I use cable broadband and love it! Streaming audio, streaming video, large file transfers in a flash, sizable e-mails, etc.
I am able to hook up to my work's network via a VPN and it's just like I'm at work. And no its not that I am a workaholic, but it allows me to telecommute from time to time...and when I can do that, it sure beats doing a commute through the center of DC!
I have a wired/wireless network in my house. So everybody has their own computer and we can all be online at the same time and share printers, file storage, etc. (again, just like a work network) -- and nobody seems to be stepping on each other.
My cable provider is advertising that they are in the process of increasing the network speed from 3.2 MB/S to 7.8 MB/s for household subscribers. I'm not there yet (still only at 3.2), but I can't even picture that after they increase the speed.
Has anybody tried Vonage, or another Internet telephony provider? I was seriously thinking about switching my telephone service over to them...and get rid of my regular telephone.
I have cable service for my computer, television and telephone and so far I wouldn't have it any other way.
I am an officer in a national needlework Guild and have to upload and download large picture files and would be in the soup if I had dial-up only.
When I taught, I used many online references, and preptime is at a premium. I didn't have the variety and quality of some source materials when I used dialup.
Being disabled makes it hard for me to shop, but I can do most of it online. Even my ShopRite has a shopping service...I order online they travel through the huge store to collect it...and they bring it out to my car and put it in my trunk for a measely $10!
I use the telephony too and think it's the greatest thing since sliced bread! Sound is perfect, connections are great...and fast. Plus they keep an online record of all your calls. They keep messages too so I tossed my very old answering machine. But the biggest benefit to me is price. I pay $39 for all the phone service, no time restrictions or anything. One truly flat rate fits all. For me that's important since it allows my Daughter and I to keep close even though she's moved. (I also get lots of pictures of the grandson regularly)
I used to hate this cable company 20 years ago. But somebody bought them out, and now they've rebuilt the service and have technitions who know what they're doing so the service is excellent. It is a large bill every month, but for me, considering what I'm getting, it's worth it. YMMV
It does work very well. Generally very fast up and down.
I did use dial-ups, starting in 1983 with Compuserve, then off and on with the Fido boards. This is the first time that I have been in a location where DSL was available and it is great.
We are looking at moving soon at an area where again DSL is not available from the local baby-bell, and they have no cable company DSL or otherwise.
I have looked at some of the satelite dish options, but I really prefer the {Horizon-to-Horizon H-t-H] dishes because they can select between dozens of satelites for both TV viewing AND internet access. Years ago when we lived in Scotland a model was offered to me and I turned it down hoping that things would get cheaper. Then the Wally-World of satelite dishes came along {DirecTV / Dish-network} and now the market is uglier.
In rural areas I have been seeing 'Bug-Ugly-Dishes [bUDS]' taken down and laid on the ground while a miniature Dish-Network unit has been installed in it's place. When I have asked why they made such a change the answer has generally been 'marketing'. Little dishes do less, but their marketing is flooding the air-waves, so people switch.
I can undertand folks like Krys who need it in an official capacity but I'm more like Mark and Galen.. I don't have to have it but my internet style demands it.
It makes me wonder about peoples' internet habits. Do they go just for news and weather?? Maybe visit forums like this one?? I know lots of retired folks just use e-mail for the most part.
I had cable for my internet but then wanted to save money so went to dial up through the telephone company. Boy was that a mistake...more pop ups and my computer went sssooooo slow.
The telephone company was running a package deal plus to get dsl for free for three months. So I went for it. Will never change again!!!!
Oh I found that the cable dsl I had a lot of pop ups too but it was a lot faster than dial up.
I go to different sites but also I look up things to do with health. I also have a couple of support groups through the internet that I belong to. And, I keep in contact with friends and family via e-mail or through hotmail, yahoo, and AOL messenger.
I also use the messenger with a webcam for us and the children chatting with my family. We don't get to 'see' my parents except every couple of years or so, so we all get to at least see each other through the internet. It works well for us.
I use the T-1 at work and it zooms, but for the stuff I do at home, dial up is fine. (I'm also too cheap to pay the extra $$) Anything I want or need to do that requires more speed, I just wait till lunch hour at work and do it then.
Re:" had cable for my internet..went to dial up through the telephone company. Boy was that a mistake...more pop ups and my computer went sssooooo slow."
