Remember how Juno used to let you check your email without getting on the web at all? Are there any other things like that anymore? Anyway for a person who doesn't want the Internet to still have email capability? Don't worry, it's not me.
Posted by zgator (Member # 3833) on :
As in not having an internet account at all? I used to have an account with a local provider where I didn't have to get on the internet to check email, but I still had to have an account.
Posted by PSI Teleport (Member # 5545) on :
I think what she's going for is the inability to get on the web.
Posted by vwiggin (Member # 926) on :
I did a google search for ["email only account" dial up] and that seems to bring up pretty relevant services.
For example, the first search result says:
quote:This special "PEA" account is ideally suited for individuals who may travel away from The River's local calling area for an extended period of time, or who already have Internet access through another service. For just $5 per month, you get a mail box at The River with no dial-up access.
But most of those services are local, so if you insert the city/county your friend lives in you should find a service.
[ October 29, 2004, 10:08 AM: Message edited by: vwiggin ]
Posted by TomDavidson (Member # 124) on :
So you're looking for an e-mail only dial-up service? Those are increasingly rare, but I'm sure they do still exist somewhere.
The problem is that the ISP doesn't actually save much money by limiting you to just E-mail, so there's little reason for them to offer that service much cheaper than the $10/month that basic dial-up costs nowadays.
Posted by PSI Teleport (Member # 5545) on :
I think that's okay...she had some problem with her young sons and porn so it's more of a disciplinary tactic.
Posted by TomDavidson (Member # 124) on :
In that case, there's an even better way to do this. You buy a firewall, block all outgoing port 80 and port 443 traffic except to specific sites you want to permit, and change the admin password on your home machine. That way YOU can still surf, but your kids can't go anywhere without asking you to clear the site for them first.
You can block IM traffic the same way, particularly if you simply block all outgoing communications by default.
Posted by Dan_raven (Member # 3383) on :
Or you get a Cell Phone with E-mail access, and use that.
Posted by Farmgirl (Member # 5567) on :
Well, my aunt uses a "My Mail Station" machine -- that allows e-mail only, no internet or web browsing on anything. She loves it (she's in her 70's)
They got bought-out by Earthlink, but click on the Earthlink Mailstation hyperlink on that page to learn more. It is a small machine about 6 inches by 8 inches or so that uses dial-up to just check, receive and send e-mail.
Of course, that means HTML formatted e-mail and attachments are a problem, but they give you a web sign-in. So she can come to my house while I'm on full web, log on and see if there are any attachments "holding" up there for her, or delete them out of the system.
Farmgirl
[ October 29, 2004, 10:22 AM: Message edited by: Farmgirl ]
Posted by PSI Teleport (Member # 5545) on :
Tom: Oh, that's a good idea. The only problem I can see with it is that her sons are far more internet savvy than she is. I'm not sure how to educate her on how to do all that without just doing it myself and setting her password for her. Is there a way that her budding internet geeks can pull one over on her? They aren't exactly hackers. They're smarter than me, but that ain't sayin' much.
Farmgirl: I'll check on that too.
[ October 29, 2004, 10:23 AM: Message edited by: PSI Teleport ]
Posted by TomDavidson (Member # 124) on :
Well, if they had administrative rights on the computer, they could uninstall the firewall and reinstall it with their own settings. They could also guess the firewall password itself, or con her into changing a setting that opened the whole web up for them.
You can also buy "childproof" firewall programs that filter on content AND location. I've never used one myself -- in fact, I use a hardware firewall, so a lot of these issues are moot -- but I hear they're pretty easy to administrate.
Posted by Hobbes (Member # 433) on :
PSI, it kind of depends on how much work your friend wants to take to make sure they stay offline. If her kids just looked up some porn, and now she wants to keep that from happening again, then setting up a firewall and telling her kids that she wont change any of the setting unless their fabulous (and good looking) Aunt PSI comes over and validates it, that might be a harsh blow since they shouldn't deserve that level of mistrust (yet). But if they've disobyed her and broken promises than that message might be exactly the one she would want to be sending (because you lied to me, I can't trust you). Of course then the kids might start asking to have settings changed just toget you over there, I know I would.
Hobbes Posted by PSI Teleport (Member # 5545) on :
I just spoke with her...she wants an SMTP only, with no Internet capability at all. I think she's afraid she'll be hoodwinked and this seems to be important to her.
Hobbes: Aunt PSI...HAHAHAHA. The kids are only a couple of years younger than me. And they waaaaay deserve to have their Internet taken away. This isn't their first offense, nor the only type of offense they have committed.
[ October 29, 2004, 10:46 AM: Message edited by: PSI Teleport ]
Posted by Hobbes (Member # 433) on :
You'd make a super-cool Aunt PSI (and a good looking one, as mentioned above).
Hobbes Posted by PSI Teleport (Member # 5545) on :
*shakes finger*
I think you're just testing me so I can practice my defenses when the boys try that on me to get me to let them online.
That sentence was all befuddleded.
[ October 29, 2004, 10:52 AM: Message edited by: PSI Teleport ]
Posted by Hobbes (Member # 433) on :
Sometimes "super-cool" and "good looking" are matters of opinion when stated about people, sometimes they are just plain facts. This was the latter.
Hobbes Posted by Fitz (Member # 4803) on :
Kids definitely have it too easy these days in regards to porn access. In my day we had to walk 3 miles uphill in a blizzard just to get to the convenience store so that we could then steal Playboys and Penthouse magazine. Hell, it was either that or settling for the lingerie section of a Sears Catalogue. Now it's all just a google search or a download away. I'm glad your friend is trying to teach her kids a lesson about having things too easy. That is why she's denying them internet access, right? Posted by Farmgirl (Member # 5567) on :
By the way -- if this is due to her sons getting to porn via dial-up, make sure she has also called her local phone company and asked them to block "900" dialing from her number.
My son "accidentally" (so he says) got on a porn site once, and somehow got this "dialer" program on my computer that kept dialing out to a 900 number. I didn't realize it until I got my phone bill - the computer was dialing the number. Did a search and destroy on my PC and found the dialer program.
FG
Posted by ElJay (Member # 6358) on :
Farmgirl, I hope you didn't pay the charges. You can't legally be held responsible for them, they make their money on people who don't want the hassle of fighting it.
Posted by Farmgirl (Member # 5567) on :
No, I didn't pay them. I called the phone company to pay to have them install the 900-blocking, and they removed all the previous 900 charges. I knew that was an option.
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Of course then the kids might start asking to have settings changed just toget you over there, I know I would. ![[Big Grin]](biggrin.gif)
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