Dial up internet service (graphics, wireless, kb/s, work)

[dsh1127]

I don't know if I should post here, or on the state I live in, but I need to get dial up internet. I live out of town and dial up is my only option. I am looking for a reasonably priced provider, but a reputable one. I have seen ads for Net Zero and People PC, which I like the price, but can anyone tell me if they would recommend them, or give me any other ideas?

Thanks!

[aquila]

Highly recommend these guys: Copper.net

I used them and they consistently provided excellent service...friendly, quality tech support, no hassle if you need to cancel. Not sure how the price compares to Net Zero or People PC, but in my opinion Copper is a HECK of a lot better. The "high speed" package isn't really broadband, but it is an accelerator that does a really good job of speeding things up when you're browsing online.

[thecoalman]

Originally Posted by aquila

The "high speed" package isn't really broadband, but it is an accelerator that does a really good job of speeding things up when you're browsing online.

How well that works depends on the site content. If you viewing a site with a lot of text those files can be compressed on the fly by them before being sent over the network but a lot sites will already be doing that anyway. Just as a quick example the CSS file for a phpbb3 forum is about 60KB but that can be reduced to about 10KB with gzip.

Binary data such as images which will make up the majority of the bandwidth required to download a page fully is a different story. Although you can recompress an image generally the image will have already been compressed as far as its going to go without compromising the quality, in some cases severely. Here's a sample from AOL's "surf the web faster" from way back in 2001. It's blow-up. The top image is the original and the bottom imge is after it went through AOL's compression, The file savings FYI were almost non existent because the original had already been optimized:





Same thing for video and downloads like .zip's, .exe's etc, they will be no faster.

[swagger]

I recommend NetZero, but then I'm biased... A few of my friends work for them.

One of them works on the compression algorithm development team, and he's top notch. I don't use dialup, but because of his involvement in the project, I have no doubt that their product is top notch - he's as good as they come.

[DanBev]

Originally Posted by dsh1127

I don't know if I should post here, or on the state I live in, but I need to get dial up internet. I live out of town and dial up is my only option. I am looking for a reasonably priced provider, but a reputable one. I have seen ads for Net Zero and People PC, which I like the price, but can anyone tell me if they would recommend them, or give me any other ideas?

Thanks!

I live in Florida and have had www.millenicom.com for several years,very reliable.I believe I pay $190 per year.There headquarters are in Oregon or Washington state.

[southgeorgia]

i had america online before I got wireless broadband in my area.

I was always happy with them. I tried several other ISP's, but AOL always had the most reliable connection.

Only downside is that running their program would drain my memory. If they still do those free trials, check it out.

[aquila]

Originally Posted by thecoalman

How well that works depends on the site content. If you viewing a site with a lot of text those files can be compressed on the fly by them before being sent over the network but a lot sites will already be doing that anyway. Just as a quick example the CSS file for a phpbb3 forum is about 60KB but that can be reduced to about 10KB with gzip.

Binary data such as images which will make up the majority of the bandwidth required to download a page fully is a different story. Although you can recompress an image generally the image will have already been compressed as far as its going to go without compromising the quality, in some cases severely. Here's a sample from AOL's "surf the web faster" from way back in 2001. It's blow-up. The top image is the original and the bottom imge is after it went through AOL's compression, The file savings FYI were almost non existent because the original had already been optimized:





Same thing for video and downloads like .zip's, .exe's etc, they will be no faster.

The accelerator worked well for me. Sure, images and other graphics were compressed, but I didn't care. If I wanted to see the full resolution, I'd just right-click on it and tell the accelerator to reload it at it's normal res. I just know that it was a heck of a lot faster for me than AOL, MSN, CompuServe, Prodigy and Earthlink ever were.

[ArkansasTraveler]

Originally Posted by dsh1127

I don't know if I should post here, or on the state I live in, but I need to get dial up internet. I live out of town and dial up is my only option. I am looking for a reasonably priced provider, but a reputable one. I have seen ads for Net Zero and People PC, which I like the price, but can anyone tell me if they would recommend them, or give me any other ideas?

Thanks!

VTISP.COM - Unlimited V.92 Internet Access With Rates as Low as $6.75 per Month
$39.95 (a $3.33/month rate) for 1 year of 150-hour-per-month access

[themaster]

Most dialup's are resold through pop's in your local area.. just take a dialup that has a cheap price with a local number and you'll be happy.. also understand that most download accelcrapator(s).. is mostly a fluffware product..

But don't say you don't have OTHER choices.. EVDO is rolled out almost *nationwide* (not to mention 1xx phone service is everywhere.. which is also internet..) you can get downloads up to 1 mbit and I think uploads as high as 30 kb/s EVDO REV. A (I believe) could be higher..

[dsh1127]

Hey thanks everyone! That gives me alot to check out. Have a great weekend!