Well, not her, but her computer…This is in the United States.
I am clueless about what to do. There are several things standing in the way:
She knows nothing about computers.
She bought one of those $300 Dell computers.
I live 1,200 miles away…and helping her over the phone? I’d have better luck teaching her to land a jet over the phone.
Her computer comes with a modem. I can’t believe they even sell modems any more. I want her to have DSL. She doesn’t have cable; she has Dish Network, so a cable modem is out, right?
Is DSL the right choice? She seems to think she wants AOL, but if she signs up for AOL, she still needs to sign up for DSL with Qwest, right?
Qwest has a DSL package. I’m really, really, really hoping they can send someone out to set it up for her. Even if I fly there to do it, if something goes wrong and I can’t get it set up, we’d be screwed.
So, basically this is a plea for advice. I’m hoping to get through this without a post to the pit
She may have a cable hookup in her home, even if she is on satellite TV right now.
I’d buy her a more updated computer first, because she’s going to become frustrated when things don’t work like they should.
Qwest likely will send a tech out for a large fee. You might be better off getting her the right equipment first and then calling local mobile tech services; there are usually several in a large city. They might have a more reasonable fee and will be able to help with more than just Qwest-related issues.
I finally got a good friend of mine on the Internet; I had to set up a Yahoo email account for her to get her started. Worked like a dream.
This site can tell you if her phone number is eligible for DSL service. Not all of them are. If that one doesn’t work, just google “DSL service”. It probably would save some headaches if she was on DSL but it costs some money.
Oh, if she is willing and able to get DSL, tell her to have them come and hook it up (you often get the option of connecting it yourself). They can set up the hardware and computer connection and you just have to worry about explaining why that Nigerian guy wants to transfer money to her.
My mom uses AOL. She’s 72. My uncle’s on AOL, old family friends, etc. so it’s just easier that way. She started out with dial-up and now uses the house cable modem. My BIL runs the technology for the household and my nephew does IT support at the Pentagon, so there’s always someone around or a phone call away that can help her out. Before my parents built the addition and moved in next to sister my mom would call some support people either from gateway or some local computer support joint and they’d come fix whatever the problem is.
I have to say, though, that my mom’s always been moderately techno-savvy and usually embraces such things. She had one of those Kaypro dual floppy drive jobbies where you latch the keyboard to the CPU to close it up.
Did your mother have a choice between Dish and cable and chose Dish, or was cable not an option? Maybe she can still get a cable modem.
If both you and she are running Windows XP, you may be able to help her remotely using Remote Desktop Connection. It might be a good idea to set up the system so the account she uses regularly doesn’t have administrator or even power user rights. That may avoid some of the problems with spyware and adware.
Thing is, there’s nothing to setting up DSL. One telephone cable plugs into the wall jack from the modem, the telephone plugs into the modem, the ethernet cable goes from the modem to the computer, and you power the thing up. Heck, it even tells you how to do everything with on the CD. The only trick is that you have to go and install filters on all other in-use phones, but that’s just an intuitive in-line connection. Heck, with Qwest everything is even color-coded and comes with all the cables you need. You just have to know the difference between USB and CAT5 and which goes to which port, because Qwest claims that you can use USB2 instead of a CAT5 connection.
I am currently saddled with MSN as a result of signing up for Qwest DSL. Thing it, it was at least $20 cheaper than getting just the connection and going with a different ISP, and I’ve never used an ISP portal in my life. So it doesn’t matter too much now that I’ve pretty much shut up MSN.
I am not referring to the OP’s mom, but you greatly overestimate the technical prowess of many people. I have been through this exact scenario with several people before and it almost always ends up with me making a house-call. You may have well written that paragraph in Sanskrit as far as some users are concerned.
I have a lot of experience giving telephone support to my 60+ year old former technophobe mom, and although she’s learned quite a bit in the last couple years, if I had the option to just say “get DSL and let the guy install it and make it work for you” I would LEAP on that.
That to me seems like the easiest and most cost effective. I’ll be visiting in October, and I can help show her stuff.
Yeah, Qwest will charge to come out…but it will be done right. A third party might not charge as much, but I really want this done right the first time.
Once it’s all hooked up, I can show her everything.
Personally, I have Qwest DSL, but I have a “business” account at my home. It basically means I have a pop mail account. I HATE web based email. I pay more, but it’s worth it.
