preparing to switch to dial-up

i know, everybody hates dial-up, but my roadrunner trial for $30/month is about to expire, and it's not worth $45 to continue.
i just wanted to be prepared, as best i can, for the transition to dial-up. any advice that anybody can give me, who has also made this transition would be welcome. i know that it will be slow.
will i have to use netzero, people pc, earthlink, or aol? the company that i will get the dial-up from is going to be verizon.
i have a compaq presario with XP, and 256 ram.
kaspersky AV
kerio 2.1.5
i don't use any real-time antispyware.

is there a danger of "timing out"

thanks.

 

I have to run to help a friend. But I will reply with tips. And don't pay too much. I only pay $4.94/month/400hrs.

 

I switched to dial-up after having blazing fast speeds from wireless hi-speed and although it slows downloading considerably, the trade-off is not been totally unbearable for me. The time-out happens for me but almost never when downloading, only when surfing forums and then only occasionally, but it is to be expected i suppose.

I dropped it simply because i don't like being laden down to two-year contract agreements like i had, but even though i miss the nice speed i don't miss the cost, and it seems to me (in my area), the hi-speed services are demanding even more prices than before. Kind of like cable TV, i used to get 80 channels for a mere 9.99 per month, but now days you even hint at those carriers if they could offer that sort of plan and they will flatly refuse as in saying those plans are history. I see the same happening with hi-speed internet/broadband services anymore.

 

zapjb,
please get back. i want to hear what you have to say.

easter.2010,
after reading what you said, i feel alot better about making this move. the computer is just a luxury to me anyway. the unlimited local phone calls are more important to me.
i gave dsl some thought, but i don't like the idea of my info going over the airwaves. in this case, the pluses that dial-up offers outweighs everything else.

thanks for the replies.

 

I recently bought NetZero Platinum for about 5$ a month - unlimited usage. I cannot download anything at high speeds, but browsing is almost as good as high speed cable in most situations. They have 10 hours free a month which you could use to help make your decision. The 10 free hours is the same speed as platinum.

 

Browser choice is huge on dialup.
For dialup especially Opera is king. 10x faster than IE & 2-3x faster than FF.

About ISP's in the USA.

dialup.cc - $4.94/month unlimited (400 hrs)
http://www.dialup.cc/

Stowe Telecom - $5/month unlimited
http://www.stowetel.com/

FRYS/Outpost - $5.99/month unlimited
http://www.frys.com/

Great Dial Up - Free/month unlimited
http://greatdialup.com/

My experience:
dialup.cc - excellent
Stowetel - ok
FRYS - hundreds of access #s per major cities, untried
Great Dial Up - free but iffy service, concerns about ports 79 & 80


Any other questions, concerns?

 

Try K-Ninja, I was surprised.

 

Well, I don't hate dialup!

Being one to support local businesses, I've always used a local ISP. It's US$18/month.

I've never had a busy signal dialing in, never had a timeout or dropped connection. His AV/Spam filters are great - I don't get more than 2 -3 per week.

I can manage my domain right at the server, adding/removing mail boxes (POP3) as I wish. I use ftp to upload to my web site. A personal web site has no MB limit.

Support is not a problem because it's rarely needed. I stop by for a chat a few times a month and get to see how an ISP is run.

He has nation-wide phone numbers so I can use his web-mail server when travelling.

I don't do much downloading, so don't miss high speed connection.

I do notice a big difference between IE6 and Opera (much faster)

I also use Kerio 2.1.5. You can create a DNS rule with your two DNS servers in the Custom Addresses with ports restricted to the ephemeral. Follow that with a "block-all-other Port 53" and that secures everything.

regards,

-rich

 

Are there any free broadband deals available? eg with mobile/phone company - your supplier or one you could change too.

 

I'd rather not have a computer than have to use dialup again on a permanent basis. I'd go hungry to pay for broadband. I can't imagine anyone leaving Road Runner (I've had it since June 2001) for dialup. I do use RR backup free dialup when RR is down for some reason and, yes, surfing isn't too painful until you try to look at a thread like this http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,18145847
or try to upload some digital photos, or try to download even just security updates. How are you going to get all those on dialup? It will be extremely painful. Broadband is almost a NECESSITY these days.

