Dump Broadband, Dig Out Your Modem!

wilstephens writes: "Found this article on CNet about the latest trend of people dumping broadband in favour of their modems. Cheaper, and more reliable service, apparently! 'Katy Ling, a software consultant who had her home wired for high-speed Internet access last year, did what many technology analysts said would never happen: She bailed out of broadband...'"

Comments

dslreports

[psychalgia]

was running this as a story as well, basically most of their users came to the conclusion that the general populous would "sell their grandmas" before returning to a modem. Non-techies don't want to wait for their information, this is the only thing that brought them to the 'net. at least I _hope_ it wasn't for the ads...

Not gonna do it

[well_jung]

I can understand how someone could choose between, say, food or broadband. But So long as I have 50 bucks left over after the car and house are paid for, my ass ain't digging that goddamn modem out of the closet.

And frankly, I don't know anyone else that would, either. I supect the Author's sole anecdotel example is also their neighbor. There isn't a story here.

broadband is for lazy people

[GunFodder]

With a dialup modem I used to get a lot more done around the house. I could go get coffee while waiting for pages to load, or do some cleaning. And I got a real sense of well-being when I left my machine on all night to download a 100MB game demo and it actually worked!

what?

[gray code]

K.D. Lang bailed out on her "broad" band? oh crap, now what will the girls listen to?

har har....

Selling Grandma..

[Beowulfto]

EarthLink spokesman Kurt Rahn says that high-speed subscribers would "rather sell their grandmothers" than go back to a pokey dial-up connection.

I wouldn't sell my Grandma.........but I might lease her.

Quick summary

[Erasmus Darwin]

For people with a short attention span, the article takes a long time just to say:
Economy bad. People out of work. Luxury spending allegedly curtailed.

Re:Benefits of bad service

[Anonymous Coward]

I wish I had service to complain about. I still live in Bedrock, and there are no signs of Amerirock or AT&Pterydactle doing anything about it.

From my cold dead eth0 !

[SmegTheLight]

You'll get my broadband when you pry it from my cold dead nics !

I dumped Cable internet for my modem

[ehiris]

1. Unreliable connections experienced on Cable. (frequent disconnects)

2. Connection speeds lower then modem speed when connecting to server hosted on modem bandwidth.

3. Cable does not play my favorite song on connecting.

4. Cable security is low. (People can actually hack in my computer without having to wait)

- Cable is haunted by big nasty ghosts

Dump your broadband! Use MODEM!

Re:Extremely satisfied broadband customer

[scott1853]

Verizon DSL service: 768 down, 256 up

Those numbers don't refer to "days" do they.

Re:Amen

[BigRedZX]

Sell your motorcycles!

BLASPHEMY!

Sell the table first...

Re:So be a friendly webmaster...install mod_gzip

[brassman]

Lemme know when I can get something other than a modem or (ugh) GEO satellite, and I'll gladly switch.

I feel your pain. :-) Took flippin' forever for Cablevision to finally get out to Pavement Narrows (which is just north of Bridge Freezes), and they never did follow up on my entry on their waiting list -- I got a little tag hanging on my doorknob from a local sales rep. Called up five minutes later and had it up and running three days later. That was about five months ago, and my DirecPC dish is doing nothing but giving some tired birds a place to sit. I ain't NEVER going back. Death first!

Re:cause she is broke

[notsoanonymouscoward]

but have probably grown out of that phase by now.

hey speak for yourself pal, my newsgroup pR0n video scanner is cron'd just like everything else.

YES!

[Winged Elf]

Go back to your cruddy dial-up! More bandwidth for me! :D

surrender the pipe ? Never!

[TandyMasterControl]

It's been said already but I am not ashamed to repeat it: you'll get my dsl modem when you can pry it from my cold dead hands. Cheap hunk of usb shite that it is, it's my umbilicus.

I only want one telephone line. If I ordered a second phone number the telco would just multiplex it on the same wire as my first phone number. The consequences of that manouever (DAML) for the line noise usually cuts the download speed of a 56k modem in HALF. That's just not bearable.

DSL frees my phoneline for normal calls while I am online, which was nearly round the clock already when I suffered with 56k "service".

Large software downloads that would take all night to complete now take 10 minutes to half an hour. I never wait now to be connected. Most web pages load like they're part of my local filesystem or already stored in browser cache. Big pages load with tolerable quickness, usually, instead of provoking me to slap my monitor. 1.5mbs down/ 256 kbps up for $49/mo compared to a second line plus 56k unlimited access plans that limit you to 300 hours is no comparison at all

Really people should not whine about this kind of service and shake their fingers at the RBOCs and say "You have to make this less expensive before people will buy into it" I hear this from time to time and I wonder how cheap do they think it can be made and how far out do they think telcos can defer breaking evern on DSL service expansion. It's already a bargain at the price compared to the dialup alternative.

DITCH THE 'NET!

[Ambush_Bug]

I say, while we're bringing out our modems, let's
get back on those BBSs! :)