Uh, just so you know.. HOW you connect to the internet has nothing to do with pop-ups. You get pop-ups depending on what sites you go to.
Anybody else care to vote??? Not that internet connection data is an interesting topic. This thread lacks pizazzz, I think.. Not as much fun as talking about high school proms. I'm gonna' have to learn how to spice things up. :P-->
"Uh, just so you know.. HOW you connect to the internet has nothing to do with pop-ups. You get pop-ups depending on what sites you go to."
Hmm, actually I think your wrong.
Yes many things these days have pop-ups, but many 'free' things include pop-ups, I have played with a couple 'free' dial-up services and their pop-ups were horrible and banners were crazy.
I had forgotten about Net Zero and other free internet providers. Yeah, I tried Net Zero once just to see and yes you're correct.. you have to watch ads to get the service. It appeared Vickles wasn't talking about those outfits to me.
But I hear that often.. some people think that they get more pop-ups by connecting to the internet with one provider over another. I don't see how that could happen. It's the web sites that place those pop ups after all.
I should add, we have a class 'A' motorhome, and I do frequent a Motorhome forum. A lot of those guys do appear to be using those annoying 'free' dial-up servers.
So I still hear about them.
Also there are an encredible amount of wifi zones beign setup coast-to-coast, lots of stores, malls, truck-stops, Restaurants, etc. It all means a lot of places that you can just pull into a parking lot and logon to the internet.
Sudo -- I am the one lone vote for dial-up, simply because I download nothing from the internet, and as long as I can connect to links that others provide in various forums, I'm happy.
Any music I listen to, is here at the house, I don't care for "streaming video", or "audio", and I mostly only go to forum sites. We use a computer at work, and we have cable there, but that is only to facilitate access to the phone, while the computer is running, and when the computer is running -- it had best be work related! ;)-->
I'm on aol here at the house, and never get any pop-ups at all. After signing on to aol, I come into the GSCafe via Internet Explorer, and never have to deal with pop ups here either. Occassionally -- I will get an IM from some aol *troller* looking for a response, but that is about it for me.
so -- yea -- I'm happy with dial-up, but if I used this thing for more than a "cheap long distance telephone", I would be following the votes offered so far, by others more knowledgeable than I! :)-->
I've used cable for years... (not for TV though) it's gotten faster and more reliable... thought about switching to DSL but both the wife and I work from home (after working at work) and we couldn't really stand it being any slower... (she uses a lot of bandwidth with her work stuff)... I thought about the DirecTV deal but it's about twice as much as the cable I have now...
And the house is set up entirely wireless, two B laptops and a G card in the desktop... works wonderfully once I got it configured and put the "booster ears" on the router...
I've had DSL for several years and would never go back to dial-up. When I had dial-up, the kids were on the internet so much doing schoolwork that the phone line was tied up all the time. We ended up getting a second phone line just for internet. We were always having problems with not being able to get connected with the dial-up.
The best thing about this BellSouth DSL is that we have a wireless modem and its so easy to get all the computers hooked up. Just plug in the wireless USB adapter, enter the modem code and you're on.
I currently have Road Runner cable with Time Warner.
They have a special going on now for $29.95 a month, for 6 months.
Recently however, they bumped me back up to $44.95, so I called them to complain that Verizon DSL costs only $29.95, and "I was thinking of switching."
They transferred me to their customer satisfaction department, and extended the $29.95 for another 3 months. :)-->
My office has T3, whatever that is, which is supposed to be the fastest connection to the net there is...
Re:"I'm on aol here at the house, and never get any pop-ups at all."
You never go to the Drudge Report?? It has pop-ups and I would have thought you'd have gone there now and then. Try it.. http://www.drudgereport.com and just see. Hard to believe you never get ANY dang pop-ups though the SP2 for XP helped a lot.
You're exactly the person I was looking for, though. The number of people just hunky dory with dial-up. I don't guess you ever tried clicking on the tunes down on the Nostalgia thread did you? If so.. did they play alright??
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markomalley
I use cable broadband and love it! Streaming audio, streaming video, large file transfers in a flash, sizable e-mails, etc.
