Got a tip for us?
Let us know
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
Who uses 56k (dial-up) still?
- Thread starter GimmeSlack12
- Start date
- Sort by reaction score
Where I live qualifies as "the boonies", almost. For years the only high speed choices were either a satellite connection or paying to have your own T1 line put in. About five years ago, a line-of-sight wireless provider moved in with 1 MB/s rates [haven't changed!] and the majority of internet users in my 2,000 person town switched. Then, Embarq started offering DSL (a much better option), and that split the difference and the rest of the population generally jumped on board.
Now the only dial-up provider left is Terraworld, an EarthLink reseller, I believe.
Personally, we just got DSL late last year, and it was 1.5 MB/s. It was wonderful for us after having been on 56k and then 44k for so long... but thankfully we upgraded to 3 MB/s earlier this summer. Still not stellar, but it sure makes those iTunes movie downloads go a little bit faster. As of now, the fastest connection in my part of the world, consumer-wise, is a 10 MB/s DSL connection.
Now the only dial-up provider left is Terraworld, an EarthLink reseller, I believe.
Personally, we just got DSL late last year, and it was 1.5 MB/s. It was wonderful for us after having been on 56k and then 44k for so long... but thankfully we upgraded to 3 MB/s earlier this summer. Still not stellar, but it sure makes those iTunes movie downloads go a little bit faster. As of now, the fastest connection in my part of the world, consumer-wise, is a 10 MB/s DSL connection.
Well when I voted on this poll I just checked DSL and kept moving without comment. Those were the good old days before I noticed that Frontier revealed some new fine print on July 23, 2008 about a 5GB cap on MONTHLY usage of DSL services.
Early in the fall, my Frontier contract is over and I'll be gone from their lockbox except for basic telco service. I will be switching my long distance then as well. They get to keep my local service until someone finally builds a cell tower this side of the hills...
Thus I will briefly become a dialup user again while I decide what to do that does not involve DSL. Frontier is the only provider of DSL around here. I already revived my old dialup account with an Albany outfit that is probably glad it has kept its local access number in my area, since I'm not the only person royally ticked off at Frontier.
At least my contract is almost over so I don't have to bother with the hassle of proving I have the right to depart Frontier's "service" early without penalty. I got an assurance they're not enforcing the cap yet and I'll be gone by time they install the monitors.
Maybe Frontier just does not want the expense of maintaining and upgrading the infrastructure for all the business that they drummed up with cheap packages in these rural areas the past few years. Anyway, this move to establish such a low usage cap will certainly help resolve that concern!
Early in the fall, my Frontier contract is over and I'll be gone from their lockbox except for basic telco service. I will be switching my long distance then as well. They get to keep my local service until someone finally builds a cell tower this side of the hills...
Thus I will briefly become a dialup user again while I decide what to do that does not involve DSL. Frontier is the only provider of DSL around here. I already revived my old dialup account with an Albany outfit that is probably glad it has kept its local access number in my area, since I'm not the only person royally ticked off at Frontier.
At least my contract is almost over so I don't have to bother with the hassle of proving I have the right to depart Frontier's "service" early without penalty. I got an assurance they're not enforcing the cap yet and I'll be gone by time they install the monitors.
Maybe Frontier just does not want the expense of maintaining and upgrading the infrastructure for all the business that they drummed up with cheap packages in these rural areas the past few years. Anyway, this move to establish such a low usage cap will certainly help resolve that concern!
You should change your poll to account for different speed DSL and cable. For instance I have 12 mbps DSL (FTTN).
Shockingly, occasionally I do!
I have to phone up Virgin pay-as-you-go every 90 days to keep my e-mail address active (although my cable provider is VirginMedia but they refuse to merge accounts) and my old 1994 PowerMac still in use in my son's room is pre-USB, doesn't have an Ethernet card and I don't have a floppy on my newer Macs so I have to occasionally transfer stuff over using 28k!!!
