# Does anybody still use dialup? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [June 18, 2009, 4:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anybody-still-use-dialup/500142 "2009-06-18T04:05:50Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Briny\_Deep](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/briny_deep/32/17188_2.png) [@Briny\_Deep](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Briny_Deep)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2009, 4:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anybody-still-use-dialup/500142/1 "2009-06-18T04:05:50Z")
My little website, according to Google Analytics, has been viewed by dialup visitors 2.26% of the time. I have trouble believing the proportion is even that large. Who here uses dialup to connect to the internet? ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2009, 4:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anybody-still-use-dialup/500142/2 "2009-06-18T04:08:44Z")
I do. Due to the cost of rewiring the den back into the rest of the house and the alarm system, we can’t afford it right now. And we have satellite TV so no cable. ---
**Author:** ![dalej42](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/67e7ee/32.png) [@dalej42](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dalej42)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2009, 4:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anybody-still-use-dialup/500142/3 "2009-06-18T04:14:53Z")
I don’t. But I talk to lots of old people every day who do. ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2009, 4:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anybody-still-use-dialup/500142/4 "2009-06-18T04:19:13Z")
My mother does. She only gets online maybe once a week, and then only to check her e-mail. ---
**Author:** ![Cyn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a88e4f/32.png) [@Cyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cyn)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2009, 4:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anybody-still-use-dialup/500142/5 "2009-06-18T04:23:39Z")
Three out of the four schools I supervise for the county uses dial-up. I try not to get online at those sites. ---
**Author:** ![Leiko](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c5a1d2/32.png) [@Leiko](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leiko)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2009, 4:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anybody-still-use-dialup/500142/6 "2009-06-18T04:29:00Z")
My aunt and uncle still do. Of course most of their internet use seems to be buying tractor parts, so it sort of fits the image. ---
**Author:** ![Leaffan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leaffan/32/299_2.png) [@Leaffan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaffan)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2009, 4:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anybody-still-use-dialup/500142/7 "2009-06-18T04:39:33Z")
There are a lot of people in remote areas where DSL is not available, there’s no cable TV, and line-of-sight to a tower is not available. Satellite is expensive. High-speed only became available in my area (rural Ottawa) about two years ago. They constructed a big whopping tower on a neighbour’s property in order to make it all work. If it wasn’t for city sponsorship and the neighbour’s agreement to house a tower I might still be without high-speed access. So, yeah. If someone 50 kilometres from the capital of Canada just got high-speed 2 years ago, then a lot of people must have no options but dial-up. ---
**Author:** ![Briny\_Deep](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/briny_deep/32/17188_2.png) [@Briny\_Deep](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Briny_Deep)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2009, 5:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anybody-still-use-dialup/500142/8 "2009-06-18T05:08:41Z")
Ignorance is foughten already. ---
**Author:** ![Hari\_Seldon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hari_seldon/32/5173_2.png) [@Hari\_Seldon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hari_Seldon)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2009, 10:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anybody-still-use-dialup/500142/9 "2009-06-18T10:25:37Z")
I am writing a paper jointly with two people who use dialup (which makes exchanging pdf files hard). They both live in outlying areas and cannot get high speed connections. One in central Mass and the other in the Laurentians. ---
**Author:** ![Harmonious\_Discord](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/74df32/32.png) [@Harmonious\_Discord](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Harmonious_Discord)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2009, 11:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anybody-still-use-dialup/500142/10 "2009-06-18T11:09:01Z")
I thought one of the stimulus money projects should have been high speed internet to rural areas that the phone companies don’t upgrade. ---
**Author:** ![Icerigger](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/icerigger/32/432_2.png) [@Icerigger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Icerigger)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2009, 2:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anybody-still-use-dialup/500142/11 "2009-06-18T14:35:44Z")
I use dial up at the office where I work, we can not afford a faster connection. We use a local ISP for $9.00 per month. Speed is not a great concern for what we use it for, although download speed is only 5 kilobits per second. ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2009, 3:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anybody-still-use-dialup/500142/12 "2009-06-18T15:47:46Z")
