Dial-up Woes!

[Sempron]

Not sure if this is the appropriate section

I feel I am plagued with the 56kbps disease. When I lived on my own I had Cable broadband, with the average speeds of 50 mb/s (if I remember correctly) I moved in with my parents (long story) and was stuck in Dial-up land.

For the past 2 years all I've had is dial-up and it drives me insane. I feel there is a lot that I am missing out on. Different online 'activities' and games are some of the things. Our only option is satellite broadband which is a $300 installation fee and $69.99/month, which is outrageous.

Is there any solutions that anybody is aware of that may help ease the dial-up pain? Dont get me wrong, I am very grateful that I am even able to get online and that I have a computer when others don't.

[DigitalJ]

Well, you might look into the possibility of DSL, but I'm guessing you've already ruled that out. You might be able to go with some kind of wireless...Wi-Fi or something similar, but I'm not up to date on how all that works. If you live in a tightly packed neighborhood you might be able to leech a signal from someone else (though I'm not recommending or condoning it), but if your neighborhood has that many people (and a wireless signal) you would probably have access to cable.

I feel your pain though. I lived with my parents for a while a few years back and they can't get cable either. What a painful experience that was! Even aside from all of the frustration that comes with waiting forever for a simple page to open, big file downloads are becomming more and more common. Many simple updates for software such as AIM, MSN messenger, windows updates--you name it--are all 2mb-10mb, and that'll take up your whole day on dial-up.

My advice: Move somewhere normal :) Either that or get the people in your area to start nagging the cable company to include then *shrugs*