Computer stuff

[xs11jack]

My Sister in Law in Mpls is getting her first home computer. She called and asked me about internet providers. I really couldn't help her because I am on a local county library sponsered setup. I did tell her to avoid NetZero at all costs because a friend here in Mo. had nothing but trouble with them. Other than that, does anyone here know of a good service to steer her toward??? She, like me is on a fixed income and can't pay big bucks. Thanks.
Ole Jack.

[Jerry]

Hard call, depends a lot on local providers. Consumer Reports did a review of the popular major providers some time last fall; Hughes Net, Net Zero, et all. Might be worth your time to find the review in your library.

Sometimes local cable TV providers also provide internet access for not a lot of money. A few packages include phone, TV, and internet access, could be cheaper than getting all 3 as separate services.

Once you have a few local names, check with the Chamber of Commerece to see if there are any complaints on file, and if there are, avoid those companies.

I use Quest in one of our locations, a DSL line that works well but costs around $50.00 per month. Still, it is faster than a Comcast line I was using at a 2nd location and cheaper; Comcast was $95.00 per month. My local internet provider (home) is $35.00 per month, which seems about average in this part of the country. Not nearly as fast as the Quest connection but still works OK.

[JWSanders]

I use Quest in one of our locations, a DSL line that works well but costs around $50.00 per month. Still, it is faster than a Comcast line I was using at a 2nd location and cheaper; Comcast was $95.00 per month. My local internet provider (home) is $35.00 per month, which seems about average in this part of the country. Not nearly as fast as the Quest connection but still works OK.

Wow, I'd go ballistic if my cable internet (with Comcast) was as slow as DSL (and $95 to boot!). My plan is 49.95/mo. I usually average around 6-8 megabits and have seen bursts into the 10-12 megabit range. I just wish Verizon's FIOS service was available in this area. At 20-50 megabits, it's ungodly.

AT&T offers a "DSL Lite" package for 19.95 a month. From what I understand, they have to by law since they were allowed to go into the satellite TV market. It was part of their deal. They don't advertise it however, and probably never will. It's only 380 kilobits, but that's still a LOT better than hellish dialup.

[boyat68]

I understand that satellite TV /Internet service has a problem with data drop outs due to interference from weather and other atmospherics.I have never used that service, but had listen to others gripe about lousy service during weather. I had Comcast before I got Verizon FIOS and the FIOS after about a year has never failed where as the Comcast would fail about twice a month on a regular basis. Of course this was probably due to Comcast trying to upgrade their system during that five years.

[CatatonicBug]

I use AT&T's DSL Pro service, and pay about $32/mo. It's a 3mbps service, and I LOVE it. I have had no problems whatsoever. I avoid the cable TV providers, as their prices are super high, and there is no guarantee as far as the bandwidth and no security either. At least the DSL line is a single wire from my house to the phone company, while the Cable line is like using a garden hose, with a "T" on it for my house, and another for each other user in the area.

[Bigfoot]

At least the DSL line is a single wire from my house to the phone company, while the Cable line is like using a garden hose, with a "T" on it for my house, and another for each other user in the area.

Actually I think you might be mistaken there. DSL speeds do vary and are dependant on how many other people are on the same run. The speed that they are selling you is a theoretical max. I use Road Runner cable here in Kansas city. The speed is faster both up and down than the DSL that I had. And bundled with my tv and phone, the price is lower as well.

[CatatonicBug]

Actually I think you might be mistaken there. DSL speeds do vary and are dependant on how many other people are on the same run. The speed that they are selling you is a theoretical max. I use Road Runner cable here in Kansas city. The speed is faster both up and down than the DSL that I had. And bundled with my tv and phone, the price is lower as well.

Actually, I believe it is you who are mistaken. The only thing that causes DSL speeds to vary is the distance from the hub. They do not change for an individual user depending on how many people are on it, because there is no "Shared" line. Cable uses a shared line, so the speeds do vary, but DSL does not. DSL speeds are slower than Cable companies can offer at this point, but here in St. Louis, when you look at the pricing for a standard Phone line ($20/mo), Cable TV ($80-$90/mo) and DSL Internet ($30/mo), the available pricing for a "package deal" is actually no savings. It's only a savings if you are used to paying for a big phone package with a bunch of options. Of course, that may also be because our local Cable company (Charter) is a rip-off.

There is also the issue of having your phone line go through the cable company. If the cable connection is cut for some reason (squirrels are a problem here), you lose all contact to emergency services. If the power goes out, and you don't have sufficient battery backup, you also lose that contact. I prefer the security of knowing that I don't need electricity to make a 911 call (or any other call for that matter).

