I don't want it.

Submitted by kd7kip on Mon, 01/26/2009 - 2:03am

I go online at work, and spend most of my workday staring at a PC.  I've worked in high tech the past fifteen years (flat panels displays, high volume PC assembly, semiconductors) and have been on the net since 1990 so I'm not exactly a novice.  Going home and going online doesn't appeal to me-- its like bring home my job.  I have no internet at home, and no cell phone, and no plans to change that.

Login or register to post comments

Roll out the broadband!

Submitted by wag2 on Sat, 01/24/2009 - 12:41am

I live roughtly twenty miles from downtown San Antonio, where many AT&T corparate buildings are located and yet I still do not have any options for highspeed internet other than wireless, now that's just ridiculous!

Login or register to post comments

ROFL @ macgyver    this

Submitted by xs0u1x on Fri, 01/23/2009 - 9:53pm

ROFL @ macgyver

 

 this has got to be the single best article picture ever.

 

 i do believe to further communications technology and hell......its the 21'st century for petes sake, broadband should be available everywhere. im not too happy about the government having to do it, but how long would comcast or these companies have waited? till the networks failed and were of total inefficiency just to squeeze every last drop and dollar out of it, instead of investing in the future.

Login or register to post comments

Oh, okay, well, we'll see

Submitted by I Jedi on Fri, 01/23/2009 - 9:22pm

Oh, okay, well, we'll see how long that last. 

Login or register to post comments

OH GOD NOT DIAL-UP

Submitted by winmaster on Fri, 01/23/2009 - 7:49pm

I remember when I could get nothing but dial-up. My options were a 50K dial-up connection or 1M satellite service for the low low price of $40 per month plus a $400 setup fee. The latter was out of the question. When I nuked my Windows install, I hauled my machine over to my uncle's house so I didn't have to endure the inital run of Microsoft Update. I can't believe that anyone who hasn't used dial-up and high speed at some point in thier life would not like faster Internet. Century-tel finally saved my from committing suicide and offered me a 256K DSL connection, but hell, I still can't stream You Tube. The people who still have dial-up are either people who live out in the wilderness or people who still use Windows 98 because "it works." Some of them are probably old men who think:  "Well, its not really faster, thats just what they tell you to rip you off." I think dial-up should be illegal. I'm sick of all the HP and Dell computers comming pre-made with built in modems. The extra ones I have make nice paper weights. 

 

P.S. If my DSL router is reporting a DSL connection of 386K, is that the internet speed or the max of my DSL line. Centurytel says they can offer me 1M, but I'm not so sure. 

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 

The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog.

Login or register to post comments

Nunc est bibendum! I live in

Submitted by Asterixx on Fri, 01/23/2009 - 4:27pm

Nunc est bibendum!

I live in the boonies and until a year ago was forced to suffer the internet via dialup (and since the ISP was so far away it wasn't even particularly fast dialup). I tried satellite and was turned off not only by the outrageous startup fee ($800) and crazy monthly fee ($80/month for 712kbps), but by the ridiculous lag, slow download speeds, and just plain unreliable service. On many occasions dialup was faster, and on many other occasions dialup was the only way online because the satellite system would go down that often. When it did work it would drop so much information that pages would never load the same way twice. Sometimes images would be missing, hit refresh and the some of the images would show up but the page's formatting would be missing or corrupted, etc. Thankfully it had a 30 day money back guarantee, so I had it uninstalled.

Then a company introduced wireless internet to this area. It's still pricey ($50/month) and isn't 100% reliable, but it offers 2Mbps  downloads and 1Mbps uploads. Not exactly FIOS, but light years ahead of dialup.

Login or register to post comments

"Why use eMail when I have the Post Office?"

Submitted by DDTechGuy on Fri, 01/23/2009 - 4:19pm

One of the larger groups of people still not utilizing the internet has got to be "senior citizens" (as I work with, and around hundreds of the over 65 crowd, I can speak from personal experience)

However, one of the fastest growing groups of people to enter into the emailing frenzy that is the internet, again in my personal experience...yep! That same group of over 65'ers.