I am able to hook up to my work's network via a VPN and it's just like I'm at work. And no its not that I am a workaholic, but it allows me to telecommute from time to time...and when I can do that, it sure beats doing a commute through the center of DC!
I have a wired/wireless network in my house. So everybody has their own computer and we can all be online at the same time and share printers, file storage, etc. (again, just like a work network) -- and nobody seems to be stepping on each other.
My cable provider is advertising that they are in the process of increasing the network speed from 3.2 MB/S to 7.8 MB/s for household subscribers. I'm not there yet (still only at 3.2), but I can't even picture that after they increase the speed.
Has anybody tried Vonage, or another Internet telephony provider? I was seriously thinking about switching my telephone service over to them...and get rid of my regular telephone.
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krys
I have cable service for my computer, television and telephone and so far I wouldn't have it any other way.
I am an officer in a national needlework Guild and have to upload and download large picture files and would be in the soup if I had dial-up only.
When I taught, I used many online references, and preptime is at a premium. I didn't have the variety and quality of some source materials when I used dialup.
Being disabled makes it hard for me to shop, but I can do most of it online. Even my ShopRite has a shopping service...I order online they travel through the huge store to collect it...and they bring it out to my car and put it in my trunk for a measely $10!
I use the telephony too and think it's the greatest thing since sliced bread! Sound is perfect, connections are great...and fast. Plus they keep an online record of all your calls. They keep messages too so I tossed my very old answering machine. But the biggest benefit to me is price. I pay $39 for all the phone service, no time restrictions or anything. One truly flat rate fits all. For me that's important since it allows my Daughter and I to keep close even though she's moved. (I also get lots of pictures of the grandson regularly)
I used to hate this cable company 20 years ago. But somebody bought them out, and now they've rebuilt the service and have technitions who know what they're doing so the service is excellent. It is a large bill every month, but for me, considering what I'm getting, it's worth it. YMMV
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Galen
I have DSL service with our baby-bell.
It does work very well. Generally very fast up and down.
I did use dial-ups, starting in 1983 with Compuserve, then off and on with the Fido boards. This is the first time that I have been in a location where DSL was available and it is great.
We are looking at moving soon at an area where again DSL is not available from the local baby-bell, and they have no cable company DSL or otherwise.
I have looked at some of the satelite dish options, but I really prefer the {Horizon-to-Horizon H-t-H] dishes because they can select between dozens of satelites for both TV viewing AND internet access. Years ago when we lived in Scotland a model was offered to me and I turned it down hoping that things would get cheaper. Then the Wally-World of satelite dishes came along {DirecTV / Dish-network} and now the market is uglier.
In rural areas I have been seeing 'Bug-Ugly-Dishes [bUDS]' taken down and laid on the ground while a miniature Dish-Network unit has been installed in it's place. When I have asked why they made such a change the answer has generally been 'marketing'. Little dishes do less, but their marketing is flooding the air-waves, so people switch.
:-)
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Sudo
I can undertand folks like Krys who need it in an official capacity but I'm more like Mark and Galen.. I don't have to have it but my internet style demands it.
It makes me wonder about peoples' internet habits. Do they go just for news and weather?? Maybe visit forums like this one?? I know lots of retired folks just use e-mail for the most part.
Here's the results of a speed test I ran today...
sudo
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vickles
I had cable for my internet but then wanted to save money so went to dial up through the telephone company. Boy was that a mistake...more pop ups and my computer went sssooooo slow.
The telephone company was running a package deal plus to get dsl for free for three months. So I went for it. Will never change again!!!!
Oh I found that the cable dsl I had a lot of pop ups too but it was a lot faster than dial up.
I go to different sites but also I look up things to do with health. I also have a couple of support groups through the internet that I belong to. And, I keep in contact with friends and family via e-mail or through hotmail, yahoo, and AOL messenger.
I also use the messenger with a webcam for us and the children chatting with my family. We don't get to 'see' my parents except every couple of years or so, so we all get to at least see each other through the internet. It works well for us.
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Belle
I use the T-1 at work and it zooms, but for the stuff I do at home, dial up is fine. (I'm also too cheap to pay the extra $$) Anything I want or need to do that requires more speed, I just wait till lunch hour at work and do it then.
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Sudo
Vickles,
Re:" had cable for my internet..went to dial up through the telephone company. Boy was that a mistake...more pop ups and my computer went sssooooo slow."
