the Google cache.)
Re:Maybe... (Score:5, Funny)
You wanker. Get a life ...
Re:Maybe... (Score:3, Informative)
However, I've got 6 acres to mess around on with my wife and dogs. I periodically think about
Re:Maybe... (Score:3, Informative)
2) When at home, I really don't want to spend time on the Internet. I get to read, garden a little, talk to my wife, generally behave like a non-geek.
3) When I had high-speed internet, I would always be on. It's addicting.
I use similar logic for no longer having cable TV. However, I felt cable TV was something that draws you in and demands a strong time commitment. Broadband, on the other hand, makes it easier to download software, upload 4 megapixel
but why.. (Score:4, Insightful)
So why would a user switch to broadband for just checking emails and browsing some websites if this can be done reasonably well using dial-up?
Re:Maybe... (Score:3, Informative)
please also notice that in europe(at least around here) there is NO free local calls.
broadband gets cheaper quite fucking fast when it costs even 1-2 cent per minute. considering when I lived back at still at my parents it was not unusual to get a (what amounts to)200-300$ phone bill.
so for a even modest 'power user' getting broadband is a cost issue rather than just plain speed issue around here..
Do they know any better? (Score:4, Insightful)
"Same percentage" != "Same number" (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:"Same percentage" != "Same number" (Score:3, Informative)
2) In this case the absolute number of dialup users CAN decrease, yet the percentage of users remaining on dialup, who don't want to switch to broadband, can stay the same.
There's nothing wrong with the original poster's point.
Re:Do they know any better? (Score:5, Interesting)
I find that far more liberating and useful than being tethered to a desk in a corner near the phone jack, and having to tie up the phone line while I'm online.
I don't know what call costs are in the US, but in Australia, you're generally paying 20c a call to dial-up. If you dial up 2-3 times a day (norm in my house pre-broadband), you've got your $25/month dial-up account + $18/month in calls. Suddenly your slow-poke connection that controls the phone line too is $43/month and not looking so fantastic against the $59/month ADSL connection with 12GB of data allowance.
I'm more than aware that families are being hit with costs like never before (monthly bills for gas, water, electricity, mobile phones (my household has at least 4), internet access, pay TV, and so on, but I'd choose broadband over pay TV, and definitely over dial-up. Imagine never hearing a modem handshake again. Bliss!
Re:Do they know any better? (Score:5, Informative)
One of the peculiarities of US phone service left over from the old AT&T monopoly is that all but the cheapest of residential plans allow free unlimited local calling. You can get straight metered service to save a few bucks if you never make any outgoing calls, but usually only the forgotten elderly do that. Back in the old Ma Bell days, local service was pretty well subsidized by expensive long distance rates. Perhaps it was to encourage residential phones so businesses would have someone to telemarket to...
Re:Do they know any better? (Score:3, Interesting)
I originally set my mother up with dialup, since that was all that was available in her area. Once a month or so I had to do telephone support with her to try and figure out what she had broken. The phone number got erased from the dialer pro
Maybe it's not the speed? (Score:3, Insightful)
Duh! (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:Duh! (Score:3, Insightful)
That is about all my parents ever do. The kicker is the attachments that they send and recieve. Do you know how long it takes to recieve 60megs of pictures? They have people they know sending them theses pictures (they need them for newsletters) who don't notice the size due to broadband. First time we find out about it is:
Ok, its at 2% and 15 minutes have gone by, what the #@%$ are we getting this time.
I can relate to that (Score:5, Interesting)
Seriously though, the most I do is check mail, a few forums, and some web publishing. All low bandwidth stuff. So, I agree with the story. Broadband is nice but not necessary.
Re:I can relate to that (Score:3, Interesting)
Actually, most people I know of that are happiest with dial-up have access to broadband and a CD-Burner at work.
Between Gentoo, a personal website, Desert Combat its a habit I can't kick. The good news though is that now I feel I have no need for Cable TV.
the only people (Score:2)
not interested in broadband are the ones who've never used it. It took about 24 hours for me to patch my mom's windows 95 box across AOL, with the phone service tied up the whole time.
Totally ridiculous.
SAVAGES! (Score:5, Funny)
Say whaaaaaaat? (Score:2, Funny)
--riney
Do the math (Score:5, Interesting)
In other news: dog bites man.
E-mail's more popular than anything else... (Score:5, Insightful)
- Faster speed is not much of a benefit to them. They don't download images very often, and they're fine with walking away from their computer for however long it takes while those downloads happen.
- They don't particularly care about their phone callers getting busy signals, they don't get that many really important phone calls anyway.