It's a strange phenomenon. They are deathly afraid of the great unknown beast that is 'cyberspace' and yet are eager to embrace it once someone flicks on a light and shows them there is a great deal of useful stuff in the cyber universe -- and once a close friend gets it going...all his/her friends have to know about it! (Usually all it takes for me is to show them how fast a grandson/daughter answers a twitter, email, facebook posting, etc and they WANT THAT CONNECTION NOW!)

So the long and the short of it, if the infusion of cash into public technology includes training for all the various groups of people that have not inched/merged their model T's or 'lovebugs' onto the super highway, then we should continue to see an amazing number of people continuing to come online.

DDTG

Login or register to post comments

While this might be the case

Submitted by FRAGaLOT on Fri, 01/23/2009 - 2:19pm

While this might be the case right now, I highly doubt this will contine as tech savvy young generations mature and demand more bandwidth.  We still need to grow the network infrastucture, since in the future it will be our life blood, just as the interstate freeways are now.

50 years ago, it's not like our parents were content with black and white TV and just three channels to choose from.  All forms of media start small, and grow as the demand increases, while others die off. As an example, TV started small grew and expanded all over the world while old technologies died off, like teletype and morse-code commincations.  Today we are seeing the internet explode, while old media like newpapers and magazines are fading away.  Cell phone usage booms while phoneboths are vanishing.

Login or register to post comments

Not for everyone

Submitted by krisbowls on Fri, 01/23/2009 - 1:29pm

Hey, MacGyver is the man!

I have observed that a lot of us who use our computer for nearly every task in our lives except using the restroom (I hope) assume everyone else has the same needs/desires we do.  

That's simply not the case.  My parents are a perfect example.  They are perfectly happy with their 56k.  They could easily afford broadband, but they just don't care about the internet.  They have no need for it.  We can all agree that we THINK they would love it once they had it, but rest assured, it wouldn't make them any happier, or increase their quality of life.

Login or register to post comments

The situation's the same as

Submitted by jcollins on Fri, 01/23/2009 - 1:16pm

The situation's the same as health insurance.  There's those that have it, those that want it but can't afford it, and those that can't get it (availability/preexisting conditions).  Then, finally, there's those that see no need to spend money on it.    Until it's provided for free, they'll never get it, and you'll have various groups trying to make a buck using them as an excuse.

Login or register to post comments

Who in their right minds

Submitted by wolf17 on Fri, 01/23/2009 - 12:52pm

Who in their right minds would keep dial up even if the price of broadband was lowered??

.. I can see it now:

"dial up 24.95 + price of a phone line + long distance charges (way out here in the middle of nowhere)

Broadband..15.95

No.. you'll never get me to surrender my dial up modem.. I love the fact that a jpg file takes a minute to download, I can't watch free online video (youtube.. and much less HD from abc and others) and I can't use the phone while online! " 

l.o.l. 

Login or register to post comments

Aww why did you have to

Submitted by Antilogic81 on Fri, 01/23/2009 - 12:45pm

Aww why did you have to bring Mac into it? I think you don't realise just how many internet users love Mac.

 

That aside,  how many of the country wide percent make up those who don't use broadband? All I'm seeing is a breakdown of those users specifically.

Login or register to post comments

High Speed

Submitted by The Relic on Fri, 01/23/2009 - 12:24pm

I get 6mbps (I remember when I used a 1200 baud modem on my C64; nope, don't wish to go back), but I have a sister who lives out in BFE; she doesn't have access to high-speed internet. She tried Hughes.net but then balked at the high set-up fee (she has 4 kids and a husband and couldn't afford it). Her kids go nuts when they come to our house and get on-line. It's like they think they died and gone to hi-tech heaven ^_^.

 If there was an affordable alternative she'd have it in a second, no question about it.

Login or register to post comments

i think many of these people

Submitted by AndyYankee17 on Fri, 01/23/2009 - 12:16pm

i think many of these people don't realize the benefit of high speed, hell I got 3 mbps dsl and I'm pissed off at how long it takes webpages to load

Login or register to post comments

whenever i hear somoen make

Submitted by nekollx on Fri, 01/23/2009 - 12:01pm

whenever i hear somoen make comments liek thosei counter with

 

"wouln't you like to beable to talk on the phone and surf the web at the same time? Rember with dial up if somone calls you when your online you either drop connection or they get a busy signal"

Login or register to post comments