Stopping The 56K Hate

A just-barely-Anonymous Coward writes: "Every day, hundreds of people are discriminated against by their Internet connection, banned from video/audio downloads, video/audio streaming, gaming, webcasts, and many other everyday Internet activities. The damage starts small -- hurt feelings, a little anger -- but soon it all escalates into pure rage that often leads up into the cutting of the aggressors' broadband line. The broadband users of the internet are the ones that torment the little people. All too often they forget their true origins; where they came from back in the good old days before there were even 56k modems. This website is dedicated to stopping the hate of 56k modems. Show your support by joining the ranks." No accounting for taste, but I laughed from this end of a 53K connection to my ISP.

Comments

Lets fill our nice websites with ugly gifs

[jdigital]

Wonderful, hard to read GIF banners added to thousands of sites around the world will surely help the needs of those of us who often surf through lynx to cut through most of the crap that people decide is 'better said' with an image.

It's an amusing idea...

[Rendus]

But not nearly as amusing as watching their counter skyrocket :) They're up to 277 or so hits since this was posted.

Re:It's an amusing idea...

[doctor_oktagon]

Now up to 964 and the USA is still asleep ... for the first time we will really be able to see how many people constitutes a /.ing!

hmm.. there IS an area where modems are preferred

[radja]

and once again.. it's porn. Certain porn-sites use a 'plugin' that basically makes your modem call a commercial dialin point owned by the porn-server. This makes for easy billing.

//rdj

gif banners

[clare-ents]

Feel sorry for the modem user - put more images on your page.

I get the feeling that the targetted point has been missed by a wide margin.

I don't get it.

[Mustang Matt]

Theoretically part of "stopping the hate" of 56k modems would be to make websites cleaner with less "junk" graphics... yet they want people to add a banner to their site? Am I missing something?

Do something about it....

[case_igl]

Everyone loves to complain about the lack of high speed access in their area, but most people don't actually do anything about it.

Sure, they put their phone number in the little box on the telco's DSL web page...It says "Not available" and then they leave it at that.

You've GOT to be persistant to get service going in your area. I called every few weeks to the phone company and cable company for a year. Have your friends call, use payphones, etc. These companies are in business just like any other. If there is no "demand" for the service they will put it somewhere that they THINK there is demand.

I know some people are hopelessly stuck with modems because they live way out there. I'm five miles outside of a small town. There's a dairy farm next door...It's pretty rural here, but I've been on a DSL connection now (the first person activated in my area, imagine that!) for a few months.

After ordering the service, the technician who came for the install told me that the local switch had been "DSL ready" for nine months but they never activated the equipment. I think calling often and having friends and neighbors doing the same got them to actually do something.

It's a shame that you have to chase after something you want to BUY so badly, but it's amazing how clueless the companies are. I ordered my service, they did a line test, I received my modem...Then they told me my line didn't qualify because I was too far away (I can SEE the local switch out my window). Turns out the guy on the phone was reading the wrong screen...

Be persistant and don't believe anything they tell you, hehe...
Case
1ee7 LPB

Re:Do something about it....

[digidave]

This is an actual conversation that took place between my father-in-law and the telco.

FIL: I'd like to order DSL
TEL: Ok, what's your ZIP code?
FIL: xxxxx
TEL: Sorry, DSL isn't available in your area yet.
FIL: Yes it is.
TEL: No, I'm sorry. The way DSL works is we have to install the equipment at your local telephone switch.
FIL: I know, and it's installed.
TEL: No it isn't. I think I'd know before you.
FIL: I'm the one who installed it 6 months ago.
TEL: Oh...... hang on while I get my manager.

Sure enough, it was available. The telco just hadn't updated their database.

Bandwidth Availability

[Richard Bannister]

One of the other posts so far in this topic has commented that bandwidth is a privilege, not a right.

That may be - but it is a privilege only available to a select few. In Ireland, where I live, broadband access is commercially available only in very small areas of Dublin - we're talking a few thousand people, tops.

Many people would be prepared to pay for bandwidth if they could get it - but the fact is, they can't. There is no alternative to modem (or ISDN) dialup for the majority of people here. Worse, local calls are not free - so an hour at 56K costs the equivalent of US $1.00. It adds up.

How much is Cable/DSL in the states? US $50/month? For that, your average Irish modem user may have been lucky enough to get about 300MB of traffic through.

Fortunately it looks like this may change soon - thank god - but for now, we're stuck with V.90.

Re:Large Files?

[doctor_oktagon]

So your point is that on trunk roads and motorways low performance cars should leave at the first exit to let through the faster ones?

This is a frankly disgraceful point of view! The Internet was not developed as a plaything for the technically rich, but as a medium available to anyone who could access, at a speed their hardware could cope with. Read the other posts: not everyone has either the financial means or the physical access to a broadband connection, and banning them from the net is not an option.

