Dial-Up Users "Don't Want Broadband"

Barence writes "The majority of dial-up Internet users say they don't want to upgrade their connection to broadband, according to a new study in the US. The Pew Internet & American Life research found that 62% of dial-up users had no interest in upgrading to a high-speed connection." (CNN is carrying the AP's story on the study, too.)

Comments

Re:Need

[Colin Smith]

If we could dump all the extra garbage on most webpages, we could conserve a lot of bandwidth as it is.

Edit -> Preferences -> Content

Untick load images automatically.
Untick enable Javascript.
Untick enable Java.

Edit -> Preferences -> Applications

Remove any you don't like.

HTH
 

Re:Nooo!

[SiriusStarr]

I'm only twelve miles out of a major city (2 million in the metropolitan area) and I have no broadband options. Literally. I can't get DSL, I can't get cable, I can't get fiber. My only options are dial-up, satellite, or EVDO (which is what I use). So trust me, it's really not a matter of speed.

Re:Pleeeeease keep them on dial up!

[MightyYar]

They don't make very effective bots, but they still get botted.

I was checking my mother-in-law's computer because she said the internet wasn't working. I connected and twiddled around with settings a bit. At some point I opened up the connections status and I had to smile a bit as her uploads were something like 5MB and downloads were a few thousand k.

She never patched her system because it takes to long over dialup :) Even antivirus updates are painful.

The other cool thing is that she kept having to unplug the phone line because the computer would dial in whenever it needed a connection, and the bot apparently always needed a connection.

Re:Nooo!

[mrchaotica]

i really do not get this whole idea that the US sucks because of lack of broad band adaptation.

The US doesn't suck because people choose not to get broadband, it sucks because they can't get it even if they want it.

I mean, I have broadband, and it's nice for what i do.

No, you almost certainly don't. Maybe you think you do, because you have cable or DSL, but those are too slow to count as broadband. The only real broadband in the US (not including business leased lines, of course) is Verizon's FIOS, and that's available in so few areas it might as well be mythical.