posted on July 25, 2001 03:45:08 PM new
Hi. I received a letter from my ISP stating that they will no longer provide internet access after December or January.
I have been completely happy with the service and so have never looked into any thing else.
We do have the ability to be wired with our cable, and I think (not positive) the dsl phone service also. People I know either seem to love AOL or hate it.
posted on July 25, 2001 04:03:05 PM new
We have had AOL for about 5 years until recently. It has gotten worse little by little........bad connections, slow connections, no connections, disconections.....the list continues. It also has a tendency to lock up your computer from time to time. We installed Ameritech DSL about a month ago and the difference is pretty incredible!
Much F-A-S-T-E-R!
I can now check our email, auctions, feedback and get to here in less time than it takes just to sign on to AOL!
AOL was $24.00 a month and required a second phone line in our house, another $20.00 per.
DSL is $49.99 and I have no need for the second line! So, for about $6.00 more per month we have much better and faster service.
The DSL is online all the time and does not affect your phone operation.
I have no idea of how cable is/works/costs.
AOL is very pretty to look at and it's email system is probably the best, but looks ain't everything.
If you have a life offline, forget AOL.
If you need to chat, IM, send pretty emails with the ability to check status, and have LOTS of time, AOL is a possibility.
posted on July 25, 2001 04:13:21 PM new
The best thing about AOL is portability. If you travel alot you can dial in with it from almost anywhere. You can also check your mail online as well.
With that being said, I would suggest getting a cable modem. Typically it is faster than DSL, unless you want to pay way extra for the faster connection, and from my experience it is more reliable and it is cheaper. Usually with DSL you need to buy the hardware as well. With Cable Modem, there is a rental fee included, but with technologies changing as fast as they do, you may not want to invest 2 or 300 dollars into it.
posted on July 25, 2001 04:13:57 PM new
CABLE!!! definitely go with cable, or at least the DSL. The amount of time Up and Downloading willsave you enough money to pay for itself!!
posted on July 25, 2001 04:20:05 PM newthere are still reliablity questions with dsl so I would go with cable
granted it's only as good as your phone wiring if it's available in your area. Certainly don't go with one of the many companies that are lining up to go down in flames.
I think the funny commercials about hoping your neighbors don't ALSO have cable too comes in to play here. Sharing is not good in this enviroment.
Myself, I'm still on Dial-Up until I move in a couple of months.
arttsupplies (webmaster)
posted on July 25, 2001 04:22:12 PM new
Our old ISP is going to be gone in week (sold out to a national company I wanted nothing to do with), so we took the plunge and went to cable. considering we can now shut off the extra phone line, it doesn't cost anymore than we where paying, and it's FAST.
Who Need's a stink'n Sig. File?
posted on July 25, 2001 04:22:38 PM new
I consider AOL's email to be THE WORST you could possibly have, unless they've changed it lately. You're stuck with THEIR mailbox because they don't support any other mailboxes you can put on your computer (like Eudora or Outlook), and THEIR mailbox is terrible---everything rolls off in 30 days or less; once you've read something you lose it unless you remember to uncheck the "already read" box; and you can't SORT your mail at all---not by sender, subject, etc. And the service is so bad, with trouble getting connected, and being disconnected for no reason, that I consider it one of the WORST values available.
I have DSL, and it's great except for the times it goes down when I have to use a dial-up service because my ISP (Telocity/DirecTV) doesn't provide anything for back-up. Because DSL goes through the phone company, your service will probably be slow to install (mine took 11 WEEKS) and have downtimes (like two or three days at a time).
If you can get cable ISP, it's probably your best bet. They seem to have less down time and more reliability than DSL.
posted on July 25, 2001 05:02:27 PM new
artsupplies
I think the funny commercials about hoping your neighbors don't ALSO have cable too comes in to play here. Sharing is not good in this enviroment.
you share both ways ,granted your dsl connection is exclusive to the phone company's CO but once there you are sharing bandwith with all other DSL subsribers out of that office and on to the backbone There are only something like two or three backbone providers nationwide and at present they dont seem to concerned about relaiblity
My customers with dsl lines have pretty much stopped calling me with problems untill there line has been down at least 24 hours.
