OT: slow dial-up verification

Really? Like a land line? What is it?

Cheers

Phil Hobbs

cell

Probably provider dependent. ...Jim Thompson

Not "again", never got fixed.

$250 is stratospheric for me..

is

not

it's

works

So, how does one connect the computer to a cell phone for internet AND what are the extra costs?

Check; most web sites are not only bloat but getting worse.

If i could afford $100/mo then i cold use either DSL or cable for internet.

Do your own homework to check out what is available in your area!

Bluetooth or using the direct USB dongle that the carrier provides. Services are available either pay as you go or monthly for as little as £7.50 ($10) a month in the UK for 1GB download & 7.2Mbps. eg.

There is even one PAYG deal priced at £2/day/GB for occasional users.

I cannot believe that similar deals are not available in the US.

Regards, Martin Brown

I don't think it's too cheap for many of us, but it does get us two BBs and three other phones. The contract runs out in February, so we'll see what we can finagle at that point. You can't run a business on a phone line you share with teenagers.

Of course that won't be a problem round here for awhile...#2 daughter leaves for UToronto again on Thursday, and my son is leaving tomorrow for a year as a missionary in Tanzania. (Parental nails are chewed a little shorter than usual, but he's a very capable fellow and will do fine.)

Cheers

Phil Hobbs

I don't know how BB contracts work, but cell phone plans usually continue until you modify something, THEN you get a new contract. I haven't had a contract on mine for over a year and the plan doesn't change until I do something dumb, like get a new phone. Of course they're constantly sending me offers for the latest gadgets.

How long is the kid gone to Tanzania for? My brother was in the Peace Corps in Kenya (400) moons ago. He met his wife there (a Brit).

Surely neither cost anywhere close to that?! I've never paid more than $40/mo for an Internet connection (and it's gone down with each iteration).

I'm waiting to get loose from the contract I have, so that I can shop around.

He's planning to come back in late May or early June.

Cheers

Phil Hobbs

Baer is a sucker and gets ripped off at every turn by corporate greed. He doesn't realise that he is a disadvantaged digital "have not" stuck in the stone age. Can't even configure a dialup modem correctly.

The cheapest UK broadband deals for 8Mbps and a 10GB/month cap work out at about £5 extra per month with AOL over the basic phone line rental (which with BT is typically £11.50). Though you can get unlimited downloads for that price the contention ratio is lousy. I am a bit surprised at the prices you all seem to be paying - the UK is not often cheaper for high technology but in this particular case it seems to be.

I have never paid more than £18 pcm ($30) for broadband.

Regards, Martin Brown

$40/mo

There is no cap on broadband in the US that I know of, and I can get

Some NNTP servers have a cap, but that isn't your broadband connection.

You also forget that the UK is tiny. It takes more fiber and hardware to cover the US.

Odd then that there is a US Stop-the-cap website campaign and QWests invisible cap and throttling of YouTube is a perennial gripe.

It is typically somewhere around 3GB pcm on the cheapest ISPs and unless you spend a lot of time downloading chess tablebases, major OS patch service disks or pirated DVDs unlikely to be exceeded.

You may not be aware of it but most ISPs have an EUP hidden in the small print. You really have to hammer it to get a warning.

Equally the USA already had a major investment in cable TV so some highspeed infrastructure was already present (same in Belgium).

Regards, Martin Brown

He isn't in the UK, so the rates there aren't all that important. Yes, the "last mile" here can be very expensive, crappy, or both.

The cheapest broadband I've ever had is my current service, just under $20/mo. The speed is atrocious, for broadband, though. Ten years ago I it cost $40/mo for, what was at the time, pretty decent broadband (Adelphia Cable).

I'm sure I don't have to tell you this, but make sure you find a better deal, all around, than what you're giving up. Often this isn't possible, even from the same company, because your current deal may be grandfathered, without signing a new contract.

Ah, no time.

TV over IP. ;-) My son and DIL canceled their cable TV and just use their ISP to watch all the (free) network stuff.

A lot of it isn't bidirectional and it isn't everywhere. As Michael said, the US is a big place. I don't have cable TV (stuck with DISH - gack!).

And DISH internet is a totally different ball of wax..