Ask your local Time Warner office for Road Runner Lite which is usually $25 a month and is generally speeds something like 768kbps down, 128kbps up. Or, a better deal is what a friend just got: AOL Road Runner. It is also 768/128 but it only costs $20 a month. Most Time Warner franchises don't like to advertise RR Lite or AOL RR because they want you to get the more expensive RR or Earthlink Cable. But all franchises have RR Lite if you call and ask specifically for that. As for AOL RR they should all have that also but you could just call AOL directly. In fact, I suspect the AOL price is probably $20 if you order directly from AOL and the Road Runner Lite price of $25 if you order from Time Warner. You should call both and see which offers the lowest. My friend has AOL dialup and is moving to AOL Road Runner so I think he did it through AOL instead of Time Warner. The speed for RR Lite, and the price, may vary a little from franchise to franchise. I could give you better information if I knew which franchise you are in.

I didn't understand why you don't want DSL as it is usually much cheaper than cable. What do you mean "i don't like the idea of my info going over the airwaves"? I am a privacy nut but if DSL was available in my area, I would switch to it from Road Runner because it is cheaper and it is just as private as cable or dialup...you really have me bumfuzzled by that comment.

 

Arrange a free permanent email address now, for example the free Google mail or the free AOL mail, because you will be happy to have a permanent email address while you are switching through cheaper internet services.

 

I too am a dialup.cc user.
At <$5.00/mo, it's virtually free.
Previously used Stowetel.
For cheap ISPs in your area, along with reviews of each:
http://www.freedomlist.com/

 

If you have comcast in your area search google for discounts. Many websites out there have the promotional 20$/mo. for first 6 months going even if you don't have a cable subscription.

Edit: P.S you can call about a week or so before the 6 month demo is up and let them know you cannot afford the upcoming higher price and you are very sorry you will have to cancel their wonderful services - they will most likely charge you 21$ from then on.

 

i thought dsl stood for
direct satellite link
i was under the impression that i would have a dish, and a satellite would send me a signal into my dish. i didn't know that it would be a wire.

rmus,
i would like to know exactly how to do that
create a rule with your two dns servers in the custom addresses with ports restricted to the ephemeral. follow that with a "block all other port 53"

thanks for all the replies, and others are always welcome.

 

His very own Kerio tutorial

 

Good point, that I was going to bring up too. I've used Golden Triangle for many years -- they're regional, and their "region" now encompasses most of southern Ont. and a good chunk of southern Quebec. And it doesn't hurt any that their HQ is right here in town, so if something's easier to discuss over the counter, they're walking distance.

Unlimited dialup runs me about $17 (Cdn) a month, and they could definitely give customer-service lessons to most of the big-name ISP's out there. One of the biggest advantages of being right here is that they're well aware of local phone conditions, and frequently make suggestions to Bell about where new trunks are apparently needed.

(Edit) Oops, forgot one of the best parts. For many years, the vast majority of their new business has come via mouth-of-mouth from satisfied users, no advertising budget to speak of.

(Do I get a fat discount for the above, Golden? )

 

I'm using dial up because I have no other options other than satellite. Drives my son nuts. He wants to go online with his Xbox. Used numerous providers over the years and currently have peoplepc with unlimited access. Can't recommend it because for "security reasons" it cuts you off after 4 hrs. Phone lines are terrible out here and the fastest connection I can get is 26.0 Kbps on a good day. I guess satellite is looking better all the time!

 

Same here. Our local ISP is pretty consistent though.
Usually 44K but they cut us off after 6 hours,
Frustrating to have to keep re-dialing when downloading large files.

I need to get a "Hardware" Modem anyway so I can
play with LINUX but that may improve my connection
speed as well regardless of which OS I'm running.

 

Me too. I also need a hardware modem to try linux. All the ubergeeks I talk to say I should be able to find one for $10 or less USD. But that's untrue for me. Lowest I've found are $35 or so delivered. Any help, links would be appreciated.

 

what if i get on-line at say 9:45 AM for half an hour, does that mean that after 1:45 PM i will no longer be able to use the internet, since that will be 4 hours later. i probably will have to ask verizon about that, because, honestly, that is a deal-breaker.
thanks for all the replies.

 

You might be pleasantly suprised by the price of DSL. I'm paying $18.95/month with I2k. Most of the DSL service around here comes from Verison, and you have to be a Verison phone customer to get it. This one is separate. Whether you end up with DSL or dialup, try to use a local company. It's worth it.

