Finally on Line--at home

[firebroad]

Okay, I know you will all laugh, but it is a big deal to me. Now that I have a new, better paying job, I decided that internet service might be within my budget. DSL, Fios, all that is not available to me unless I want to fork over $90+ every month for cable tv that I don't want, so it had to be Dial-Up. Slow as molasses, but after a few weeks of tweaking (and a new laptop that I needed anyway), it is better than nothing. Anybody else out there have to deal with Dial Up?

 

[begreen]

My sister does. It's painful, but she manages.

 

[BrotherBart]

Ten years ago I was doing website development on dial-up with lots of image uploads. I can relate.

Ya do what ya gotta do. Enjoy.

 

[Dix]

Everything in baby steps, Sue.

Imagine life in a year

 

[firebroad]

Thanks for the encouragement, guys! Hearth is not so bad, but stuff like Amazon with a zillion pics can be a chore if you want to buy something. Luckily, I don't do a lot of perusing around the internet. It seems that a lot of institutions such as the Federal Government are a but uncaring about what people can afford, and want to make it hard to file for taxes and such without online access.

 

[firebroad]

Everything in baby steps, Sue.

Imagine life in a year

Thanks, Dix--d'ya think it will be any more improved by then? I did buy a years worth of service up front to save $$, but I sometimes wonder if it will be all that exciting by next January. Of course, I can always go down the road to the library, or up the road to Hampstead McDonalds for free wi-fi, but I am reluctant to do taxes and such on a public computer. I have Norton on the thing, but I still am a little leary.

 

[firebroad]

The amazing thing is, there are more affordable DSL services available if I lived less than a mile away. Go figure.

 

[Retired Guy]

Welcome!

 

[Backwoods Savage]

The amazing thing is, there are more affordable DSL services available if I lived less than a mile away. Go figure.

Sue, we had the same thing around here for years. It was a blessing to get DSL, but it is a bit expensive. Anyway, glad you are at least online at home now.

 

[Dix]

Thanks, Dix--d'ya think it will be any more improved by then? I did buy a years worth of service up front to save $$, but I sometimes wonder if it will be all that exciting by next January. Of course, I can always go down the road to the library, or up the road to Hampstead McDonalds for free wi-fi, but I am reluctant to do taxes and such on a public computer. I have Norton on the thing, but I still am a little leary.

Everything will be better in one year from now, Sue.

Come on, girl friend... new job, things settling into place... ya know

Hang tough & cow girl up !!

 

[Woody Stover]

DSL, Fios, all that is not available to me unless I want to fork over $90+ every month for cable tv that I don't want, so it had to be Dial-Up.

You don't have to have cable to get DSL, do you? No DSL available here, although it is less than a mile away. I'm on with a USB modem from Verizon, through cell phone towers. LTE, usually get about 15 Mb download speeds, $50/month. 5G/month cap on data, so I can't download a bunch of movies or watch a ton of video. I save money with OTA TV, no satellite or cable since I seldom watch anyway, and spend it on internet speed (OK, it's not FIOS, but does well on hearth.com and Google.)

 

[firebroad]

You don't have to have cable to get DSL, do you? No DSL available here, although it is less than a mile away. I'm on with a USB modem from Verizon, through cell phone towers. LTE, usually get about 15 Mb download speeds, $50/month. 5G/month cap on data, so I can't download a bunch of movies or watch a ton of video. I save money with OTA TV, no satellite or cable since I seldom watch anyway, and spend it on internet speed (OK, it's not FIOS, but does well on hearth.com and Google.)

Whenever I tried to talk to Verizon, the only things they have available would cost $70+, and that doesn't include telephone service. At the moment, my phone service is limited with no long distance, and I suspect they are grandfathering me in because I have had it so long. I think that the lowest you can get just for telephone around here is around $50 per month. Were I to get one of their "bundles'", I think the best offer they gave me was around $80, not including taxes and fees.

 

[granpajohn]

Whenever I tried to talk to Verizon, the only things they have available would cost $70+, and that doesn't include telephone service. At the moment, my phone service is limited with no long distance, and I suspect they are grandfathering me in because I have had it so long. I think that the lowest you can get just for telephone around here is around $50 per month. Were I to get one of their "bundles'", I think the best offer they gave me was around $80, not including taxes and fees.

I believe Verizon FIOS and Verizon Wireless are 2 different outfits. My wife's cell phone is on Vwireless, our old copper twisted pair phone was on plain vanilla Verizon, and the new fiber phone is on Verizon FIOS. All 3 bills look/looked completely different.

I think your cost analysis is about right. We went around for some time with them trying to get DSL, but they kept saying our exchange did not offer it. Why then, did I keep asking? Because they kept enclosing an offer for DSL in my monthly bill! (They explained that they didn't really mean it.)

A real bunch of cookies, they are.

 

[firebroad]

Understatement of the Century! You should have seen me go round and round with them for about a week, just trying to find out if the phone# for the dial up was indeed not a toll call. After speaking to three people, two of which were trying to sell me something totally unrelated, I came away with the knowledge that they could not tell me if it were a toll charge. On day two I threw caution to the wind and used the number, then a few days later called to ask if I had made a toll call from my residence. I was told they could not give me that information due to privacy restrictions. Go figure that one out. Long story short, last person I spoke to said she was pretty sure it was not a toll call, and she would make a note in my records so that I would not be charged if this information was incorrect. Sheesh. I felt like I was speaking another language or something.