Dial up. Egads!

[David Magayna]

I spent one terrible evening at my mother-in-law's house Saturday evening, trying to crank up the laptop and having to resort to dial up. Then the fastest line I can reach is 28.8 kbs. I can't believe we used to rely on this, and much slower.

Does anyone rely on a dial up line for their primary connection? How do you stay sane?

[Andrea Campbell]

I'm ready to whack you! It's a reminder of my daily stress.

Yes, I am still on the dreaded dial-up %#@?&*.

The cable stopped just down the block from us. I live in the woods and cannot get satellite.
My ISP doesn't have a DSL for me because the stupid phone company won't update the lines.
I even tried to coerce the cable company to our neighborhood but they said, "Not enough
people live in your area, sorry."

So, here I am, in the middle of the Ouachita Mountains, looking out floor-to-ceiling windows at
the best view you've ever seen—and knitting while waiting for things to scroll onto my computer!

Welcome to my blankety-blank world!

[David Magayna]

Hi Andrea,

Well, I'm going to enlist Chris Grabensteins assistance and try to relieve some of your frustration. No it won't get you a faster connection, but it might make you feel better. I'll ask Chris to name a future book: WHACK-A-MAGAYNA. Then everytime you think of me raising the dialup issue you can take that volume down and consider you've received some small level of revenge.

Although I can sense that someone that lives in a place called the Ouachita Mountains and has a great view doesn't have a lot of frustrations. Suck it up, lady !

Dave. Home and back on DSL but looking at a Bloom grocery store across the street.

[David Magayna]

Hi Patrick,

I guess we do what we can. From your picture (letting my imagination run), I have this image of you in the backwoods of Maine or the UP of Michigan and being thankful that you have phone service there. Still, 52 kbs, I would have considered a gift, considering the glacial movements of data at 28 kbs.

I guess there are tradeoffs with everything in life. Thanks for responding.

[norby]

Patrick is in Maine, but you don't have to live in the UP of Michigan to be thankful you have phone service. My in-laws live an hour north of Detroit-they live on a dirt road, are to far out to have cable and any sort of dsl or high speed hookup for their computer. My father-in-law is too damn cantankerous and stubborn to get a satellite. After I realized that we could lay dead in their house for a week before anyone found us I cut back on my visits.

[norby]

Sorry to hear that Patrick. I always thought is was the fillins' in your teeth.

[David Magayna]

Patrick, If I had to choose between giving up broadband access or my cell phone, the cell phone would be gone in a heartbeat. Let em send me an email or IM, or perish the thought, a land line.

I'm going to be in Maine this summer to visit some friends and attend a blues festival. I was up there in 1994 around Bangor and Bar Harbor.

[Dianne Day]

When I had dial-up, I couldn't get Crimespace to load at all. It was the final straw in my growing frustration with problems that happened whenever I tried to do anything on the web. We have inadequate phone lines where I live but a cable tv connection and so, cable broadband, and I'm glad I got it. Makes all the difference in the world.

[Patricia]

Being the patient person I am, when we had dialup I just lost interest...I just couldn't sit around, even if it was to read a book....I feel for those that are still sitting and waiting.

[David Magayna]

Jim,
I was working at home when it was announced DSL would be available near my area. I hounded those people, and hounded my neighbors to hound those people to make my area one of the first to have it available. I think they did it just to shut me up. There were a few reliability problems at first (this was back in Bell Atlantic days), but now it is solid.

[Dennis Leppanen]

I'm on dial-up most of the time due to my travel. I can't commit to one place long enough to warrant any high-speed commitment. But---I am disappointed when I stay at a hotel that has the latest highspeed setup. It's not much faster than what I have. Pictures are the only significant difference.

[Dennis Leppanen]

Ha! The U.P. of Michigan is where I spend a lot of my summer. It is funny that it is depicted as the sticks. And it is. But, I use dial-up and it does the job. I have a cabin on the river, fifteen miles outta town and I really don't lack for service. The phone line is just fine.

[norby]

See above where I describe my in-laws home.