dial up internet providers

[[email protected]]

A year ago I signed on with Hawk Communications at a monthly rate of
6.95 prepaid X12 for this past year. The service was fine and when the
company was sold to Earthlink a few months later they told me they
would honor the prepayment deal until it expires. That will come about
at the end of January. After that they will start billing me 9.95
monthly. Now with DSL and broadband competing with each other and so
prolific it would seem that dial up services should be able to be had
at bargain rates. Does anyone know of any deals similar to the Hawk one
I picked up last year?
Thanks, Lenny Stein

 

[Si Ballenger]

A year ago I signed on with Hawk Communications at a monthly rate of
6.95 prepaid X12 for this past year. The service was fine and when the
company was sold to Earthlink a few months later they told me they
would honor the prepayment deal until it expires. That will come about
at the end of January. After that they will start billing me 9.95
monthly. Now with DSL and broadband competing with each other and so
prolific it would seem that dial up services should be able to be had
at bargain rates. Does anyone know of any deals similar to the Hawk one
I picked up last year?
Thanks, Lenny Stein

http://www.allvantage.com/
http://www.thelist.com/

 

[Ken Weitzel]

A year ago I signed on with Hawk Communications at a monthly rate of
6.95 prepaid X12 for this past year. The service was fine and when the
company was sold to Earthlink a few months later they told me they
would honor the prepayment deal until it expires. That will come about
at the end of January. After that they will start billing me 9.95
monthly. Now with DSL and broadband competing with each other and so
prolific it would seem that dial up services should be able to be had
at bargain rates. Does anyone know of any deals similar to the Hawk one
I picked up last year?
Thanks, Lenny Stein

Hi Lenny...

Am I wrong in thinking that you're somewhere in Eastern Canada?
Can't remember what, but some post sometime gave me that idea.
If wrong, I apologize.

If not, I'd suggest that you check out 295.ca - never used them, but
had a friend who did or does. $2.95 per month for unlimited dialup,
a discount if you paid a year in advance.

The key will be if they have a local dialup number in your
area.

Ken

 

[[email protected]]

Ken, I'm in New Hampshire

 

[Mike Berger]

It's an interesting conclusion, but I don't think it's correct.
Dialup services were never very profitable -- AOL didn't make
money until they hit 18 million subscribers. The cost of
providing the services hasn't really declined. $ 9.95 a month
IS a bargain rate if the service is good.

 

[James Sweet]

It's an interesting conclusion, but I don't think it's correct.
Dialup services were never very profitable -- AOL didn't make
money until they hit 18 million subscribers. The cost of
providing the services hasn't really declined. $ 9.95 a month
IS a bargain rate if the service is good.

I have to wonder if it's any cheaper to provide dialup than broadband
anymore, dialup ties up the circuit and associated switching gear while it's
in use, broadband is transparent. As broadband becomes more common the
dialup equipment will be more archaic and likely more expensive to source
and maintain.

 

[Alan Douglas]

Hi,

Ken, I'm in New Hampshire

I've been happy with Galaxy dialup at $12/month in Massachusetts
but I don't know if they serve New Hampshire. The only downside is
lack of a newsgroup feed, which I get separately from Newsguy.com at
$40/year.

Alan

 

[Michael A. Terrell]

I have to wonder if it's any cheaper to provide dialup than broadband
anymore, dialup ties up the circuit and associated switching gear while it's
in use, broadband is transparent. As broadband becomes more common the
dialup equipment will be more archaic and likely more expensive to source
and maintain.

Source what? As the number of dialup customers drops off, some
equipment won't be repaired. It will be replaced with working spare
equipment that is no longer needed, where available.

 

[James Sweet]

Source what? As the number of dialup customers drops off, some
equipment won't be repaired. It will be replaced with working spare
equipment that is no longer needed, where available.

Well I'd assume a lot of it will get retired to the scrap heap and
eventually (as in the next decade or so) it may well be getting hard to come
by.

 

[Too_Many_Tools]

Any other suggestions for those of us in the United States for a good
cheap dialup provider?

TMT

 

[Michael A. Terrell]

Well I'd assume a lot of it will get retired to the scrap heap and
eventually (as in the next decade or so) it may well be getting hard to come
by.

In a decade the custom chipsets will probably be unavailable to
repair the existing equipment, anyway. Who knows? By then they may have
finally achieved fiber to home, and no one in the US will have to worry
about dialup?

 

[[email protected]]

But for those of us who don't need the speed and don't want to pay a
lot of money what are the options? Its bad enough we're going to be
getting HDTV crammed up our asses whether we want it or not, why this?
Proogress? Bullshit its all about money. Lenny Stein

 

[Michael A. Terrell]

But for those of us who don't need the speed and don't want to pay a
lot of money what are the options? Its bad enough we're going to be
getting HDTV crammed up our asses whether we want it or not, why this?
Proogress? Bullshit its all about money. Lenny Stein

Of course its all about money.

