To those of you who have the faster service, is it really better? I'm not cheap...well, maybe a little, but over four times the montly charge seems a little high. What other benefits are there other than just being faster?

i am paying 75.00 a month.
well worth it, because you are always connected and it frees up your phone line for incoming calls.

mark

[ December 28, 2001: Message edited by: Mark Fair Signs ]

I’ ve pondered those same thoughts……….I’ve tried cable, kicked the tires so to speak. Sure It’s a bit faster, and there is no dial up……….you’re online all the time. Personally, I can’t justify the switch over, and I’m by no means cheap. I would only do it if I though I was going to watch a lot of TV too (which would be real dangerous cause nothing would get done then).

Raymond……. stick with your dial up. I don’t think you’re going to be 3 times happier.

It depends how much time you spend online and if you tend to transfer alot of files online as well.

If you are like my dad and only go online to check email, research some web sites and read/post on some bulletin boards, spending at most a couple hours online each day it's not worth the extra cost.

If you are like me, ie: running an online business, checking email every 30 minutes, zapping files all over the place and making daily updates to your own website as well as clients' websites, or you spend most of your waking day online, it's worth the money.

The rate for the road runner does sound high, but nobody's asked what transfer rate/speed that is for? If it's a 256k connection it's way too high, if it's a 1024k connection the price is right.

At home in AZ I have a 384k DSL connection that costs $50/month and it is worth every last penny. I like that it's always connected, I dont have to waste time dialing in to a cruddy conection hoping I dont get booted just so I can check email, then get stuck online trying to download a file somebody sent me.

I recently switched to Earthlink's DSL, and I'm very happy I did. The cost difference was 30 bux.
I was paying 19.95, and now pay 49.95.

My dial-up service (with earthlink) was really quite fast, but DSL just flies. I'm happy I made the switch, but there were some specific reasons I finally made the move.

As I think I've mentioned to you, Dave and I will be doing some website design work together, so it'll make our tooling around abit quicker.

I do often use the internet as an information source (weather, movies, directions, etc) as well as shopping (amazon mostly). It's nice to zip around now.

Another plus is having my fax line completely free all the time now. I was sharing the internet with my fax line before.

I remember Dave making a comment that switching would change the entire way I use the internet.
I must confess it does. Before, I would often bail out of sites that just took too long, rather than investing the time. Now I'm in and out of places all the time. I do see alot more of what's out there now, without robbing too much of my day to do it.

Incidentally, Dave was on Cable, and decided to switch recently to DSL because he saw how much faster and more consistent my service was. Since then he's been happier w/ DSL.

I think 80-some bux is too high tho. I swallowed hard before committing to 50.

Cheers!
Janette

[ December 28, 2001: Message edited by: Janette Balogh ]

Also, when there is an electrical storm, the bulk of the hits seem to be telephone ploes rather than power company poles. For this reason, we find during those storms if we unplug the modems we have a safer chance of not getting our systems fried. Are systems with the cable hook up safe from power surges?

[ December 28, 2001: Message edited by: Rick Sacks ]

You probably can't get cable, and you probably can't get dsl either. Just having a telephone line doesn't necessarily mean that dsl is available in your area.

Perhaps you'll need to go with the two-way dish.

As far as the coaxial cable and power surges, I would tend to think that the only piece of hardware in jeopardy would be the cable modem itself. I rent mine from the cable company for 10 a month. I like that option better than buying, because I've already had two modems take a dump. They just bring out another one when that happens.

By the way, i'm paying $29.99 a month plus the rental.

MCN ISDN PRO Service With Centrex PacBell Centrex Line Fee $50 . With upstream and downstream connections at digital 128K

MCN also strongly recommends that you purchase the "WirePro" plan for $1.90 per month from Pacific Bell. This provides service for inside wiring after your line is installed.

To connect to ISDN PRO you will need an ISDN modem/router. Excellent used equipment starts at $100 and new brand name equipment is in the $200 to $300 range. In addition each computer that connects to the ISDN modem/router will need an Ethernet or "NIC" card

I connected to ADSL recently. Two reasons I went with ADSL instead of cable.

One is that it is faster- much faster. I can't believe how fast it is.

The second is that with the ADSL service I got I still have dial-up access when I travel - 5 hours per month. Important for me.

My monthly fee actually went down when I switched to ADSL from dial-up. By switching things around a little and changiong to one acess and two site hosting services (for my sites) we actually came out about $30.00 per month cheaper.

My phone company is also a good sized customer of mine (for the last 12 years)and I tend to be really loyal to those who I do business with. I don't think they actually care (or know)who I go with but for me it's a matter of principle.

Good luck with your choice.

Have you considered a DirectPC satelite connection?