I dont see that kind of problem with cable.
I can run a speed test on my cable connection at non peak hours and it is off the charts at peak times it is around dsl speeds.
posted on July 25, 2001 05:15:55 PM new
[i]My customers with dsl lines have pretty much stopped calling me with problems untill there line has been down at least 24 hours.
I dont see that kind of problem with cable.
I can run a speed test on my cable connection at non peak hours and it is off the charts at peak times it is around dsl speeds.[/i]
posted on July 25, 2001 05:25:38 PM new
Cable ... super fast and never slows down like the myth SL likes to spread about it. I keep a barebones $5/mo AOL account as a backup and retain email address I've had for years. With aol.com site on web you can check the email from anywhere.
posted on July 25, 2001 05:27:41 PM new
art supplies
to get the [i]to work there cant be any breaks you need to put it at the end of any senatnce that breaks
Took me a while to figure that out evan after a moderator tried to explain it to me
for example in the above you would have to stop at after breaks and start again at took.
spock here......
posted on July 25, 2001 06:23:54 PM new
Like many other people, I started on AOL and used them for quite awhile. Really not a good deal for the price paid. Upon switching to Earthlink, my connections are faster, much fewer re-dials or disconnects, I can use whatever browser or email programs I like, and it's cheaper.
While a DSL or Cable connection has advantages, I am still waiting for the techno shakeout to level the playing field. A dial-up modem works fine and you aren't stuck with a provider you can switch ISPs if you choose.
posted on July 25, 2001 06:40:58 PM new
I am switching to DSL next Thursday (only a 5 weeks after I ordered it). All the hardware is supplied and free AND they gave me a digital camera as a sign up bonus. It's probably a cheap one and I will give it to my kids, but hey, it was free!
I looked into cable but it is outrageously expensive here plus I live in an old ( hehe I mean [b]vintage[b]) building and the "construction" cost of getting the cable where I want it is also outrageous and the landlord, naturally, doesn't want the wiring running on the outside of the building.
The reports on DSL reliability in this area are very good. I also have dial up access to my employer's network which is, in effect, an ISP, so I have good backup.
I have been using Earthlink dial up which has been wonderfully reliable with not a single significant downtime in the three years I have been using it. Earthlink,as well as most major ISPs, have access to your email from anywhere you can connect to the internet .
AOHell is the absolute worst excuse for an ISP, completely unreliable and prone to slow downs on any day ending in "y". I use it for my email address on eBay only because of the ability to check and see if mail has been read since the majority of my problem buyers and sellers have been from AOL. And I'll be giving that up, gladly, next week.
Gerald
"Oh but it's so hard to live by the rules/I never could and still never do."
posted on July 25, 2001 07:08:02 PM new
Get DSL if you're close enough to the phone company equipment to be eligible for it.
With DSL, you can have several computers with broadband access (faster than cable) at the SAME time you're using the phone line for voice use. So you'll need one less phone line (at a savings of $20/month or so) by choosing DSL over cable.
Get DSL and a router and set up file/print sharing with all the computers in your house.
posted on July 25, 2001 07:24:06 PM new
dsl and cable are both broadband in most areas cable is faster than basic dsl you can buy more dsl bandwith if you are willing to pay for it and dsl will garantee a min thruput rate cable just says it will be fast and it does vary but in my case the slowest still checks out faster than basic dsl.
you can network your computers behind either a server or router on either cable or dsl
we have 6 computers networked here ...one IP address from cable company.
I was at a customers site this afternoon and we added the 9th workstion behind a dsl line.
posted on July 26, 2001 04:52:21 AM new
Go with cable if you can. In our area we can have either cable or DSL. Cable is about $45, while DSL is $55. And we're paying about $35 because we recently bought our own modem and returned the leased one the cable guy gave us.
BTW, they don't tell you upfront that if you buy a modem you can save the $10 lease fee. We only found out about it when we received a letter detailing the recent rate hike and in that letter they gave 2 pricing structures: one for people leasing the modem and one for people who've bought their own modem. And the cable modems are down to about $200, so it's worth it.
posted on July 26, 2001 05:22:49 AM new
On AOL's mail system...
