Question about dial-up ISP's and dial-up networking

Factual Questions
1

I have tried many different ISP’s, over the years, and something has always puzzled me:

Why do ISP’s force you to use their software to connect, as opposed to simply letting you log-in directly through Windows dial-up networking, alone? I hate their typical “piggyback” methods.

ISP programs are often resource hogs. (AOHELL is likely the worst. OTOH, I found that Netscape Internet Service seemed the smallest and least-offending.)

What’s the dope?

2

Many don’t. I’ve had accounts with a half-dozen ISPs; in no case did I use ISP-supplied software.

3

The ones with custom software have much bigger brand recognition between novice users. Also, custom software usually gives you the initial path you could take to get the most out of the Internet like a mega portal.

4

When I was dial-up , I used some of them for convience sake. Netcom , Compuserve and AOL , but no one provider forced me to. If anything , the proprietary software is marketed to people that don’t know or care if its resource heavy , only that they hit okay everytime a dialog button comes up and enter the info that the ISP gives them for user name and what not.

Not to mention the fact that up till the late nineties , Compuserve and AOL were basically marketed as a safer, family friendly enviroments that had parental controls , rather than the wild west atmosphere of the Web, all in one nice easy to install package.

Declan

5

There’s a configuration element as well. A million different machines with a million different users and settings. That’s a support nightmare.

But if a user installs software that stomps all over the users present settings and configures the machine itself, then the chance of connecting to the server is far greater.

6

With my dialup account, I don’t have to use any special software whatsoever. I have configured the setup by hand for all of my computers that have ever been online, both Linux and Windows. In Linux I use the program wvdial (comes standard in every distro I’ve ever used), in Windows I just use the default dialer that comes with the OS.

7
      • As said–truly local (single-provider) ISP’s don’t. I have my dialup through www.Norcom2000.com, and they don’t. When you sign up, if you don’t know how to do it, you call and someone there tells you how step-by-step. It’s not real difficult to make a floppy disk that will do this–I saw a Juno disk a couple years back–but most local ISP’s just don’t bother.
  • The big ones like AOL, Netscape, MSN Network do. The easiest explanation for this is that they offer an automated connection program because they use broad advertising distribution methods and are pursuing a sector of the market that probably would not know how to manually set up such a connection anyway. But even after you have connected, you can still close the AOL browser and start up any other (at least, this was how it used to be some years ago). I distinctly remember shutting off IE and starting up Netscape 3.5…

-If you want to set up a AOL connection on Linux for example, you can–but you have to do it manually.
…

  • Now I am wondering: Compuserve began catering to the tech-specific crowd a very long time ago. Did Compuserve ever have such a program for their subscribers?
    ~
8

[Data] Fascinating [/Data]

I’m currently using Juno. If I try to bypass the Juno software by going directly through D.U.N. it will not allow me to connect. I don’t know if there’s a way around this or not. If there is, I would sure love to know about it.

I feel I am fairly knowledgeable with computers. If anyone has any step by step tips to connect while bypassing the ISP software, let me know, and I’ll give it a shot. I’ve tried everything that I presently know about.

FTR: I haven’t used any local or “mom & pop” ISP’s. :o

9

Some of the cheapr ISP’s make you use their dialer, which ‘translates’ your user name and password to the real username and password. If you can figure out the translation you can use the standard DUN (search the net for instructions).

Most of the full service (read price) ISP’s will use the username and password directly and DUN will work.