the "I still use dial-up" support group

All right, how many of us are there, still walking the planet? In shameful silence, scared to move forward, afraid the day looms large when a separate phone line (another relic, once reserved for that hot item, the "Fax line.") We're like denizens of a Ray Bradbury novel, Ludites of a special breed. I'm moving later this summer, and will probably break down and use something else ... but I still love my dial-up, the word "modem" still makes me feel, I dunno, secure. I turn the volume up, and hear that high-pitched hum, and know I've connected.

But I recently met a friend for drinks, and when this slipped out, he sprayed Ketel One all over my shoulder, as if I'd admitted that I use a discman instead of an Ipod (yikes--with the Carpenters on it!), have a secret dvd of Celine Dion's Vegas show (whoops)or worse, out of boredom post at one of those "theater boards..."

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Updated On: 5/20/08 at 12:04 PM

If you get cable or dsl, they're still called modems. :)

My name is Gothampc and I am a dial-up user. It all started in the mid-90s. I felt a certain control over my destiny. I loved the power of disconnecting my connection when AOL was trying to put me in at 14.4 and I knew if I demanded it, I could be put in at 28.8.

But slowly things began to slip. As the years flew by, I became more demanding. All I was getting from AOL was 53.3, but I was demanding 56.6.

I'm now taking it day by day. The first step has been to apologize and make good to all my friends because it took me an hour to view their 5 minute wedding clip. I know that if I continue working at it, I too can kick the dial-up habit.

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Updated On: 5/20/08 at 12:16 PM

It depends on what you might want, Auggie. You would need to switch either through your cable line, if you have cable, or your phone line (which I know you have, if you have dial-up).

Mine is through AT&T, and it's super-fast and fantastic. Never a slow moment in years. It's only gone down once in the past three years, for about a half-day.

The best news for you is that you can both talk and surf at the same time. Each of your phone outlets needs a "filter" attached, if you want to use it for talking. That comes with the kit they send you. Your desktop computer attaches via a Modem without the filter, if you want to hard-wire directly. You can also connect your new modem to a wireless router, if you have a laptop, and you should be able to connect anywhere in your house or apartment. I have both a desktop and a laptop, so I do it both ways.

Check with your phone company and your cable company. Many offer specials to hook up. You won't regret it for a minute. And you won't believe the time you save waiting for everything to load up.

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See what I mean? Someone's all ready to slap me down with techno-knowledge (But is it a big deal to switch? Do you just call? Do you need new software?)

No slap down at all. Just showing you that you can still use the terms you're comfortable with, which will help ease your transition. :)

I've used both cable modem and dsl. I prefer cable, but that's because SBC DSL (which is inescapable in the midwest) sucks.

My folks just made the leap from dial-up AOL to cable high speed. It took years of nagging and nudging, but they finally did it. After a few weeks, they still didn't see what all the fuss was about. Until I showed them that they could watch clips of their childhood favorites on youtube. They haven't looked back since.