>Most broadband suppliers do not also provide dial-up service. So if you >have a dial-up account that you use now while you travel, then you need >to be ready to do any of: 1) give up your ability to dial-up from >anywhere, 2) find a broadband supplier that also gives you dialup access, >3) keep both your broadband and dialup access.
>From what I have seen, many DSL providers DO offer dialup service, with a certain number of hours bundled with the DSL service. Speakeasy gives you 30 hours, Verizon gives you 20, SBC (at least in So. Cal) used to give 20 hours (I don't know any more as I moved my SBC to a different style business service that no longer included the free dialup time). Earthlink I think gives you 30, Covad gives you 30. I think DSL.net gives you 30. So if you go with DSL and need dialup access for traveling, it should be trivial to find a provider that will bundle a number of free dialup hours. I have not noticed the same thing with cable service. Go figure, cable companies charge more and give you less :-) When looking between cable and DSL, look at the speed the cable offers. Some cable companies cap the speed, so you may end up paying $20 more for cable to get half the speed of the DSL line (and no free dialup). Also, look at how many people in your area have a cable modem. Cable is shared bandwidth. The more people on your leg that have it, the slower your connection will be. DSL is not shared, so the speed you have is all yours (at least to the CO where it joins all the other DSL lines and shares a much bigger, faster connection... but Cable does that too, it takes the shared line going to your house, and joins it with another larger shared line that all the cable customers are on). Also, look at who requires SMTP Authentication to send email. Not all DSL or cable providers require it. Some of them check the IP address to validate you. If you can, go with a provider that doesn't require it. The headaches it will save might be worth it (unless you plan to leave Emailer, in which case any modern email client can work with SMTP Auth so this won't be an issue). And finally, for reliability. If you have cable TV, compare how often your cable TV service goes out to how ofter your phone line goes out. That will tell you which is more reliable. (for me, the phone almost never goes out, in the 6 months I've had cable TV since I lost the ability for satallite, my cable service has gone out twice... so in my area, DSL would be more reliable. But this is VERY dependant on your area... I know people who have problems with their phone lines all the time, and never have problems with cable TV). -chris <http://www.mythtech.net> ___________________________________________________________________________ To unsubscribe send a mail message with a SUBJECT line of "unsubscribe" to <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> or <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
