On 2/3/2011 10:30 AM, James E. LaBarre wrote:
Last time I had tried BestWeb for Linux dialup, it was able to get an
IP through DHCP, establish the DNS entries, but then couldn't
establish routes. Their performance under Windows has become flakey
as well over the years (I had started with BW about 1996-97, haven't
dialed-up since 2009). For that matter, I think I had at one time
been able to dial-up through BW back about 1999-2000 under Linux, so
that adds to my impression that their service is degrading.
Yeah, with broadband so well established and affordable now, dial-up is
the poor, abandoned stepchild of ISP access. It's really going to be
limited to people living way out in the sticks (too far from the CO for
DSL) who can't afford cable or satellite and don't have cheap WiFi
access. I doubt that there's going to be much innovation or investment
in such a small market. Dial-up-only providers are going to go out of
business unless there is some kind of subsidy to keep them going to
serve their limited market (that means everyone else paying a surcharge
to fund it). I really don't know if that's a good or a bad thing (social
equality versus interference in the free market). Perhaps what we need
is a general convergence of telecom: one fibre high-speed digital
service for everyone for phone, TV, and Net, regardless of where you
are. (no separate copper wires anywhere). That would mean forcibly
consolidating the telephone companies (at least those providing landline
service, which is itself in decline) with the cable operators, which
could be good or bad.
If you need to connect daily for more than a few minutes, I would bite
the bullet and find some kind of broadband service. I've been on cable
for almost 3 years now -- I can't believe that I put up with 56k dial-up
for so long!
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