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What To Do When Broadband is Not An Option?
professorguy writes "I've been on the internet since 1984 (back before email addresses had @'s). But it looks like we're coming to the end of an era. From my home, I have 26.4 kbps dial-up access to the internet (you read that right). Since I am a hospital network administrator, it would be nice to do some stuff remotely when I am on 24/7 call. However, no cable or DSL comes anywhere near my house and because of the particular topography of my property (I'm on a heavily-forested, north-facing hillside), satellite is also not available. Heck, cell phones didn't even work here until January. So far, the technical people I've asked all have the same advice for reasonable connectivity: move. Move out of the house my wife and I built and lived in for 20 years. Has it really come to this? Am I doomed to be an internet refugee? Is this really my only option? Do you have an alternative solution for me?"
Yes, I understand that he might not have a 56k modem. So he should spend five dollars on one and double his speed. If he's able to get 26kbps on his 28kbps modem, he'll probably get 56k speeds as well. Given clean, quality lines, a modem is not subject to quite the loss-over-distance that DSL is (though I'm not a telco engineer, so this is based on a couple decades of anecdotal evidence and not hard facts).
I don't like 'em much, but they give you satellite broadband in places where DSL and Cable aren't available...
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