Are you a 56k'er?

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DivideBYZero

DivideBYZero

Lifer
May 18, 2001
24,117
2
0
Surely those days are over? Are you still using a modem? By choice? Do you live in a cave? Can't get broadband of any type?

Explain me!
 
M

MetaDFF

Member
Mar 2, 2007
145
0
76
I would imagine that anybody using a dial-up modem today would be doing so only because they can't get broadband internet of any sort in their area. Most basic "lite" broadband packages are so cheap now that it costs only a few bucks more than dial-up. I would think paying the extra few bucks for broadband so the phone line isn't blocked already justifies the cost :p.

Strangely (or maybe not so strange) dial-up prices haven't fallen much ever since broadband access took off.
 
BurnItDwn

BurnItDwn

Lifer
Oct 10, 1999
26,368
1,879
126
My grandparents still use dial up.
They have an analog phone line out in the country. Their 56K modem never connects faster than 24K.
Cable and DSL are not available for them, Satellite internet sucks and isn't worth the extra cost. There is no other wireless available there.
Up until this spring, my cell phone wouldn't even work at their house. Now I can get 1 bar when I visit them. (I have ATT/Cingular, some family members have Verizon and they still don't get a signal there...)
 
Fritzo

Fritzo

Lifer
Jan 3, 2001
41,920
2,162
126
I work for a national ISP. Half of our customer base is dialup. Broadband is still not available in many areas, plus broadband is generally not portable. The majority of dialup customers are seniors, light users, and lower middle class families.

Dialup ain't goin' nowhere anytime soon :)
 
coldmeat

coldmeat

Diamond Member
Jul 10, 2007
9,234
142
106
Originally posted by: DeadByDawn
I'm on dialup at 26.4 Kbps

Yeah, I live in the woods
Click to expand...

I was the same until i moved to go to school. 26.4 was when we were lucky. A lot of days it was around 18/20 kbps.

It was because my parents lived out in the country.
 
M

MegaVovaN

Diamond Member
May 20, 2005
4,131
0
0
I don't use dial-up but my cell phone can double as a modem (and I have free dialup from ISP).
 
SoulAssassin

SoulAssassin

Diamond Member
Feb 1, 2001
6,135
2
0
Originally posted by: MegaVovaN
I don't use dial-up but my cell phone can double as a modem (and I have free dialup from ISP).
Click to expand...

I don't think that's what he was asking but good attempt at trying to brag.
 
T

TheCanuck

Senior member
Apr 28, 2003
373
0
0
You punks don't know how lucky you have it! I remember being in High School and having to connect at 300 baud to most BBS' when my top of the line Apple Cat modem was capable of 1200 baud! Bleeding edge technology!


Yes I'm an old bitter man these days... :(
 
KMFJD

KMFJD

Lifer
Aug 11, 2005
33,693
54,123
136
Originally posted by: TheCanuck
You punks don't know how lucky you have it! I remember being in High School and having to connect at 300 baud to most BBS' when my top of the line Apple Cat modem was capable of 1200 baud! Bleeding edge technology!


Yes I'm an old bitter man these days... :(
Click to expand...

I remember 300 baud, you could type faster than the text would display, 1200 baud was amazing, files downloaded so fast...

/cnet ftw
 
S

seemingly random

Diamond Member
Oct 10, 2007
5,277
0
0
Originally posted by: TheCanuck
You punks don't know how lucky you have it! I remember being in High School and having to connect at 300 baud to most BBS' when my top of the line Apple Cat modem was capable of 1200 baud! Bleeding edge technology!
Click to expand...
Shit - I forgot all about these. How about a Hayes 1200 baud for $500? I've still got it somewhere.

I had dsl since it's inception until I moved to the country five years ago. Went back to dialup - talk about painful - luckily could usually get 49-52k. And then this summer dsl finally became available - mainly because a subdivision with 500k+ homes was built nearby.

I tried the satellite route - suck is too nice of a description - browsing is faster on dialup.
 
0roo0roo

0roo0roo

No Lifer
Sep 21, 2002
64,795
84
91
28.8 is just a bad memory now.
i had 28.8+28.8 two lines binded into one sh*tty connection:p
 
W

woodie1

Diamond Member
Mar 7, 2000
5,947
0
0
I think I can get Satellite internet but that's about it. You manage with 56K when nothing else is available for < $100/month.
 
S

seemingly random

Diamond Member
Oct 10, 2007
5,277
0
0
Originally posted by: woodie1
You manage with 56K when nothing else is available
Click to expand...
You learn to multi-task - lots of browser windows open and loading in the bg while looking at the current one. The dialup would take ~hour for 8-9mb downloads - max was 30-50mb before the connection would reset.

Amazingly, the public library in a nearby town of a few hundred people has a T1 connection - good for massive updates.
 
Shawn

Shawn

Lifer
Apr 20, 2003
32,236
53
91
There is no way I could survive with dialup. I would pay the premium and get satellite internet.
 
frostedflakes

frostedflakes

Diamond Member
Mar 1, 2005
7,925
1
81
I was up until about a year ago, because no other options were available (except satellite, which is an utter ripoff). Around Dec. 06, though, Alltel rolled out EVDO in our area and we haven't looked back since. Costs $25/mo. for unlimited data tethering. We get pretty decent speeds as well, about 1Mbps down and 0.1Mbps up. Much better than the "56k" dialup that only connected at about 20k (our rural phones lines were to blame I think, they are old and have a lot of repeaters and other electronics that probably degrade the analog signal).

I'd assume there are still some people who use dialup by choice (i.e. older computer users who rarely use the internet), but I suspect the majority on dialup would switch to broadband in a heartbeat if it was available for a reasonable price.
 
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