I liked it because you could 'check status' of mail to other AOL customers. That was a big advantage a few times, when newbie users stated they never got our emails. Plus being able to access it from anywhere is also neat.
On DSL...
Ameritech called us, offering the service.
He checked our phone line as we talked and stated they were great for DSL.
ALL of the equipment was 100%rebated......filters, modem, card......everything! (original cost was $150) You do have to sign up for 1 year or pay for the equipment if you cancel, but it is yours to keep.
We were supposed to receive our suff in about 10 days, it came in 3. (they called on a Monday it arrived on Thursday)
Phone support has been great! (I had a couple of questions)
Last time I checked on cable I could only find one that was 'available' here, and we had to pay for the equipment AND installation. I don't recall the exact cost but it was considerable.
I'm certainly not knocking cable, it just cost us way more $$ to have and requires more work to install. DSL uses phone lines already there and I installed the whole deal in about 30 minutes! (no waiting for any installers or service man)
Whatever you decide best of luck but I would stay away from AOL if at all possible.
When I called to cancel our AOL account the I told the girl why I was going and she stated...
"We do have 30 million members"
I said...
"No, you have 29 million, 9 hundred 99 thousand.........."
posted on July 26, 2001 02:51:18 PM new
We went with cable when it first came out. It has been wonderful! Although it seems expensive, if you had a second phone line, that about covers the cost. Plus, our local cable company gives a $5.00 discount if you have cable and RoadRunner. DSL is still problematic in our area; we can get it, but it is slower and costs about the same. Best thing to do is look into your local situation, and go with cable or DSL depending on which is more reliable and/or cost effective.
Ceil
ebay id ceilmary
posted on July 26, 2001 07:55:44 PM new
Cable! It's super fast -- and I live in a very populated area and have NEVER experienced a slow down in speed that supposedly happens when you "Share" cable. Perhaps that is a myth created by the DSL people!? I highly recommend cable. You can often find promotions where installation is free, too.
posted on July 26, 2001 08:03:10 PM new
Hi.
I have earthlink, it's great there are several dial up numbers in my area. $21.95 a month and 8 email addresses(the rate just went up but you might be able to get it $19.95 for the first two months if you call them 1-800-890-5128). I had MSN and it was the pits in here the Seattle area, I think there were to many people using it. If you get others to sign up you get 1 month free (I never have).
fonze
[ edited by fonze on Jul 26, 2001 08:05 PM ]
posted on July 26, 2001 10:02:33 PM new
I love mine -- a simple 56K dial-up with loads of phone numbers all over the place. It's at http://www.surfbest.net -- check it out. FOr $12.50 per month, 10megs of space and two emails it cannot be beaten. Oh, and that's without any contract. We are talking basic sign-up service.
Especially the service. The folks who run it readily respond to questions. I've been pleased all around -- customer service, price and reliability.
posted on July 27, 2001 01:24:18 AM new
Ijust switched to ATT local phone service in the Dallas area. They use cable lines for it and it increased my connection to 53.3 kbps from 28.8. It's great, I get 150 hrs a month for only 4.95. That's more than I use and it seems that I'm on the net a long time. It's got a banner bar but they're not running any banners (don't know why) and it don't hang up on you.
posted on July 27, 2001 06:03:28 AM new
We went with Bellsouth Fast Access DSL over a year ago. They mailed us the free DSL modem and software (two days), gave us 2 free months, they configured the line outside (or whatever the telephone man does when he is out there). We installed the modem outselves and were up and running almost immediately. DSL is running all the time, cost per month is $40. (We have five computers in our home network- no more fights over who is using the internet!)If the DSL is down (never is) we can link up to bellsouth's net via regular modem. You can access your email on line from all your different accounts or with Outlook. They are accesable in many cities in the Southeast with a local number or you can dial into an 800 number. (there is a small fee connected to this) When I travel, I use my cell phone (which has lots of minutes) to connect our lap top (bought on eBay) to my local exchange so the call doesn't cost me anything. I know I sound like a marketing ad, but this DSL was sent by heaven (or aliens) and has really made our lives so much easier. I can't tell you the grief and fights our family used to have with the one dial up connection we used to have.
