Dial-up internet access

The BBQ Pit
1

This is not a terribly provocative, or even original rant but I just have to say….

I hate dial access. I hate it because I just waited 2 minutes and 11 fucking seconds for google.com to load, I hate it because it disconnects constantly, I hate it because if you call the damn ISP and tell their lazy csrs that I am unable to stay connected for more than 10 minutes at a time, their response is basically “oh well”, I hate it because it is the only option out where I live, and I hate it because I have to pay $50 a month for it, while I have a friend who lives 10 km south of me who only pays $29.95 a month for cable internet.

I realise that dial access is not the same thing as cable internet, or dsl, or satellite. And I realise I can only dream of their download speed of 2 MBs, compared to my paltry 10.2 kilobits per second. But I think it is not unreasonable to expect to be able to load fucking google. There is one fucking picture on that page, how long can that take? 2 minutes and 11 goddamn seconds apparently.

I just want to check my email, I can’t even get yahoo! to open. I could stand outside and yell, and it would still be more efficient than this

I had to call the company when I first paid for the service because my account name or password wasn’t valid, and I couldn’t dial in. In order to speak to their techs, you need your account pin number. I had no idea what an account pin number was, so I just punched some numbers at random (since their wasn’t an option to skip that step). So the fucking automated voice comes on “If you have forgotten your pin number, it is on the top of your bill”. I don’t get bills mailed to me, because I have it set up for direct payment out of my bank, so I pushed more numbers, and finally got to speak with a tech. Great, except she won’t tell me my password, because I don’t know my pin#. I explained about the direct payment, and she tells me that with direct payment they email the pin# to the customer, because their ISP is trying to create a paperless world (her words). Can they not see how this might create a problem?

And in the time it took my to write this out, it has disconnected 5 times.

2

Bleah. I hated dial-up too. Thankfully I now have DSL.

Maybe some techie doper could come in here and riddle me this: Why did I always get disconnected when I had dial-up? What causes disconnects and can they be prevented? I remember my ISP always blamed me for it somehow.

3

Are you really that far out in the backwoods? Surely there must be more than one ISP for your area if you have phone service at all. I have dial-up service that isn’t anywhere near as crappy as this, and it only costs $6.95 US a month.

Shop around. Surely this one provider isn’t the only option available to you.

4

[ul]
[li]Bad phone lines from the CO to your house: Rare, but it happens more often than most phone companies care to admit.[/li][li]Bad lines inside your house: Sadly, pretty common. Lots of phone lines have been patched and re-patched. Phones are sturdy devices with an extraordinarily efficient error-correcting device (known as a “human”) attached. Modems, sadly, are not.[/li][li]Having your modem share a line with 5 $4.99 phones, an answering machine and a fax: Major contributor. Preventable.[/li][li]Modem of insufficient quality: Sadly, not rare at all. Modems are analog devices - good ones are costly. Cheap ones will work just fine most places, most of the time. Except when and where you really need them to.[/li][li]Sadistic ISP employees: Yeah, I used to be one. And I have cut thousands of users off in one fell swoop more than once.[/li][/ul]

5

Constant 10 min disconnects probably means your ISP is using a port model, so that no one gets busy signals. The modems check usage time of logged-on users vs. those trying to login. If a user logging in has less usage time than you when you’re logged in, you’re gonna get dropped each time someone with less accrued time.

And wow, $50 for dialup? Wheeew! I’m sorry.

6

:eek: $50 a month for dial-up!!! :eek:

I’d suggest looking into two-way satellite. Sure, it’ll be at least twice as expensive, but think of is as $50/mo. for fast internet access, and $50/mo. of stress-relief for the frustration you are having (cheaper than a therapist).

7

I’ve got dial-up, and it’s nothing like as bad or expensive as yours seems to be.

IIRC, there was a thread in IMHO in which it was said that a two-way satellite setup costs about $59 (US) per month. If I were in your situation, I’d check it out.

8

Two-way satellite is about $50 a month after you spend $800 for the equipment and installation, or $100 a month for the first year with the equipment included (last time I checked DirecWay prices).

