to get cable modem or not...

[Soybomb]

Lemme see if you guys think I should get a cable modem! First I'm a student in the local community college, and this summer I move off to go to "real college." I make appx $400 a month doing my trivial job and have bills totaling about $150. I've been stuck at 28.8 forever and cable modems are just about to be available in my town (not roadrunner or @home either hehe) for the price of $50 a month for 256k downstream. Right now I would have no problem spending that $50 a month for the service, but in a few months I'm gonna be into heavy heavy bills with rent for a place to live and "real college." I know I'm gonna have to rely mostly on loans for college since my savings was quite depleted due to car problems. Do I sock that extra $30 a month (I pay $20 for dialup) away so thats another say $200 dollars for a place to live. Or do I just say "whats another $200 of debt?" Let me know what you guys think I should do, I'm leaning heavily toward the go for it side right now

 

[RSI]

Man trust me, you don't want to start off your life in debt. This really sounds like a bad idea to me, I'd say don't get cable. $50/month is absolutely ridiculous for cable internet. It's $29.95 (canadian) here.

DO NOT DO IT!

 

[Viperoni]

It's $40 Canadian in the GTA (Greater Toronto Area)
Lousy Quebec, always gets good deal ;p

heh he j/k

but for your situation, sounds like you'd be better off not getting it, especially if your car keeps on acting up

 

[Soybomb]

Thats the thing though, I'm going to have to go into debt with student loans or I dont get to go to college hehe. So if I have to go in, will that make a huge difference......

edit: I know $50 a month is expensive ($40 for service, $10 to rent cable modem) but this is the only broadband we have, dsl isn't available so they have no competition at all. In the end I probably won't wind up getting it, but many broadband and a 24/7 connection would be so sweet

 

[ForeverSilky]

GET IT! Just watch how you spend your money and cut back on a few of the small things you usually buy.

 

[huey1124]

$20 for dial-up? geez.. why don't you cancel that and go with a free ISP? there are free ISP's without ad banners you know, and with fast, reliable connection!

and if your car acts up often, and you don't have any other reliable source of income, this sounds like it would be a bad decision to go with cable. you can save $50/month (since i know you will be cancelling your dial-up) until you go away to college, and believe me you will need every single penny you can scrounge up while in college. even with loans, college can be quite expensive. especially if you don't know how to cook.

 

[DataFly]

256k/s is not worth $50 per month, IMO. The setup fee will probably be in excess of $200 and will be a near total waste if you are going to be moving soon.

 

[piku]

Yeah, 256k is definatly not worth $50 a month.

Just get a free ISP. It will save you the $20 a month.

 

[RGN]

I pay 39.95 per month for cable and I only get 128k up (@home). So $50 is NOT out of line.

BUT, if its only 7 more months, I would not do it. Just stick with dial-up. Try not to give in to these guys, free IPS's suck!

 

[Soybomb]

The setup fee will be waived since I used to work there And I cant find any free ipss in my area except juno, and ad banners is suck! If you have any suggestions for some for someone in centralia, il (62801) please feel free to share though
Thanks

 

[RGN]

Wow your close to me, sort-of. I'm in Gurnee IL. Cool.

 

[Nutcase99]

Don't go for it and Free Dialups arn't bad at all! I use them whenever my ISP complains that I use the net "too much".

 

[Soybomb]

Hmmmmm Gurnee is quite a way up there isn't it? Chicagoland-ish? I'll bet you're enjoying some nice cool weather right now. I'm about 60 miles east of stl and its cool here!

Any free isp suggestions? (Man freewwweb rocked...damn juno!)

 

[BCYL]

Don't get cable modem if the extra cost will put you into trouble... Just have patience and wait a few more mins for a webpage to load up... save up your $$ instead just in case some kind of emergency comes up...

 

[yakko]

I pay $49 a month but I get about 1000 up because I don't get to use it until I get home from work at 2 am when less people are tying up my bandwith.

 

[Fiddy]

Here in Austin, TimeWarner charges $45.00 a month for cable with just one small catch.....You have to subscibe to cable television also for about another $40.00 a month. That's ANALOG cable w/out Skinamax, HBO etc. etc. Now, to me, that ain't right. I wonder, do they screw people like that everywere else?

 

[DataFly]

RGN, note:

<<$50 a month for 256k downstream>>






BTW, did it rain earlier today out west (I live east of you:Q)? Got really cold and soggy here...

 

[Tripleshot]

You may want to consider diect TV or Dish TV for satallite connection. An investment in that will stay with you anywhere you move to.. I am going to go that route.It will be fast,but I do not think it is good for on line gaming.If you can hold off,the facts on that service should be out at the end of the month.

 

[spec411]

GET CABLE!!! the time you save waiting for the net will give you more time to work, have fun, etc...save just 15 minutes a day and if you work 1 extra hour a week..thatll pay for it!!!

 

[VoodooExtreme]

I'm on cable here in sweden and I'm only paying approx 17$(US dollars) month but then we only have 512kbit/s down and 128kbit/s up.... But still, it's pretty cheap

 

[blurredvision]

A lot of you say just go with a free ISP and save the $20 a month. You must realize that not every place has local access numbers to get these. Also, IMO, $50 is not worth 256K downstream. I used to live in a small city, and we actually got the cable internet access before any of the larger cities around did. The pricing was the exact same ($40 for service, $10 for modem rental), and got 600k downstream. A friend of mine who lives in another bigger city nearby pays $40 total a month for cable internet, and gets 1.5Mb download speed. It's fast!!

 

[UberNeuman]

You've all forgot about the cost of CD-R's and larger hard drives... All of which go hand in hand with owning a cable modem...

 

[Namuna]

The price is a little steep, but you should still go with it.

The other factor here is also the amount of usage. When you've got a spritely connection you tend to spend more time on the net, so you'll get better use of it.

Here's another upside you might not have thought about...www.dialpad.com for FREE phone calls. The extra you spend for the Cable you could save in long distance calls.