How do you connect to the internet?

[marval]

Thanks for your advice Stephen, very helpful.


Margaret

[greatcyber]

You're welcome. I've shared the same info with family members after they had the same complaint. Now their computers don't raise their ire as often.

[greatcyber]

You got that right ... In my region we have unincorporated (county) and incorporated areas (city). If your fortunate enough to live in the county areas your choice is Comcast . If you live in the city areas, your choice is Cox , thanks to our city fathers, and their presumable kick-backs!



I'm not going back to cable ... ever ... Since I signed up for an initial two year contract with Qwest, my internet rate is now locked for life, which is about $22 less than what I was paying Cox for lousy cable service.

If you are lucky enough to live in certain cities or areas of a city that has wifi, you can connect for free. I know that Hollywood, Florida went wifi 3 years ago so if you live there, fast internet for free! There are "hot spots" in many cities that you can connect for free, also. Unfortunately, we are just out of reach for free wifi, but our dsl is about $50 a month.

Definitely, certain sites are more apt to be slow due to heavy traffic. I also use a programme called CFOS which lets you distribute how broadband handles certain applications. That way you tune your computer to your tastes. Huge downloads don't drain bandwidth. I also use a video accelerator so I don't get interruptions while watching vids or streaming video or audio. I'm quite happy with my online experience now.

[Krummhorn]

. . . If you are lucky enough to live in certain cities or areas of a city that has wifi, you can connect for free. I know that Hollywood, Florida went wifi 3 years ago so if you live there, fast internet for free! There are "hot spots" in many cities that you can connect for free, also.

That's true ... parts of downtown Tucson have that - around the city center - we live 15 miles to the East of downtown, but still within city limits, so no freebie wifi, durn it.

. . . but our dsl is about $50 a month.

Ours is at $48 - for 12 MB d/l service.

. . . I also use a programme called CFOS which lets you distribute how broadband handles certain applications . . .

I'll have to check that one out, Stephen. I use some Uniblue products for registry management and computer maintenance, but CFOS sounds like it is certainly worth looking into.

[Dorsetmike]

I have a package deal, 10Mb for £14 plus £11 =£25/($40) for phone, the phone gives me free calls to all UK landline numbers except the premium rate 084x, 087x and 09xx. I can upgrade to 20Mb for £31/$50 or 50Mb for £39/$62.50, all with the phone package.

I could add a TV deal to any of those, but as I've only switched the TV on twice since last Christmas .........................

[Montefalco]

I had wireless installed recently, however I still use cable occasionally.

[methodistgirl]

When I hooked up with AT&T they saw me coming and took me
for a good one and their dial up box kept on disconnecting which
stunk. Now I use the local cable called New wave. They have
me on a Motorola box which works like a charm.
judy tooley

[Povster]

I've had Pacbell's dsl since I moved here to SF form Boston in 1999. In all that time i have had 3 outages which were fixed the same day. I really can't complain about it, but I am less than a mile from the central office so tht probably accounts for the performance and stability.

[GoneBaroque]

I use DSL from Verizon which works very well most of the time. With any system there are minor annoyances. There is one thing that I do not like about Verizon. When I first started with them they had an excellent virus protection system which did everythine on an automatic schedule. They have since changed to a new one which I frankly hate. It has to be reset several times a day. Very annoying! But, I refuse to go to cable, especially Comcast who are the worst. The reason for cable exclusivity is of course what the Arabs call Baksheesh to corrupt officials.

Rob

[Corno Dolce]

Currently a 4G dongle that provides 50 Mbps, so I can't complain really........

[Krummhorn]

. . . But, I refuse to go to cable, especially Comcast who are the worst. The reason for cable exclusivity is of course what the Arabs call Baksheesh to corrupt officials.
Rob

Hi Rob,

Interesting about Comcast in your region ... here, at least in Tucson, they are by far better than our other option, Cox Cable, which I had before my present DSL connection with Qwest. Cox was unreliable, down at least three days each month, slower than snot (17 kbps) downloads ... yes, that said 17 kbps, and outer space pricing, especially when I was paying for 20 Mbps service. Cox would simply say "read your contract ... it says speeds 'up to' 20 Mb" ... meaning anything from 1.0 kbps to 20 mbps was 'acceptable' in their eyes.

Here, the Qwest DSL service includes Norton Anti-virus ... I think it's standard also on Comcast here.

[Dorsetmike]

I was surprised when I did a speed test, I pay for a service "up to" 10Mb and actually get around 9,6Mb, the only tests listed for others in the locality that are higher are paying for up to 20 or 30Mb, the 20Mb is only a few doors away and is only getting 11.7Mb, and a couple of 30Mb subscribers are getting around 18Mb, so I think I'll stay as I am, especially as the upload has recently been upgraded and now operates at between 0.96 and 1.03 considerably better than the 0.2 I was getting.

Any way it's all a far cry from 56K dial up I started with a few years back.

[teddy]

As I live quite away from the exchange our speeds are not that high but I never have any trouble. £30.00 a month pays for broadband, line rental and nearly all my calls are free, anytime. This includes 087 numbers.

teddy