Uh, just so you know.. HOW you connect to the internet has nothing to do with pop-ups. You get pop-ups depending on what sites you go to.
Anybody else care to vote??? Not that internet connection data is an interesting topic. This thread lacks pizazzz, I think.. Not as much fun as talking about high school proms. I'm gonna' have to learn how to spice things up.
:P-->
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Galen
Sudo:
"Uh, just so you know.. HOW you connect to the internet has nothing to do with pop-ups. You get pop-ups depending on what sites you go to."
Hmm, actually I think your wrong.
Yes many things these days have pop-ups, but many 'free' things include pop-ups, I have played with a couple 'free' dial-up services and their pop-ups were horrible and banners were crazy.
:-)
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Sudo
Galen,
I had forgotten about Net Zero and other free internet providers. Yeah, I tried Net Zero once just to see and yes you're correct.. you have to watch ads to get the service. It appeared Vickles wasn't talking about those outfits to me.
But I hear that often.. some people think that they get more pop-ups by connecting to the internet with one provider over another. I don't see how that could happen. It's the web sites that place those pop ups after all.
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Galen
You are absolutely correct, sir.
I should add, we have a class 'A' motorhome, and I do frequent a Motorhome forum. A lot of those guys do appear to be using those annoying 'free' dial-up servers.
So I still hear about them.
Also there are an encredible amount of wifi zones beign setup coast-to-coast, lots of stores, malls, truck-stops, Restaurants, etc. It all means a lot of places that you can just pull into a parking lot and logon to the internet.
:-)
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dmiller
Sudo -- I am the one lone vote for dial-up, simply because I download nothing from the internet, and as long as I can connect to links that others provide in various forums, I'm happy.
Any music I listen to, is here at the house, I don't care for "streaming video", or "audio", and I mostly only go to forum sites. We use a computer at work, and we have cable there, but that is only to facilitate access to the phone, while the computer is running, and when the computer is running -- it had best be work related!
;)-->
I'm on aol here at the house, and never get any pop-ups at all. After signing on to aol, I come into the GSCafe via Internet Explorer, and never have to deal with pop ups here either. Occassionally -- I will get an IM from some aol *troller* looking for a response, but that is about it for me.
so -- yea -- I'm happy with dial-up, but if I used this thing for more than a "cheap long distance telephone", I would be following the votes offered so far, by others more knowledgeable than I!
:)-->
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Tom Strange
I've used cable for years... (not for TV though) it's gotten faster and more reliable... thought about switching to DSL but both the wife and I work from home (after working at work) and we couldn't really stand it being any slower... (she uses a lot of bandwidth with her work stuff)... I thought about the DirecTV deal but it's about twice as much as the cable I have now...
And the house is set up entirely wireless, two B laptops and a G card in the desktop... works wonderfully once I got it configured and put the "booster ears" on the router...
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Pirate1974
I've had DSL for several years and would never go back to dial-up. When I had dial-up, the kids were on the internet so much doing schoolwork that the phone line was tied up all the time. We ended up getting a second phone line just for internet. We were always having problems with not being able to get connected with the dial-up.
The best thing about this BellSouth DSL is that we have a wireless modem and its so easy to get all the computers hooked up. Just plug in the wireless USB adapter, enter the modem code and you're on.
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oldiesman
I currently have Road Runner cable with Time Warner.
They have a special going on now for $29.95 a month, for 6 months.
Recently however, they bumped me back up to $44.95, so I called them to complain that Verizon DSL costs only $29.95, and "I was thinking of switching."
They transferred me to their customer satisfaction department, and extended the $29.95 for another 3 months.
:)-->
My office has T3, whatever that is, which is supposed to be the fastest connection to the net there is...
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Sudo
Dmiller,
Re:"I'm on aol here at the house, and never get any pop-ups at all."
You never go to the Drudge Report?? It has pop-ups and I would have thought you'd have gone there now and then. Try it.. http://www.drudgereport.com and just see. Hard to believe you never get ANY dang pop-ups though the SP2 for XP helped a lot.
You're exactly the person I was looking for, though. The number of people just hunky dory with dial-up. I don't guess you ever tried clicking on the tunes down on the Nostalgia thread did you? If so.. did they play alright??
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