Cheap Dial-Up ISPs Gain Ground

prostoalex writes "PC World takes a look at the proliferation of sub-$10-per-month Internet service providers and notices that the market for low-priced dial-up access is actually up in this weak economy. The low rates, with $4.75 per month quoted as the cheapest, are not abundant with features, and many of the dial-up providers don't give you an e-mail account or Web space, but it seems to be a plausible option for many. But reliability is a big issue, since 'about 20 of the startup ISPs [...] shutter within a year.'"

Comments

Never Returning to Dial-Up

[dollar70]

I'm sorry, but dial-up was just too painful. Thanks to broadband, I don't worry about having a bunch of $extra features$ on my phone service to make sure I don't miss a phone call, I don't have to wonder if line noise is the culprit when webpages don't load quickly, I can download iso's, mp3's, and other files greater than 5 megs without annoying disconnects, and I get the added joy of not needing to pay extra to have some webserver space because now I can run my own!

No, dial-up was fine when it was the only kid on the block, but as long as non-proprietary, always on, broadband is available in my neck of the woods, they can drop the price of dial-up to $1 a month, and I'd still have to pass...

Well, maybe if I ever needed a traveling backup...

Why is this a surprise?

[NoNeeeed]

None of the things touted in the article as problems with these services are an issue for most people.

No e-mail account - Well most people I know don't use the account of their provider, most have webmail accounts instead, because they can access them at university/work, and they can keep them if they move ISP.

No newsgroups - Well, usenet has become very unimportant to most people I know, and those that do use it (such as myself) will probably use Google-Groups instead.

No web space - Seriously, how many people are bothered about that? Yes, a lot of people might cobble together a quick web page, but it is still too complex for most. Besides with all the services providing free web space (even if it does have adverts) who needs space from their access provider.

Many people end up with all these things, which they are paying for but never use, because quite often the free services are better (and you don't lose them when you move ISP).

The only real negative points about these services is the dial up modem speed, but then for many, many people, that is plenty fast enough.

Looks to me like these services have worked out what it is that people really want, a connection to the internet at a price they can afford. There are enough free services on the web to make up for what is missing, so why pay for it.

Yes I know that having fast always on is nice (I'm on a 1meg cable connection) but for many who don't need to use the internet in the same way as I do, dial up is fine.

Paul