I’m asking this on behalf of my mom, for whom I’m now the unofficial tech consultant, ever since she got a Mac. She’s currently using NetZero for Internet access, but the problem with NetZero is that they insist on using their own dialer program, and the Mac version of the dialer is somewhat unstable, and I think has been causing some of the problems she’s had with her computer. So I’m trying to find her a better ISP, one which will allow her to use the dialer built in to the operating system.
I know that broadband is cheaper than ever, but given what she uses the computer for, she would get very little benefit from it, not enough to be worth paying more for-- Her current plan is about $10 a month. And she doesn’t have (or have any interest in) cable, either, which rules out a lot of the bundling options. And, of course, it has to be a provider which has local access from where she lives, in Cleveland, OH.
Any suggestions?
We used the provider at http://www.eriecoast.com/ for a few years. They seemed decent enough, though the prices kept creeping up. I’m not in Cleveland, but might be close enough?
I’m looking for a prepaid dialup myself as a backup for the next big storm. I’m going to try BAMnet for that but that’s probably not what you want for regular monthly access.
I’m probably telling you something that you already know but there are numerous dialup providers and most of them are nationwide. If you check the access numbers, you’ll find that different ISPs often have the same number because the whole dialup modem / phone lines part of it is handled by a network provider and not the ISP. I presume that means the service is the same no matter who you choose. The only real difference on the technical level is whether or not you use their email or any other services.
I suggest staying away from ISP specific services so if your mom is using a Netzero email address now, get her using something generic like Gmail asap.
I don’t know anything about Macs but if it’s anything like Windows, you really don’t need to do much other than put the phone number into the standard dialer software.
Copper.net and BasicISP.net seem to have the same postal address so I guess they’re the same company. I’d be temped to give BasicISP a go at $6.95 / mo. I guess if you wanted to squeeze the last dollar out of them you could do Copper for 6 months @ $4.97 / mo and then switch to BasicISP at $6.95 rather than going to Copper’s $9.95.
That’s the case for most ISPs, at least. But NetZero won’t work with the standard dialer software-- I think this is because they used to offer a “free” (ad-supported) service, and they needed their own dialer program to ensure you’d see their ads.
That BasicISP looks pretty good, though, at seven bucks. I’ll certainly forward that on to Mom.