On the other hand, broadband rates have been coming down, while
Dialup keeps creeping upwards. Some providers are selling Broadband at
a discount, based on the monthly bandwidth requirement. Its a good bet
that it won't be long before there is little or no price advantage for
dialup the casual residential. After all, its a lot easier to build and
maintain a broadband backbone where they assign you an IP address and
forget about it, till you have a problem, instead of maintaining a
dialup network as well. When I first got broadband in 2000 it was $70
per month. It had 2 Mb/s download rate, a 2 MB mailbox for each of four
user accounts. Today, its $45 a month for a 5 Mb/s download limit,
eight user accounts with 10 MB web space and a 100 MB mailbox per user.
I am currently using three of the user accounts for personal use, and
one for my "Computers for Veterans" program. It has its own e-mail
address and website to keep people in my area informed on what is going
on, along with some Veteran's news. I am scheduled to speak to the
Marion County Veterans Council next month about taking the website to
paid web space so we can expand the veteran's information section.

In closing, I think that the Internet is still in the model "T"
stage. It will grow and change as it matures, like any other
technology.

 

[James Sweet]

On the other hand, broadband rates have been coming down, while
Dialup keeps creeping upwards. Some providers are selling Broadband at
a discount, based on the monthly bandwidth requirement. Its a good bet
that it won't be long before there is little or no price advantage for
dialup the casual residential. After all, its a lot easier to build and
maintain a broadband backbone where they assign you an IP address and
forget about it, till you have a problem, instead of maintaining a
dialup network as well. When I first got broadband in 2000 it was $70
per month. It had 2 Mb/s download rate, a 2 MB mailbox for each of four
user accounts. Today, its $45 a month for a 5 Mb/s download limit,
eight user accounts with 10 MB web space and a 100 MB mailbox per user.
I am currently using three of the user accounts for personal use, and
one for my "Computers for Veterans" program. It has its own e-mail
address and website to keep people in my area informed on what is going
on, along with some Veteran's news. I am scheduled to speak to the
Marion County Veterans Council next month about taking the website to
paid web space so we can expand the veteran's information section.

In closing, I think that the Internet is still in the model "T"
stage. It will grow and change as it matures, like any other
technology.
--

I pay $29.95 for broadband, that's exactly what I was paying for dialup when
I first got on the internet 10 years ago. One thing I can say about it
though is once you have it you'll never go back. Just the convenience of
being online instantly without waiting to connect and not tying up the phone
is worth it, never having to worry about someone else picking up the phone
and interrupting a 2 hour download when it's 99.5% done, and basic stuff
like downloading patches, drivers and other software is an order of
magnitude less painful. Oh and you can plug in as many computers as you want
and have them all online at once, great for anyone with a home network.

 

[[email protected]]

Well thats all well and good if you have cable to begin with but we
still use an antenna for TV. I know some may argue that we may be
living in the dark ages here but I have no desire to have cable. And
just to set the record straught when my son and his girlfriend were
living here they installed a high speed cable networked system
throughout the house which we all used. That all went with them when
they left and really I don't miss it. For what we do dialup is more
than adaquate. Also cost is a factor for us too so that was the reason
for my exploring the least costly method of getting connected in the
first place. Lenny Stein.

 

[James Sweet]

Well thats all well and good if you have cable to begin with but we
still use an antenna for TV. I know some may argue that we may be
living in the dark ages here but I have no desire to have cable. And
just to set the record straught when my son and his girlfriend were
living here they installed a high speed cable networked system
throughout the house which we all used. That all went with them when
they left and really I don't miss it. For what we do dialup is more
than adaquate. Also cost is a factor for us too so that was the reason
for my exploring the least costly method of getting connected in the
first place. Lenny Stein.

I don't have cable either, used to years ago but found I never watched TV
anymore once I had broadband so got rid of it. My broadband is DSL over the
normal phone line, it's a bit more limited as to where you can get it though
since you have to be within a certain distance to the central office.

 

[Michael A. Terrell]

Well thats all well and good if you have cable to begin with but we
still use an antenna for TV. I know some may argue that we may be
living in the dark ages here but I have no desire to have cable. And
just to set the record straught when my son and his girlfriend were
living here they installed a high speed cable networked system
throughout the house which we all used. That all went with them when
they left and really I don't miss it. For what we do dialup is more
than adaquate. Also cost is a factor for us too so that was the reason
for my exploring the least costly method of getting connected in the
first place. Lenny Stein.

You don't have to subscribe to cable to get broadband where I live,
and I have a choice of Road Runner, Earthlink or AOL for the same
price. If you want dial up, look in your phone book for a small local
provider, or do a Google search for ISPs in your area. Not all of them
advertise, and a lot of them rent backbone from the same companies so
you might end up with an ISP in another part of the country. I tried
the locals, and gave up on them, and switched to Earthlink dialup, and
then after a year off line I went back to broadband, with Earthlink.
Its always online, and I only need the one phone line.

 

[Dana]

You might try www.pconline.com and see if they have dialup numbers in your
area.

 

[Dana]

I know, it is like if you don't have a computer, you can't do anything. I
am blind, and using screen read programs to access the computer. This is
Dana in Griffin, GA. Haven't posted in the group for a verry long time.