And the latency is terrible. You think 300 ms of latency on a modem is bad? Try 1800 ms with satellite. Forget about playing online games, setting up a VPN, or using telnet/SSH.

Satellite is the second worst Internet access you can possibly get–second only to dialup.

9

I’m reasonably content with my dial-up. I get on in about 30 seconds, very rarely get kicked off, and my loading times are fair as long as I’m not trying to download anything. I doubt I’ll bother with anything better until I get a much better computer.

And since this is the Pit… you people who make fun of my prehistoric dial-up can just back off! I’ll connect to the Internet however I darned well choose!

10

I had dialup until January and was quite happy with it. $50 a month? OUCH!

I have found something better, though it does involve having to live with my family – free cable modem access. Life is sweet. But this board is still slow!!!

11

I don’t know what options you have up north but here in the states (OH to be specific) I use NetZero Platinum. With a one year pre-pay, it costs $9.95 a month. I am currently connected @45333bps and routinely see 49000. You have to use their dialing software (plays automobile ads while you are connecting) and has a taskbar that will not go away) but other than that I have found it a nice compromise. Did I also say it is only $9.95 a month? To be fair, I must tell you that I work for a BellSouth company and get my high speed music/movie/software fix at work.

12

Ugh dialup. I will slit my wrists if I ever go back to that. In my building we connected at a whopping 24k, (I would have killed for 56K), and this past November, after 3 years of harrasing Verizon literally everyday, we finally got dsl. 1,500,000k is much better.

I still get my ass kicked in Quake though.

13

Ugh dialup. I will slit my wrists if I ever go back to that. In my building we connected at a whopping 24k, (I would have killed for 56K), and this past November, after 3 years of harrasing Verizon literally everyday, we finally got dsl. 1,500,000k is much better.

I still get my ass kicked in Quake though.

14

When I moved back in with my parents a few months ago, the first thing I requested (and even said I would pay for the entire household’s internet access) was a cable modem. I was desperate after just one week back on dial-up after having had a cable modem in NYC. I basically said that I would pay for it and do anything they wanted around the house as long as they would allow me to have digital cable and the cable modem put in (I HAVE to have BBC America and SoapNet…they’re the two channels I watch constantly). Now, they thank me for it:). My mom loves the fact that she’s always online and doesn’t get cut off constantly by AOL.

Grown daughters can have good ideas once in awhile:).

Ava

15

Broadband is quite an addictive thing. Once you start, you can never go back to dialup. I’m thinking of mainlining my cable modem.

Seriously, though, even though I don’t do much downloading online, when I do, I save TONS of time (especially with the occasional system updates). It’s a godsend to me. :slight_smile:

Plus the fact that the phone lines in my apartment SUCK, and I NEVER get higher than a 33.8 connection from it…

16

Is AT&T dial up an option for you, OP?

I live in the land of left bohunk-cable does not exist, dishes are way too pricey, and the CO is too distant for enabling DSL.

Therefore, I live with dial up, never faster than 31,200. It becomes a Zen like management tool-download large file=start before taking shower.

Best wishes.

17

This is why we had to get broadband. We’d been on cable, then we moved to Atlanta but had a 49999 connection at our old place. Then we moved here and could only get 28.8 if the phone lines felt up to it. I got broadband right quick.

18

Even 49999 is torture though.

Least a 600 ping :smiley:

19

Still in the 90’s dial-up mode at home / cable at work.

Advantages:

  1. I’m so spoiled by employer’s ISP, I rarely use my PC at home and can devote my time away from work toward more productive things.
  2. I can squash a pop-up ad before it has the time to download
20

Strange things are afoot in Spokane.

I did my regular cable availability checkup, and as always, the web site said cable internet wasn’t available, and that I should call 1-800-COMCAST for more information.

This time I actually called, and they said cable internet was just made available at my address last week. They’re coming to install it on Saturday. This is so surreal, I’ve been pinching myself all week.

Soon I will be able to join you all in laughing at the dialup users!