On Mon, Mar 17, 2008 at 5:38 PM, James E. LaBarre <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> > The winmodem thing is equally useless. I realize I'm gonna get the "we > > can't all afford broadband, and some people live where you can't get it" > > thing, but that argument gets less relevant by the minute, and I don't > > believe it applies to the original poster. Correct me if I'm wrong, > John. > > And faxes? I've used a fax machine twice in my life, never on the > receiving > > end, and there are services that convert emailed pdfs and documents to a > fax > > and send them for you. > > Less relevant by the minute? Well, if you need internet access *NOW*, > and Verizon seems to be months (or even years) away from having DSL > available in your area, then it becomes *VERY* relevant, thank you very > much. And since the in-laws have DirecTV, the cable company's surcharge > for running the wire to the house & getting broadband *without* cable TV > is nearly as prohibitively expensive as getting satellite broadband. I > might make use of the extra bandwidth, but we may only be staying there > for another month, then moving to an apartment until the house gets > rebuilt. > > As for "fax services", all the one's I've seen charge minimum monthly > fees, regardless of whether you use it at all within that month or not. > Are you willing to spend $10-20 per month for the 5% chance you'll > send one fax that month? I'm not. > > You did read the part where I said I know I'm gonna catch crap from the vocal minority about that, right? This is the last I'm gonna say on this, since we had done such a nice job of saving the thread from becoming an off-topic flame war the first time and I would like to not have it just dive right back off the tracks, but here's the bottom line, and call me a jerk as many times as you want: I don't care. For normal, rational discussions about modern home computing, "I can't get broadband" is not the norm. It's not the majority, it's not "more common than you might think", it's not relevant. And it is most certainly becoming even less relevant every single day. How many houses can get DSL today? Who knows, a lot. How many will be able to get it next week? Who knows, but it will be more. This internet thing seems to have caught on, and every day they lay more fiber, run more cable, and hook up more houses. Analog service is dying, end of story. And seriously, how much does Staples charge to send a fax? -Jay _______________________________________________ Mid-Hudson Valley Linux Users Group http://mhvlug.org http://mhvlug.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/mhvlug Upcoming Meetings (6pm - 8pm) MHVLS Auditorium Mar 5 - Wearable Linux Computing Apr 2 - Building a Kernel the Debian / Ubuntu way May 7 - Setting up a platform-independent home/small office network using Linux Jun 4 - TBD Jul 2 - KVM (Tenative)