- To them, changing e-mail addresses would be a nightmare. Some are even clinging onto address that they've had since 1994. The ISP may have gone defunct, but the old domain name is still being supported by the ISP that aquired them. Look at all the legacy domains Earthlink is still supporting. [earthlink.net]
- And, we're also talking about people who hate monthly bills. For retired people, they plan their budgets very carefully and even a $10/month difference bothers them.
Bottom line... not everybody wants an always-on Internet connection. Sure, everybody reading Slashdot who doesn't have one wants one... but there are a lot of people in the USA who wouldn't even know what Slashdot is.
Broadband is gaining popularity (Score:2)
About the content (Score:2)
Even with sites polluting their content with flash banners and the like, for plain old website reading, dialup might just be fine.
Dial-uppers don't know what they're missin' (Score:4, Funny)
Text only pages, or ones with minimal images, are even much faster on broadband. They are still somewhat bearable with Dial Up, but anything with a decent image takes forever. Not to mention streaming legal videos, playing legal games, and downloading pr0....gressively more material.
Finite and ever-dwindling... (Score:5, Insightful)
So instead of saying "60 percent of modem users are happy", you could just as easily say "modem market shrinking by 20 percent per year". Most analysts would call that a dying industry.
Lies, damn lies, and statistics. It's all how you spin it. (i.e. no story here, move along.)
Re:Finite and ever-dwindling... (Score:3, Interesting)
Not really. A friend of mine works for a dial-up (plus resold broadband) ISP, and their business seems stable. For one thing, there are new dial-up users being added to the market every day; not all of those new computer sales are replacements, and not all replaced computers are retired. Plus there is a core of dial-up users who will "never" go away (i.e. until there'
Shouldn't the percentage have gone up? (Score:2)
60% of what? (Score:2)
TW
Cable/DSL not available in remote areas (Score:2)
Kind of like slow soda drinkers (Score:5, Funny)
Stats (Score:3, Interesting)
Makes sense... (Score:3, Insightful)
Obviously, prices vary by area, but that's what it is around here.
It's quite strange... (Score:5, Funny)
I also seem to notice that the friends without broadband seem to accomplish more and lead happier lives. Their lawns are not 8" tall all the time, the cars are always clean and they seem to keep a more tidy abode. Coincidence? Hmm...
Now where did I put that Slack ISO? Ahh, I'll just download it again. While I'm doing that, I might as well go check out Slashdot [slashdot.org] or Fark. [fark.com] My grass can wait 'til another day. Like I care what the neighbors think...
Thank God for broadband.
Re:It's quite strange... (Score:3, Insightful)
Strangely enough, I find these two sentences to be contradictory.
Re:It's quite strange... (Score:3, Insightful)
I don't know. I use to think like that, but with all the increased layers of abstraction, if this guy knows how databases and Java works, then how will knowing how the computer works help him?
Knowing the low levels of how the computer works won't help him write more efficient code like it would in C. For that all he needs to know are the O(x) of his algorithms and database calls. Nor will it help him with security, since you can't muck
Sure, why not? (Score:3, Interesting)
But you get so many more channels! And there's on-screen digital menus! And you can get a personal recorder! And! And! And!
Yeah, all true. All very nifty keen. I just have things that are more interesting to me to spend $360/year on (or, say, $10,800 over the next 30 years before I retire). However, I can't stand being without broadband.
I have relatives that just like to send e-mail. They compose off-line and batch-send. They use the web sometimes - mostly to shop - but often don't connect every day. Now they pay $15 a month or whatever for access and you could say that another $15 isn't much more...I'm sure when the difference gets down to zero they'll go broadband, but...
Percentage, schmercentages (Score:5, Interesting)
I'd be interested in seeing the raw numbers on this. In particular, I'd like to know the differential number on the "didn't cares" to see how many of those switched to broadband.
Post Hoc, Ergo Propter Hoc (Score:3, Interesting)
I'd like to see the study of users who to switch BACK to 56k after having broadband for a year or two. I bet by then it would be a necessity.
E-mail portability? (Score:5, Interesting)
Now, it'd be relatively simple to do this, just require that ISPs offer forwarding service for up to a year after a customer cancels, and the new ISP can kick back an e-mail telling anybody who's e-mails that the user has moved to them.
Of course, no ISP is going to offer this without the government ordering them to... but couldn't the FTC or FCC step in on this one?
