Getting rid of dial up??

F

furry

New Member
Hello all, new to the forums. To give some light on the situation, I have a land line which I really only use for internet and it costs me $80 mo. My connection speed is 24.6 kb!! I also have a cell bill and I see no reason to have both but I can't do without the net so I want to drop the land line and add a wirless card, can it be done?
First off I live in a very rural area so there is no forseeable alternative - ever!! Problem is I don't know squat about any of this and can't seem to find anyone that can help.
*First hurdle is to get better cellular reception to my home (all providers are only 1-2 bars outside). This will need to be done with a repeater system. I could use some information on a repeater if any know about them...
*Second is to upgrade my cell account with a wirless card (which I know nothing about wirless cards)!
*Thirdly hook it into my computer (again I know nothing about).
My PC is fairly new with XP and all the other stuff so it should be fine but what else will I need to make this work? and is it worth all this hasle? I know the initial investment of a repeater (app $550) is steep but over time it should pay for itself without the $80mo land line pluss I'll have the added benifit of 100X faster internet and way better cell reception in my home!
 
internet over cellular wireless is not going to be all that fast. verizon offers broadband, but it is not that fast. are you sure there are no other internet services available in your area? does your phone company offer DSL? do you have cable TV available? even satellite internet might be worth looking into.
 
yeah i would suggest sattelite internet as ur closest alternative to deathly slow dialup.....unless of course you are able to get DSL in your area
 
$80/month for a 26kb dialup account is robbery, pure and simple.
I had a 56k dialup account where I regularly got 50k and it was only $12/month.
If DSL isn't an option (and I'm betting it's not, because of your location), take a look at Cable or satellite service, or go here:
www.thelist.com
There you ideally should find at least a GOOD dialup ISP.
Tom
 
The reason for my slow connection speed for dial up is the anciant phone lines in my area. Ma Bell is NOT going to change them out any time soon. Matter of fact I can not even get a second line from the podium to my home because I'm second to last home on our number and many old lines don't work anymore. Anyway I could get another dial up provider for less per month but my speed will never increase over 25ish. DSL will never be available. There is no cable in my area and will never be either, I have several friends in the area that have sattellite but I am not impressed with that much either. Satellite is very susceptible to weather and in my regin we have daily afternoon thunder storms that usually last most of the evening which usually takes out my satellite TV. During that time is when I use my computer the most...
I have Sprint cell and their wireless card says average of 200kb download speeds, IMO that is not slow compared to my dial up.. Is this correct?
One other reason for wanting this is to justify buying a repeater, I want to be able to talk on my cell from inside my home while walking around (instead of haveing to stand by a window) lol.
 
200kb for cellular vs 56kb dialup is a 3.5x improvement... at maximum transfer rates. Methinks you won't get but maybe 2-3x, max.

If you can get an ISP via cellular (I've never heard of this, but then again, I sure don't know everything!), then it looks like that's your only option, unless you wanted to stick to regular dialup and save money, even if it is just 26kbps.
 
keep in mind that ping is more important than realistic throughput when surfing the web, and cell providers have terrible ping (so does satellite actually). i am sorry to hear about your situation as the internet is very important to most people. do you have a friend with the cellular service that could come to your house so that you could try it out?
 
agree with cleric....

200kb is a THEORETICAL value.....in absolutely perfect conditions 200kb would be theoretically possible to obtain. also it is a wireless signal (i believe not 100% on that) which means you will most definetly NOT get 200kb

keep in mind a phone company is ognna tell you wut they want you to hear about their product so it sounds appealing (200kb MAX...they don't say consistant...that would be a lie)

it is very unfortuante u can't get DSL or cable
 
Last edited:
The cellular could be quite fast depending on what kind of service your area gets..


Call sprint and ask them if you get any kind of 3G or HSDPA to your area, or just edge. If you get the first option then switch immediately. I use it on my phone and the latency is definitely not that bad. Much better then satellite at least.

And cellular repeaters are definetly NOT $550, go look on eBay. Should be <$300
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top