> [@Harmonious\_Discord](#): > > I thought one of the stimulus money projects should have been high speed internet to rural areas that the phone companies don’t upgrade. I heard so, too, but it would take some time. Fiber stops a couple of miles from our neighborhood. We have dial up as backup to satellite internet, and to keep our old email addresses for $9.99 a month. ---
**Author:** ![Wilson](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/96bed5/32.png) [@Wilson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wilson)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2009, 4:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anybody-still-use-dialup/500142/13 "2009-06-18T16:45:17Z")
I do, both at my apartment and my girlfriend’s house. Never wanted cable which was the easiest option for getting faster internet at my apartment. Thought about a wireless card but never did anything about it. At my girlfriend’s house, she wants to finish putting together the office before she calls in the cable company to wire the rooms the way she wants it. Finding the time to to that has been the hard part. ---
**Author:** ![Canadjun](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/76d3ee/32.png) [@Canadjun](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Canadjun)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2009, 5:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anybody-still-use-dialup/500142/14 "2009-06-18T17:24:44Z")
My brother-in-law does. If he wanted he could go with either a DSL or a cable modem, but he simply has no interest in either. His dialup modem provides enough speed for him to exchange email and get to the limited set of web sites he has any interest in. He uses it little enough and he and his wife talk on the phone little enough that tieing up the phone line for an hour or two a day doesn’t matter. ---
**Author:** ![ZipperJJ](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zipperjj/32/211_2.png) [@ZipperJJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZipperJJ)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2009, 5:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anybody-still-use-dialup/500142/15 "2009-06-18T17:35:06Z")
My grandparents in rural Ohio can only get dialup, and the same is true for my friend in rural North Carolina. ---
**Author:** ![Chopper9760](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/cdc98d/32.png) [@Chopper9760](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chopper9760)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2009, 5:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anybody-still-use-dialup/500142/16 "2009-06-18T17:41:47Z")
I invariably screw around at work a little more than I ought to because I have dial-up at home. The only other option is satellite internet which, as I understand it, is not particularly reliable or speedy and is outrageously expensive. I’ve been seriously considering installing a cell antenna/repeater and getting a data plan for internet. Any other rural folks out there who’ve successfully upgraded from dial-up? ---
**Author:** ![Wile\_E](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c37758/32.png) [@Wile\_E](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wile_E)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2009, 6:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anybody-still-use-dialup/500142/17 "2009-06-18T18:57:12Z")
I do (except when I take my laptop to work). I had to give up cable a few years ago when I had some financial problems and needed to cut back but I will be getting it again soon, especially because dial up has become extremely unreliable. My phone line is constantly having problems and my phone bill is higher every month for no apparent reason so I’m going to drop it for digital phone service. ---
**Author:** ![mack](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b19c9b/32.png) [@mack](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mack)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2009, 7:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anybody-still-use-dialup/500142/18 "2009-06-18T19:17:13Z")
I do at my cabin upstate. Like others it’s either dial-up or satellite and I’m not there enough to justify satellite. ---
**Author:** ![phall0106](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/phall0106/32/5934_2.png) [@phall0106](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/phall0106)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2009, 7:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anybody-still-use-dialup/500142/19 "2009-06-18T19:33:19Z")
My mom has dial up because she’s currently unemployed and can only afford that minimum fee (under $10, I think) that it costs for dial up. ---
**Author:** ![Declan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ecae2f/32.png) [@Declan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Declan)\ **Post date:** [June 18, 2009, 9:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anybody-still-use-dialup/500142/20 "2009-06-18T21:29:34Z")
> [@Briny\_Deep](#): > > My little website, according to Google Analytics, has been viewed by dialup visitors 2.26% of the time. I have trouble believing the proportion is even that large. > > Who here uses dialup to connect to the internet? I think technically I do , when connecting to the internet with the iphone. Declan [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anybody-still-use-dialup/500142.md?page=2)