Re:E-mail portability? (Score:3, Insightful)
A good point, but with one flaw I think. If the new ISP sends an email to the sender each time a piece of mail is forwarded from the old domain, what about spam? For each piece of spam mail, you would get twice the email volume. Not to mention that the spammers databases
Re:E-mail portability? (Score:4, Insightful)
Cost vs. Value (Score:3, Insightful)
For a great majority of users, having a computer is enough of an issue as it is. It's a mysterious machine to them, and plugging in extra cash without knowing the benefits isn't an option.
Even if they know and understand the speed benefits, it's often not enough to convince the low-end users to switch. So the pictures download noticeably faster...then what? Unless they're downloading pr0n or swapping major files, it's not that big a deal to them. Unfortunately, this is probably the same crowd that won't wait for Windows Updates to download because it's too much of a hassle.
If you want to put the Linux vs Microsoft parallel to this situation, there's an analogy waiting to be used. People who are used to dialup will not move to the unfamiliar unless absolutely convinced that it's better, faster, and more stable. There's a lot of Windows users out there who are afraid to jump operating systems simply because they'd rather stick to the familiar.
Same thing with dialup vs. broadband. Some people will willingly suffer through low speeds because they don't believe they need anything better.
Of course the analogy breaks the moment pricing is mentioned.
It is called brain rot (Score:3, Insightful)
It also depends on the dialup conditions. (Score:3, Informative)
As it is now, with their shitty dialup, they would definitely pay for DSL/Cable if it was available in their area.
More than Just the Speed (Score:4, Interesting)
And, the price difference is more than you might expect. Not everyone out there uses $24/month AOL. $9.95 dial-up is available from mom-and-pop ISPs all over the country, and some of these are even beginning to offer compressing proxies (ala AOL's "Optimized") to improve web browsing over 56k links.
As for the AOL users, they are accustomed to the special features of AOL, and yes, their aol.com e-mail address. AOL Broadband is $15 a month, on top of your connectivity bill.
And above that, there's just the percieved "hassle" of switching. They're relatively happy with what they have, and don't want to deal with getting a new service, cancelling the old one, telling their friends their new e-mail addresses, etc. etc. etc.
I wonder if number portability requirements will ever extend to e-mail addresses
It's really a lifestyle thing (Score:4, Interesting)
I actually observed the exact same change with my parents: They used to keep the computer off, as there was no reason to keep it on. If they needed something online (like checking their e-mail or looking at a couple of webpages), they'd turn on the PC, wait for it to boot up, fire up the dialup, wait for the connection, download e-mail/check stuff on web, and disconnect as quickly as possible since a) people could be calling on the phone; and b) phone calls were metered by the minute over where they live (Spain). For them, using the computer was a big barrier: You had to go through a long, involved series of steps before even being able to do what you wanted. Looking up someone's information was easier using 411 (over there, 003) than using the PC for it.
Once I convinced them to do the DSL thing, the lifestyle changed completely - the computer remained on constantly, all you had to do to go online and check something was sit in front of it and type - it was always on . I know that's the point of it, but it's a huge mentality change. Seeing the transformation firsthand was amazing.
The curious thing, I find, is the number of people in the article and in the forums here that have experienced broadband, and do so on a daily basis, yet still manage to resist it. Self discipline, cost, just-don't-need-it come up as (to me, surprising) reasons why they say no to broadband.
To me, broadband vs. dialup is like cable/satellite vs. over-the-air reception, faxes vs. mail (back in the 80s), air travel vs. jumping on a boat to come to the US. It's just stuff that once you cross a certain frontier, a certain line, you can't just uncross it, you can't go back. The always-on availability of information, entertainment, and yes, even pr0n
Amazing stuff.
-Jack Ash
I know the difference and prefer dial-up (Score:3, Insightful)
I think it depends on what us dial-up users want. For me:
- I hate anything with FLASH
- I am not interested in movie clips from cnn.com or any other website for that matter
- I don't download music
- I don't online game
- I occationally download a pdf file from the DMV or other useful site, but when I do, I can wait for it
- I don't chat or IM
So yeah, SSH and e-mail (and the occational gander at slashdot.org) is about all that I use. Dial-up is fine.Even 28.8 is not too bad (Score:3, Interesting)
It wasn't all that bad, actually. It required a bit of planning and no Daily Show video downloads, but it made me wonder why I was paying CAN$40/month for DSL while only getting double FAX speed.
No killer app, no legal one. (Score:3, Insightful)
The phone companies can blame themselves.. (Score:4, Interesting)
Phone companies, Bell South is by the worse, don't want to offer lower priced products. Not only do they want out taxes to pay to build their lines they want to charge us insane rates to use them. Everything about the phone company is extortion. Example, if I want Caller ID I have to pay about 8 dollars extra! Now, I can get caller id as part of a package of services for only 12.95 (or thereabouts).
