Yet another survey re. your internet connection...

[Guest Quaxo]

I was just wondering, out of curiosity, how many of you are still on a 56K telephone modem connection (like me), how many with ISDN, or ADSL, etc... In Italy very few already have high speed connections...Cheers,Cristian

[Christopher Low 5,332]

Cristian,I have been using ISDN for nearly two years now, and it's amazing how much better it is compared to a 56kbps modem (even at just 64kbps). The digital line is so much more reliable. In fact, I have never used a download accelerator with ISDN, because I have NEVER had a disconnection during a large download. I occasionally get disconnected when I'm not doing anything, but this is probably due to inactivity more than anything else.As far as broadband is concerned, there is plenty of rubbish spoken about how many people are "connected" in the UK. The problem here is that most people are too far away from the exchange to se it, even when their local town is connected. That's how pathetic broadband is in this country, and I can't see it changing any time soon when BT take such a "couldn't care less" attitude with its potential customers. There is a current campaign to get my home town of Ulverston connected, but BT want at least two hundred people to be interested before they will even consider this.They're a complete waste of time...........Chris Low,ENGLAND.

[Guest Robert_S]

Cristian,I'm still on 56K dial-up, ATT Worldnet. But I hope to change to cable soon, when I get brave enough to tackle the added expense.~Bob~http://www.avsim.com/other/usaribbon.gif

[Guest hoohah]

I've been using Cable Broadband for over a year, mainly because I need it for my work. Even if I didn't really _need_ it I would keep it though. The speed is easy to get used to; it's faster than when I worked in a corporate office with a direct connect to a fiber ring...-hoo

[Guest]

To Bob,The change to cable would save you money IMHO.That is if you are using Internet for one hour daily on an average. Apart from the initial outlay for installation and cable modem I trust that most (or nearly all providers to my knowledge) give you continuous 24 hour connection at a fixed rate. My cable connection gives me a download speed of max. 70kbs compared to my previous approx. 8kbs on an ISDN line. The cable connection is adding a new dimension to my use of the Internet.In my country (Norway) there is approx. 80,000 broadband users out of some 1,4 mill. home installations - some 54 percent of all households are connected to the net if I remember correctly.regardsTorstein

[Guest]

I have ADSL....... "and the greatest of these is Love." I Cor. 13:13

[Guest jonpoint]

Cristian,Still using a 56K modem (at work at least). Optus/CnW is doing a special deal at the moment which sounds interesting but the service still seems a bit expensive. I'm sure the time will come soon when all services are broadband, because it allows phone companies to minimise their copper installation costs but, at the moment, they want too much for the convenience. I have better things to do at home than surf the internet anyway, like flight simming :-)Jon Point*************************(effyouthree@hotmail.com)*************************

[Guest]

Cristian,I used a 56K modem for three years. Switched to ADSL (256kbs) a month ago and have never looked back. One advantage of living in a small country (Israel in my case) is that there is little distance between ADSL exchanges and consumers. ADSL costs the same as using a 56K phone line, by the way.Lior Bar-On

[JimmiG 244]

Hi.During the winter months, when I go to school, I have 2Mb connection in my apartment. I have a small apartment near the school, because it's too far to go by bus every day.During the summer, I live with my parents on the countryside, where they only have a 56k modem (can't even have ISDN because it's too far away from a switching station or whatever).I live in Sweden BTW. Using a modem costs by far much more than the broadband connection in the apartment, because the per-minute fee for using the phoneline is very high. The modem connection costs maybe 8-10x times more than the 2Mb connection :)High speed connections are quickly becoming more common here, and most cities and smaller towns have at least 256Kb ADSL. But there are only about 100 people living in the village...

[Guest juvat2]

56k modem.Jim B.

[Guest twsimfan]

Cristian,Unlike many of the others I can't claim to be saving money with broadband. When I was on dial-up I always insisted on a flat rate when considering ISPs. Usually was 15 to 20 dollars a month. I could have got it for 5 to 10 dollars but would then have had per minute charges... and I figured that was not acceptable. I went through probably about 6 ISPs. I had WOW... MSN... CompuServe... ATT Worldnet... and several others. Each would provided pretty good service at first then quickly get terrible. Never tried AOL... never intend to.I continue to get promotional material for both cable & DSL services... and they are both still unavailable in my neighborhood. When I first started trying to get them about 4 years ago (after getting promotional material from both companies) they went through the whole sales pitch... told me I would be hooked up shortly (they gave me dates which I no longer remember) and then called back to tell me that it would be about 2 years before it would be available on my street. Both of them... same story. They now still say it will be about 2 years. It would seem to be a floating & perpetual 2 years!I also looked into sattellite broadband... I can get that but it is very costly. It would cost me close to $100.00 per month. And that is just for the Internet... Sattellite TV would cost extra. Actually I often consider sattelite TV and will some day probably replace cable with it. The costs for TV are pretty reasonable. I probably would have by now but I don't really watch that much TV beyond races.. the History Channel... and the Fox News Channel... OK some movies... usually on AMC (I like old movies!). I get that fine from the cable and don't want to hassle with the sattellite at the moment... not enough time in the day for all those channels.In December 2000 I learned that I could get Earthlink ISP services over Sprint Broadband Direct... I have a microwave antenna on my roof that points at a mountain almost due West of here (there are a bunch of mountains West of here... they are called the Rockies). I have had 3 outtages... one modem died... a blizzard iced the main antenna and we were down for 2 days (they gave me a dial-up number and knocked 3 days off my bill)... and the main office in Denver had a failure that lasted about 8 hours. During that time my cable for the TV (and would be cable modem) has been down 5 times and my phone (and would be DSL) twice.I pay $38.00 a month and have had very good service. The downside is that Sprint has advised me that they no longer want to sign up private residences for this service in this area... business only. They indicate that they will continue to provide service to me since I was singed up before their decision. I do have to wonder how good of customer service I will have when a problem arises... but it has been 4 or 5 months and I have not had a problem to test with. When I take the puppies for their walks I can count 6 other antennas just like mine within a few hundred yards of my house so I am not the only one that has it. Aside from that I do have to say that I do like the idea of my microwave setup. The cable company wants to get to where they provide cable TV... cable modem... & telephone services. The phone company wants to provide all those same services. As it is I have my main telephone on one line... my cable TV on the cable... my outgoing long distance is done on my cell phone... and I have my Internet on the microwave setup... I don't have all my eggs in one basket! If one is down it does not affect the others.

[Hans_Petter 1]

For the time being a 28k modem, I repeat 28 :-)The reason I haven't bought a state-of-the-art modem is that I do plan to get ADSL and it is available here on a flat rate basis. I've been waiting for my current ISP to get the price right but it seems that I'll have to switch to another. I will save money anyway since it costs me more to pay per minute on a dial-up than it will for the flat rate. (I believe that all standard modem connections in Scandinavia, including ISDN, are per-minute rates while all DSL connections are per month flat rate). A question to those who have switched ISP in the past, how much hassle is it to get a new email address? I'm thinking of the hassle of making all of my friends and associates update their address books, subscriptions and sign-ups that need to be changed etc. Mail to the old address will bounce or be lost. May I still access it for some time to check whether something worth reading / worth replying to has arrived? The good part is that it will take some time until all the spammers snoop my new address :-) best regards,Hans Petter

[Guest]

56k connection.In practice ,during downloads, not more than 35 - 40 k.Wouter