Down With Dial-Up
One thing I sometimes come across helping home users, is that they want to get off of dial-up. Dial-Up was one of the first ways to get to the internet for the home user, reaching speeds of up to 56kps. And if you are using dial-up to read this blog, I am sorry, I am so very sorry.
The truth is that broadband costs for things such as cable modem and DSL have dropped significantly. A lot of users on dial-up still use things like AOL and are paying around $20 per month for this slow service. When I just read an advertisement online for Qwest DSL for $14.99 per month for about 1.5mps. Now some people ask what this means, what is kilobytes mean versus megabytes. Well your average dial-up speed maxes out at 56kb, where as the Qwest DSL I mentioned above is 1.5mb is really 1500kb. So if you are comparing the difference in speed is more like 56 versus 1500. Now it can go even higher, depending on how much you want to pay. My wife and I have our internet through Charter Cable Modem and 10mps, so that would be like 10,000kb instead of 56kb.
Another benefit of broadband versus dial-up is the use of a home phone. A lot of home users still have a home phone and when they are online, their home phone is unusable. If you go with a broadband connection, such as cable modem or DSL, then this does not block your home phone usage while you are online. People can call in normally and you can still remain online regardless. The other benefit is thatyou are always online, no having to run a program to connect to the internet, you turn your computer on and go.
So all in all if you are still using dial-up (and yes there are still a lot who are) I would seriously look at your cost and what other broadband solutions are out there and how much they cost. Remember, you will be getting rid of your dial-up cost so that can be rolled into the new cost of the broadband connection. And believe me, the difference in speed is simply amazing. I typically tell people the only thing you really get from dial-up is a lot of frustration.
