Incidentally, we've been trying to purchase DSL for our home with no luck. Despite living in an affluent suburb, which is in turn in an affluent part of Virginia, the only broadband solution available to us is Adelphia cable.
Bleh.
Posted by BlackBlade (Member # 8376) on :
Apparently President Bush has very strongly pushed an agenda where high speed internet would be provided as a utility like electricity or indoor plumbing. They do this already in South Korea and I think its a very progressive idea.
Posted by Scott R (Member # 567) on :
If that's true, it might be the first Bush policy I've felt any good will for. I'd have to know all the implications, but that would be great.
Posted by Stephan (Member # 7549) on :
Would it be supported if the monthly charge was based on bandwidth usage?
Posted by TheHumanTarget (Member # 7129) on :
quote: Incidentally, we've been trying to purchase DSL for our home with no luck. Despite living in an affluent suburb, which is in turn in an affluent part of Virginia, the only broadband solution available to us is Adelphia cable.
Really? Where in NoVa are you at? The only place that I wasn't able to get DSL was in Leesburg...
Posted by Scott R (Member # 567) on :
Fredericksburg, believe it or not. Adelphia apparently has our neighborhood locked down. Neither Verizon, Cavalier, nor Cox offer broadband services to us, much less DSL.
The odd thing is that we have our local phone from Verizon...
Posted by TheHumanTarget (Member # 7129) on :
We also had Verizon. At the time, we were told that it was a matter of upgrading some lines and installing routers to service our area. They should have all of this done within the next three months, sorry for the inconvenience.
Two years later, as were selling our house, Verizon offered us DSL.
Posted by Will B (Member # 7931) on :
I feel a lot of good will towards Bush's opposition to slavery in Eastern Europe and the Third World.
Great dobie, BTW. But I *was* hoping for *philosophy* and DSL. Does DSL suggest a reality external to our perceptions? Does it provide greater access to sophistry? Is Aristotelian DSL faster than Platonic?
Posted by erosomniac (Member # 6834) on :
I'm thinking more along the lines of comparative philosophy: how does the philosophy of DSL stack up against, say, ethical absolutism?
Posted by human_2.0 (Member # 6006) on :
Qwest is suing them.
Posted by ketchupqueen (Member # 6877) on :
We had DSL. We like our cable internet much better.
Posted by MightyCow (Member # 9253) on :
Same here. Our DSL had spotty service and consistently low speed, especially when you figure in the high chance of disconnecting randomly.
The cable Internet isn't perfect, but it's a lot better.
Posted by rivka (Member # 4859) on :
quote:Originally posted by ketchupqueen: We had DSL. We like our cable internet much better.
My parents have cable internet. I like my DSL much better.
Posted by Scott R (Member # 567) on :
I don't like the idea of paying $50/month for internet access, especially since we don't use the internet from home very often. That's why cable isn't really an option.
If I were to work from home more, then it would become a viability.
DSL is ~$25/month; much easier to swallow.
The problem with dial up is that we have an old Airport that we use for a local wireless network. The airport also has a dial-up modem in it, and that's what we've been using to connect to our ISP.
Our ISP recently turned off their access point in Fredericksburg, and we've resorted to using AOL. However, AOL's dialing software doesn't allow manual connections to their servers-- you are forced to use their software. This makes it impossible to use the Airport to login, so we have to run a phone cord from the kitchen to wherever the laptop we use is.
So, if we get dialup (which I wouldn't mind), we'd like to be able to dial up to a server without having to use chatty, fatty, greasy software.
Posted by Tstorm (Member # 1871) on :
My dad's community couldn't get high speed internet under Sprint. They provided crappy phone service, low-quality dial-up, and no options for upgrading. Sprint also had no competitors in the area. Of course, without any competition, and absent any public motivation to force the issue, Sprint sat on the market and milked it for money while refusing to improve service.
The community got so pissed off at Sprint they voted them out, by a legal process I'm not that familiar with. I guess about 80% of the town voted (or petitioned?) for another provider. About two months after the exchange...high speed internet becomes an option.
<philosophy part> There are some things in life phone companies can't provide. For everything else... there's another phone company. Posted by human_2.0 (Member # 6006) on :
quote:Originally posted by Scott R: However, AOL's dialing software doesn't allow manual connections to their servers-- you are forced to use their software. This makes it impossible to use the Airport to login, so we have to run a phone cord from the kitchen to wherever the laptop we use is.
Are you sure? I just checked and it looks like the Airport 2.0 software works with AOL even with the graphite base stations and is available even for Mac OS 9 (assuming you are using a Mac):
We had a Mac, but the motherboard got toasted. I found some freeware to manage the Airport from a windows PC, and that's why we still have it.
Posted by human_2.0 (Member # 6006) on :
If you know someone with a Mac, then they can upgrade the Base Station software for you.
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