What about their $30 a month DSL? Sure, 256 down! and only IF I subscribe to their expensive packages on my phone, like that $12.95 I mentioned earlier.
I truly believe the only reason the Cable companies can keep such high rates is because the phone companies do it.
I have given serious consideration to backing down to dial-up through a low cost provider. 30-40 dollars a month savings doesn't sound like much until you work it out across the year, then its 360 to 480. Thats many good dinners out with someone, some good computer hardware, or one motorcylce payment for me!
Re:Cable companies built their networks... (Score:3, Insightful)
And telephone companies didn't? You lost me there. Even if that is the case, they certainly do pay for the continual maintenance of the telephone lines, so they have a right to them.
The fact the cable company paid to lay their lines should not give them absolute control. The rights to install the lines where they did, on public and private property, are granted by the local government, presumably in the interes
Reminds me of... (Score:3, Insightful)
Cable TV
Cell phones
Personal computers
All items that a certain percentage of the population sniffed at as unnecessary when they first hit the market. In fact there are probably more than a few Slashdot readers who don't have all four of the items listed above.
But the point is that all four are now ubiquitous. They're so inexpensive and widely distributed that pretty much anyone who wants to purchase can do so.
There are enough people demanding broadband in the U.S. that eventually it will become truly ubiquitous. There may be holdouts who use dial-up for many years to come, but the economic necessity of broadband access will ensure that it comes about either through private enterprise, government intervention, or a combination of the two.
Comment removed (Score:4, Informative)
Why? And pretty funny also (Score:3, Informative)
So the question remains, why aren't the dial-up users spending the extra US$ 10 to get always-on broadband DSL? I'm guessing many of the dial-up users can't get DSL in the first place. But that doesn't explain this article though.
Visiting Family - Broadband frustration (Score:3, Interesting)
First attempt was cable modem. The cable company wanted to wait three weeks before they could drop the modem off. In order to pick up the modem, the account holder needs to be present. Problem is, the account holder is my deceased grandfather (grandma doesn't want utility accounts in her name, as she is worried the spammers will know she is a widow and untold horrors will follow).
So, I called up a quality DSL provider and ordered the best service they could guarantee for the line -- 1.5m down / 256k up. The DSL gear arrived in a few days, and service followed a few days later. The modem synced at 384k down / 128k up. The ISP's bandwidth tester measured 200k down and 22k up. Even better, the connection is highly intermittant, much of the time a ping to the ISP-side router results in 65 % packet loss! Actual service is ocasionally 2-3x dialup speed, but mostly intermittant. Grandma can't understand why her emails take hours to send (because the mail server can't be contacted...).
I've arranged for the DSL people to contact the incumbant teleco and work on the line. This may happen in the next few days.
At the same time, I'm in touch with the cable modem ppl who claim they can get a modem and install dude out in two or three days. Would be nice if they can accomplish this, but I'm not hopeful.
As an experienced IT guy who has made fiber and DS3 cross connects, planned redundant router installations for small colos, and developed large portions of major software packages, I find this process very frustrating. For grandma, the difficulty is a thousand miles over her head.
Grandma is eager to get back to dialup (which I've done, until the teleco or the cable ppl can give us a decent connection). I'm back to alternating between Starbucks WiFi, and bluetooth+GPRS.
Even better -- Grandma's house is right on the beach in a rather high-rent neighborhood. The houses are huge, so the density of customers per square mile is low, and the distance to the CO is high.
60% (Score:4, Insightful)
2003:
10,000 people surveyed (note: I'm making up numbers to make a point)
4,000 currently on dialup
2,400 don't care to switch to broadband
2004:
10,000 people surveyed
1,000 currently on dialup
600 don't care to switch
"Last year, 60%, this year 60%" doesn't mean much without know whether a lot of the people who didn't care to switch a year ago have already switched.
DSL on a modem (Score:3, Informative)
I had a really great ISP that had shell accounts on unix machines with all the usual GNU tools, so I'd write scripts to handle whatever tasks that required a constant connection. I had scripts that would even buy stuff without any user interaction. It's a good way to learn to test your code a lot before putting it into production.
So it's not at all suprising that people can do without broadband. If a heavy user like myself could get by just about anybody could.
Speed is irrelevant (Score:3, Insightful)
Right now I have 256kbit connection which is also much cheaper (60$/mon and unlimited traffic, unlike the old one). I like the ability to play UT2004, use P2P and download videos, demos, flash, etc., but this isn't the best part of broadband. The best part is being able to instantly look up everything you need on a miriad of sites as much in-depth as you need.