Flash is bad at work

[Dr_Cheeks]

Well, except when I am surfing at work. Flashy stuff is OK then.

No it's not - that's the second best way to attract the boss' attention (best is waving around something shiny and expensive looking)! I want more entertaining sites with gray backgrounds and meaningless tables of figures or technical diagrams that look like I'm working from the other end of the office.

Re:You dont design things for the LCD

[doctor_oktagon]

When you build things, you dont build them for the lowest common denominator.

I'm sorry, but sometimes you do, or at least you should!

Take a look at these two UK sites:
John Charcol Finances and
Intelligent Finance

Note how the IF site is clean and slick, while you have to wait for the entire Charcol page to load before you use it. Even when you are on a broadband connection the "snappiness" of the site matters.

The main web design problems in the world are caused by people trying to make the most of those flashy graphic design courses they were sent on, and less on delivering the appropriate level of functionality for the site. I just don't trust a web site which bloats out on every link & load.

Slashdot readership stats ... get 'em fresh!

[doctor_oktagon]

Check these links!

OS being used and
Browser being used

and
9 poor saps are surfing at 640x480.

IE5 on Windows 2000 easily the most popular OS amongst current readership (probably UK readers in their offices).

It seems some people are using IE2.0 (don't believe it), and Konqueror is beating Opera.
I'm most impressed by the fact 2 people just read the page using Amigas .... go boys go!!

Re:Slashdot readership stats ... get 'em fresh!

[roguerez]

I get it, you use the wave of users to the 56k site, coming from Slashdot. Very smart. :)

There are some problems with those statistics though. I think they switched IE 2.0 and 4.0. Furthermore, where is IE 6? It's available as a download and it's in XP. All beta, but a lot of people are using it, I don't think there's more Amiga users reading slashdot than XP users..

For the rest, interesting stuff, hope the Statistics are mostly Slashdot referers otherwise they could be screwed.

Telcos: chronically behind on their own data

[Old Man Kensey]

Chanc_Gorkon wrote:

I bet Database's not being updated is the primary reason that DSL is not available in more places.

I don't know about the primary reason, but certainly a big one. My rule has always been (and it's worked for 4 attempted DSL installs, 2 successful):

1. Get an as-the-crow-flies distance estimate. Don't just trust what getspeed.com or dslreports tells you -- check the address of the CO they give you on a map, then check with the telco to make sure it's the right CO. Draw a line from where you are to where it is and figure the distance. Then drive there and check your odometer (cabling tends to follow streets so the cable distance is probably at least as long as the shortest driving distance). If you come up with more than about 20,000 feet, you're hosed (except see below). Otherwise, keep going.
   
2. Call the DSL provider in question. If they say they don't provide to your area, make them tell you why not. A lot of places will not provide to apartment complexes because they don't realize that the lines generally all go to a phone closet with everything nicely labeled (for varying values of "nicely"). If they say your line didn't test clean, make them tell you when it was tested. If it was more than a few months ago, make them test it again.
   
3. If they start the order process, keep after them. If they say they'll be there at 4:00, call them at 4:15 if nobody shows up. Don't waste your time thinking the guy might have gotten stuck in traffic -- they will have phone contact with their installers, make them use it.
   
4. If they stop the order process halfway through, make them tell you why. Is there something wrong with your lines specifically? Is it an equipment issue? Don't let them call your operating system "unsupported" -- make it clear that you expect a physical install and a usable signal even if they refuse to support your specific connection to it.
   
5. If all else fails you can usually get IDSL. The bastard child of the DSL family, it's slow and it requires a phone line all to itself, but if your switch supports it you can get it no matter how far from the switch you are (just like an ISDN line). It's not out-of-band signaling like the others are so it's not subject to filtering out. The only thing is multiplexing might degrade it (just like it does a voice signal).
   
6. If you've made reasonable efforts, waited for installers who never come, paid in advance for service you still haven't gotten, and the response you get is basically "screw you, Bell was our daddy", take it to your Public Utility Commission. Most (all?) states have one and their raison d'etre is to redress poor customer service and abuses by regulated monopoly utilities. Here in Virginia that job is handled by the State Corporation Commission (other places it's usually its own agency) and they have the power, they know it and they do not hesitate to use it. I've had a vice-president of a regional telco call me personally to apologize and had Verizon ask me what day and time is most convenient for their installer to serve me. It's a last resort, but here at least, one that gets fast results.
7. Most of all, be informed. Know how the technology works and why it should work for you.
   

Sometimes you just can't get DSL (or cable as the case may be, and most of the above suggestions apply there too), but more often the telco or cableco is just going with the easy install over anything that even whiffs of being complicated. Be persistent. Be a pain in the ass if they feed you lines. Don't be afraid to use the consumer agencies whose whole purpose is to make the telco give you the service you're paying for. Recognize when they really can't do it, but make them prove it.