[Jerry]

From How Stuff Works .com:

to How DSL Works

A DSL modem uses telephone lines for high-speed Internet connections.When you connect to the Internet, you might connect through a regular modem, through a local-area network connection in your office, through a cable modem or through a digital subscriber line (DSL) connection. DSL is a very high-speed connection that uses the same wires as a regular telephone line. *


Here are some advantages of DSL:

You can leave your Internet connection open and still use the phone line for voice calls.
The speed is much higher than a regular modem
DSL doesn't necessarily require new wiring; it can use the phone line you already have.
The company that offers DSL will usually provide the modem as part of the installation.
But there are disadvantages:
A DSL connection works better when you are closer to the provider's central office. The farther away you get from the central office, the weaker the signal becomes.
The connection is faster for receiving data than it is for sending data over the Internet.
The service is not available everywhere.
<Snip>
Most homes and small business users are connected to an asymmetric DSL (ADSL) line. ADSL divides up the available frequencies in a line on the assumption that most Internet users look at, or download, much more information than they send, or upload. Under this assumption, if the connection speed from the Internet to the user is three to four times faster than the connection from the user back to the Internet, then the user will see the most benefit most of the time.

Precisely how much benefit you see from ADSL will greatly depend on how far you are from the central office of the company providing the ADSL service. ADSL is a distance-sensitive technology: As the connection's length increases, the signal quality decreases and the connection speed goes down. The limit for ADSL service is 18,000 feet (5,460 meters), though for speed and quality of service reasons many ADSL providers place a lower limit on the distances for the service. At the extremes of the distance limits, ADSL customers may see speeds far below the promised maximums, while customers nearer the central office have faster connections and may see extremely high speeds in the future. ADSL technology can provide maximum downstream (Internet to customer) speeds of up to 8 megabits per second (Mbps) at a distance of about 6,000 feet (1,820 meters), and upstream speeds of up to 640 kilobits per second (Kbps). In practice, the best speeds widely offered today are 1.5 Mbps downstream, with upstream speeds varying between 64 and 640 Kbps. Some vast improvements to ADSL are available in some areas through services called ASDL2 and ASDL2+. ASDL2 increases downstream to 12 Mbps and upstream to 1 Mbps, and ASDL2+ is even better -- it improves downstream to as much as 24 Mbps and upstream to 3 Mbps.*

****************
So yes, your connection speed on a DSL connection will vary.....

[CatatonicBug]

So yes, your connection speed on a DSL connection will vary.....

It will only vary if you move your house further from (or closer to) the main hub. It does not vary based on the number of users connected to DSL in your neighborhood.

[cywelchjr]

Actually I think you might be mistaken there. DSL speeds do vary and are dependant on how many other people are on the same run. The speed that they are selling you is a theoretical max. I use Road Runner cable here in Kansas city. The speed is faster both up and down than the DSL that I had. And bundled with my tv and phone, the price is lower as well.

You're thinking of Cable which is a shared media, where DSL is a dedicated media to the local office. Now that many phone co's are moving the DSL equipment out to the neighborhood vaults to increase coverage, there is some sharing, however when this is done the vault is connected via fiber so any slowdown is going to usually be because of the congestion from the local phone office to the internet backbone. The OTHER thing that will slow you down (and many many many don't know about this) is if you saturate your outgoing bandwidth (say with bittorrent or other file sharing software) your incoming speed will drop to almost nothing, IP protocols require frequent handshakes to operate and if they are slowed down going out then there are large pauses between packets coming in.

[Bigfoot]

Yes, I was wrong. And I can even admit it. Sorry, got a little confused there.

[Jerry]

It will only vary if you move your house further from (or closer to) the main hub. It does not vary based on the number of users connected to DSL in your neighborhood.

This is true. I should have clarified...not all users of DSL will get the same connection speed, even from the same service provider. Some will have higher speeds, some lower, depending on the lengh of run between your PC and the main hub.

[cywelchjr]

This is true. I should have clarified...not all users of DSL will get the same connection speed, even from the same service provider. Some will have higher speeds, some lower, depending on the lengh of run between your PC and the main hub.

You'll have to forgive me, but I liked your tag line so much I stole it.

[Jerry]

You'll have to forgive me, but I liked your tag line so much I stole it.

Well, I stole it from someone else. Full quote is:
**************
I'm Not Fat!
As we get older we get heavier because we absorb more and more information.

So it goes without saying: I'm not fat, I'm just very, very intelligent. The problem is that all this information is stored around my waist because my head got to small to contain it.

If I loose weight I will be throwing valuable information away!

This is my story and I'm sticking to it.
*************
I just shortened it a bit to use in my sig.

[xs11jack]

Thanks, Guys!!

I got an education on DSL. It is great. I will send this stuff to my SIL. I believe there is a nephew up there somewhere that knows computers and I will have him help her out.

Thank again
jack