I recently switched from dialup to DSL. Dialup isn't as bad as some make it out to be. I was using a very cheap dialup service, $5/month thru the local public library. Used it for years. Their service would bump you offline after one hour, very annoying without a download manager. While downloads are slower than cable or DSL, you can still download most anything you want. With dialup, a good download manager makes a big difference, being able to reconnect and resume the download. I've downloaded 600mb Linux images with dialup, pausing it during the day and letting it run at night.

Web browsing on dialup isn't that bad. For me, most pages loaded in under 10 seconds, usually about 5. With dialup, ad-blocking and web filtering software can make quite a difference in how fast a page loads. I never used Opera, preferring Mozilla, aka Sea Monkey. It's also much faster than IE6 on dialup.

When properly configured, Kerio 2.1.5 will not slow down your connection. It can actually speed it up slightly by preventing unwanted services and unnecessary system connections from wasting your bandwidth. Lucas, nice little Kerio tutorial.

From a security standpoint, dialup can be the more secure internet service. With dialup, you'll most likely have a floating IP address, one that changes every time you reconnect. Unlike DSL or cable which are connected 24/7, with dialup you're only connected to the net when you're using it. Your system is an intermittent and moving target. The problems regarding updating your AV and system on dialup are exaggerated. Both can be scheduled for a time when you're not using the PC or phone, like after you go to bed or while you're at work. I don't allow any auto-updating on my system, preferring to it manually. Finding a time period when the PC or phone wasn't being used wasn't a problem.

The slower speed isn't that big of a deal unless you're into movies and games that require high speed. With a bit of planning and patience, large downloads are no real problem either. Just takes a bit of getting used to.
Rick

 

I had constant complaints from friends, businesses, etc. that they couldn't reach me as the line was always busy. I never got kicked off AOL but I had so many corrupted downloads that I would never use dialup for downloading anything unless forced to because I was so unfortunate as to live somewhere way out in the sticks where there was no alternative. Corrupted downloads are so lethal. They may load on your computer as all files won't be corrupted just some but then as you use the application, Microsoft patch, whatever, you start to have bad problems and you don't even attribute it at first to corruption in the download. Download Managers in my experience made the likelihood of corruption more so. So, I stopped using them and held my breath that I would not get cut off after 5 hours trying to download the latest IE or that it would not be corrupted once it finished downloading and I would have to do it all over again. The anxiety was enough to make me say never again to dialup...my life is precious to me and constant worry about dialup and downloading and people trying to get through on the busy phone line...it was not worth it to save $10 a month. You can frequently get DSL for $15 a month and I already told you how to get AOL Road Runner for $20...that is less than dialup AOL used to be when I had it. I paid $25 a month for dialup at 24kbps. I also had those free dialups...horrible...just horrible. I would never go with one of those again...very invasive of your privacy. If you do insist on dialup get the best local ISP possible for your dialup.
Dialup is a nightmare IMO.

 

Mele20, you have some valid points. How about some paragraphs though. I just only read part of your post because of the difficulty with no spacing.

Where I live. The cheapest stepup from dialup is $30 a month more than I'm paying. I check all the specials & they don't apply here.

I'd jump on the Yahoo! dsl $12.99/month deal if I could.

 

the biggest reason for getting the dial-up is the unlimited local phone. if the computer works at all, it will be a fringe benefit. i would be using the computer, pretty much, the same way that herbalist mentions.
thanks for the replies.

 

I never had a problem with corrupted downloads from using a download manager. Star Downloader was my choice, free with no adware/spyware. I can't begin to guess how much I downloaded with it over the years. Must be several gigabytes and at least a thousand files with no problems. For dialup, the connection speeds were pretty good, enough that I could download 13-14MB per hour. A 600MB ISO would take about a week running Star Downloader only at night. At $5/month, I couldn't complain.

Regarding missed calls, we solved that problem with Call Wave. Their software worked well for us and the price wasn't bad, about $36/year. It has its own Caller ID built in as part of the service. Their service cost less than the local phone company was charging for just the caller ID feature. We used to leave the PC connected online and screen the calls with Call Wave for that reason. If I had to go back to dialup, I'd use them again.

Assuming you get a decent service and the phone lines are in reasonable shape, dialup isn't all that bad as long as you're not the impatient type. If you're used to high speed, the slower downloads will take some getting used to. For larger files, you'll have to plan your downloading time a little.
Rick