I have to phone up Virgin pay-as-you-go every 90 days to keep my e-mail address active (although my cable provider is VirginMedia but they refuse to merge accounts) and my old 1994 PowerMac still in use in my son's room is pre-USB, doesn't have an Ethernet card and I don't have a floppy on my newer Macs so I have to occasionally transfer stuff over using 28k!!!
i know verizon has fios fiber optics, and im in canada and know this
Im sure as hell not gettting fiber optics from my isp because there over priced and suck, there on a server go figure.
A woman who works with my wife still uses "dial-up" ...
Ohh the shame of it. lol
youre not on that much of a speed boost
i joke, i joke!!
I know a guy, whose cousin knows this dude, who used to date this girl who has a neighbor who knows this woman that works with this gentleman who uses dialup.A woman who works with my wife still uses "dial-up" ...
Ohh the shame of it. lol
i have 100mbps here. I usually max out to 1.5mb/s on downloads at peak performance
I remember when we had earthlink...good times. I still remember not being able to use the phone while my dad used the computer haha
I remember when we had earthlink...good times. I still remember not being able to use the phone while my dad used the computer haha
I use it when I go to my parent's beach house. Last time I took my old Powerbook, since the Macbook doesn't have a modem port anymore (and I don't want to buy the external modem).
1.5 Mbs ADSL here for 4 years, dialup for 2. The only dialup modems i have is the one in the old school airports, my mini and power book
We had dial up until 2003. It wasn't all that bad though because we had two phone lines, so you could internet and still use the phone. lol. Glad those days are over. Unfortunately our DSL is starting to feel its age. I can't download any faster than 168kb/s when most people I know on the same plan can get over 300.
I don't hang around here much anymore, but glad to see the thread is still going. My main point was to find out if anyone still used dial-up. Looks like its evolving into an overall internet connection poll. Maybe next time...
I remember that. Of course, when I still had dial-up, nobody in my house had a cellphone, so it was quite impossible to call anybody when someone was on the phone. Strangely enough, our modem-on-hold thing only worked on the Administrator account on the computer; if I was on a limited account, the only way to tell if someone had called was to check the caller ID which would show the call for some strange reason.
Heh, that's my fault, actually. I was doing a search, I saw this thread, I felt like commenting, and only later did I realize how old it was.
I use dsl and dial up
Bell gives me free dial up with my "slow high speed" interenet, I kid you not dial up is faster, But we only have one phone line, so we never tie the line durring the day, I use dial up once in the past year (at my moms)
I use dial up when the power goes out to look at the weather, and that is on an old power book (It does not last long on batt tho)
At my dads We had dial up till 2007 Dec 28th we kew about this wireless company (Platinum com- albertan conpany) they are fast
Befor we had telus dial up and that was slow even with opera with dial up mode (makes the immages smaller)
Bell gives me free dial up with my "slow high speed" interenet, I kid you not dial up is faster, But we only have one phone line, so we never tie the line durring the day, I use dial up once in the past year (at my moms)
I use dial up when the power goes out to look at the weather, and that is on an old power book (It does not last long on batt tho)
At my dads We had dial up till 2007 Dec 28th we kew about this wireless company (Platinum com- albertan conpany) they are fast
Befor we had telus dial up and that was slow even with opera with dial up mode (makes the immages smaller)
I'm in New Zealand and still using dial-up (and I work from home) for both my Mac and this ancient Windoze PC ... or at least I would if useless Vodafone hadn't screwed up my Mac being able to connect at all.
I also help three other home Mac users who are still using dial-up and another two have a broadband connection. The main reason people stick to dial-up is because broadband is over-priced and all the silly plans, dat caps, etc. are confusing to many non-technical people. Someone else I know who moved into a sub-division of houses that is only two / three years old and not in the countryside can't even get broadband unless they use a mobile connection like a Vodem.
No option for FiberOptic???
Yeah, this is a cool thread topic but a little outdated. Maybe time for a new one??
I'm currently on a 768 Kbps DSL connection but will be switching to a 22 Mbps (!) cable connection this week.
