I've been thinking about it for awhile, and now I've got it, a high-speed connection. I made the arrangements a week ago, the guy was here and took an hour putting it in, and then I tried it out---so far it's much faster than dial-up, and I can make and get calls on my regular phone line.
It's a less than ideal setup right now---I had to haul my tower and other gear out, unplug them all, replug them in out here in the living room, just to try it out. It's too damn awkward to work for very long. I'll pick up some kind of cable connector sometime tomorrow, probably.
But, man, boy, is it faster...
Posted by philocinemas (Member # 8108) on :
Robert, I can't believe you were still using dial-up. That and working for the Post Office too? - What a dangerous combination.
Posted by satate (Member # 8082) on :
Welcome to the year 2000 Robert. Posted by Crystal Stevens (Member # 8006) on :
What I wouldn't give for DSL but unfortunately I can't afford it out here in the country. There is a company that has found a way for country folks to have DSL (high speed?), but I about choked on the price. Try $60 a month!!! My husband is still unemployed, and our money is tight, tight, tight. I can get dial-up for around $120 for a whole year. What I wouldn't give for DSL or high speed, but it's waaaaaaaaaaay out of my price bracket .
Posted by Zero (Member # 3619) on :
And I thought I was the last person to switch over... in 2006.
Posted by Robert Nowall (Member # 2764) on :
Well, today I got a fifty-foot length of cable to connect up the box (back o' my TV, where the cable and phone outlets are) to my computer (in my so-called "office," which has neither and is crammed to the rafters with junk besides.) The cable is a little long but I couldn't find a shorter one on short notice. I'm not sure of the connections but it works right now and I'll look into the proper way to do it---later. (Maybe I could rig up a wireless connection, but I don't like flinging a lot of radiation around my home.)
I went through my usual sights and sites---I think it took only a little less time to work through them, though this may improve with practice. Certainly they're appearing faster. And most of the graphics came up complete as well.
As for keeping on dial-up all these years, there's (1) inertia, where I use what I've got 'cause it still works, (2) privacy issues---I generally don't like having total strangers in my house to do anything, (3) expense---I already spend a lot of money on things I don't absolutely need, (4) fear of problems---early on I heard tales of hackers trying to take over computers that were high-speed connected, and (5) fear of the unknown---what would this do?
Well, I overcame those things and have the service now. The deal fell into my hands, and, right now, seems to work. I've got a line I'll unplug when I'm done. The expense doesn't seem that great. And I have the added benefit of being able to make and take calls on my regular phone line now.
If there are any problems, I'll let you know. Right now I'm off to explore some videos---which were a pain and nuisance to work with in dial-up...
Posted by Robert Nowall (Member # 2764) on :
Addendum: in the process of poking around videos and music clips, I learned of the existence of two Buddy Holly albums I simply had to have. Sure, I might've found 'em later---but, because of trying this out now, I found them now.
Posted by Tiergan (Member # 7852) on :
Congrats Robert. I got my highspeed last Feb. My wife started tele-commuting, so her workd paid the $70 a month for satalite, but we had to pay for the installation, it was like $250 for set-up. I live on a mountain, so it was the only way to go. I don't recommend it though, faster than dial-up yes, but somedays its not much. At work, I now have a T1 line, now that is fast, my email is there before outlook opens up.
Posted by Robert Nowall (Member # 2764) on :
Oh, by the way...the price quoted to me was $19.95 a month, with a ten-dollar installation fee. (I tipped the guy five dollars, mostly for coming an hour later for my convenience.)
It's piggybacked onto my cable TV service, so I'm still waiting for the bills to come in before I scream about some fee or charge or other that I didn't understand...I switched my long distance service too, as part of the deal, but I never use my long-distance service right now (nobody to call that's far away).
Posted by Robert Nowall (Member # 2764) on :
Another addendum: just a few minutes ago, I abruptly realized I could work my iTunes account and buy and download songs without waiting for horrendous lengths of time. I promptly bought three songs off them...and will probably be back for more.
Posted by Robert Nowall (Member # 2764) on :
Another addendum: A Certain Loss...I used to spend my time between loading sites reading this or that...now things load so fast there's no time. I'll have to move some of my reading elsewhere...but I'm excited that some time has been freed up for possible writing...
Posted by Patrick James (Member # 7847) on :
Haven't read any of the things written in this thread--just the title Working on the DSL...
Be sure not to get those letters in the wrong order, or you may have an entirely different set of letters after you. Their organization begins with a D ends with an A and has an E somewhere in the middle.
Posted by Robert Nowall (Member # 2764) on :
You can put pounds-shillings-pence on it that I'm not interested in doing that particular order of letters...get that reference...
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