Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

Dump Broadband, Dig Out Your Modem!

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the coal-heat-is-next dept.

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...'"

6 of 566 comments (clear)

  1. So be a friendly webmaster...install mod_gzip by baptiste · · Score: 5, Informative

    It still amazes me the # of users of my websites that still use modems. We are now planning to install mod_gzip for Apache to help modem users download our larger pages faster. It didn't seem worth it at first with folks moving to broadband, but we still found many of our users listing 'modem' as their primary access method when they register. Plus it'll reduce our bandwidth demand for users who have broadband - they'll get larger files faster too. Yeah, it adds overhead on teh server CPU, but for us its worth it since we have headroom to spare.

    --
    Top Most Bizarre/Disturbing Error Messages
  2. Extremely satisfied broadband customer by DrySkin · · Score: 3, Informative

    We must be lucky where I live. I have had DSL for over 2 years now, and I have had almost no problems (well, one modem did die). Almost 100% uptime, on the DSL line and with the ISP (Open World Inc.) Course, now that I've said this, I'll probably get home and find it dead. Some basic info on where my DSL is coming from: Lexington, KY. DSL line provider: Verizon DSL service: 768 down, 256 up ISP: Open World Inc www.stdio.com

  3. reliable? by Sc00ter · · Score: 3, Informative
    I have AT&T Broadband and before that MediaOne, and I always had a rock solid connection, and my IP almost never changed.. No way I'm going back to dial-up

    --
    Free Mac Mini
  4. Never had a problem with broadband by joshv · · Score: 3, Informative

    Once I actually found a reliable provider who could install it I have never had a problem with broadband.

    I first got a cable modem about two years ago via RCN. Recently I moved to a new place which is not wired for RCN, so I switched to SBC (Ameritech) DSL. Surprisingly I really have had no major problems with the speed or reliability of their services (though I do take issue with the price).

    I did have problems getting DSL service from a few providers, the standard DSL Hell - but they are both now in bakruptcy proceedings or already bankrupt - so go figure.

    To go back to a regular modem is just unthinkable for me. Maybe my experience is atypical because I live in a large and competitive urban broadband market.

    -josh

  5. Not quite... by DrCode · · Score: 3, Informative

    Your numbers are a bit exaggerated. For my dialup:

    56k ISP: $13/mo
    2nd Phone line: 0
    Download time/Mb: ~6 minutes
    Time to connect: ~10 seconds (wvdial is great)
    Busy signals: Never.
    ISP downtime/problems: 0

    Plus, my ISP (hevanet.com), whom we've been with for over 7 years, runs BSD, so they provide a shell-login, and have always been Unix-friendly. From what I read here on Slashdot, lots of the broadband companies seem to go out of their way to make life difficult for non-MS users.

  6. VPN: The Killer App by StevenMaurer · · Score: 5, Informative

    I'll never go back to dialup. Ever.

    Why?

    Simple, both my wife and I use it to connect to each of our corporate intra-nets using VPN. And if you want to do any real work, NFS mounts, Windows junk, remote compiling - anything - you really have to have enough speed to make it worthwhile.

    It's not different for non-technical people either. If you use accounting programs, inventory tracking, anything else using a client-server model, broadband speeds are the only way to go for any real work at home.