Would someone explain high-speed to me?

I have dial up and use AOL. We have cable for TV but may switch to dish in the future. So if I want to get a high speed connection, what would it involve? I just don't understand how it all works. Sometimes I think I know so much, and other times I feel really stupid.

And I know I'm not alone. In simple terms, would someone please explain it?

Hi nap, I probably can't explain it.....mostly because I really don't have a clue what I'm talking about.

I also have AOL and was on dial up until DH got internet through our cable provider. All I can tell you is that it is much faster than dialup. Now, when I want to get online, I just click on Internet Explorer or Firefox and I'm immediately on DG.

Someone will came along and explain it to you......all I know is that we now get our internet service through the cable, and we're always just a click away from being online.

Hi speed goes through your cable line (one of the ways) and makes AOL dial up seem like you are sitting still. Also it doesn't interefere with your phone line.

I imagine your cable company would be delighted to show you the difference in speed. Many libraries, etc have high speed, visit one and try it out. On the other hand - if you aren't going to change DON'T TRY IT!!!! LOL !!!!

Nicole

Well, what about the cost? Our current phone bill is about $50. Our cable bill is about $52. Our AOL is about $27.

Gosh, I wish I hadn't written it down. I can't believe we're shelling out so much hard earned money on "services".

My dial up is just as slow for $15. We will be switching to dsl as soon as our ISP remembers they actually do have service here ;( Supposed to be only $5 more a month

$44.95 for Roadrunner internet. Direct TV is around $50 and phone bill around $30. We looked into getting our internet through Direct TV as well but you have to buy ANOTHER dish plus pay monthly. It was several years ago when I looked at Direct TV internet but back then the dish was $500 or something crazy like that. RR internet isn't cheap but it's easy and no extra equipment.

Nap I bet your cable company would give you a discount for having both through them. Hope so anyway!

Nicole

Nap I'm with you on the 'services' thing - it's money spent for seemingly nothing!!

Al, see that's what I mean. I don't understand the terminology. What is DSL and is it through the phone? The cable?

Nicole, our numbers are different, but basically we pay about the same thing. We don't know if we're going to like Time Warner, who bought Adelphia Cable, so I ought not to make any decision just yet. But I am definitely considering doing something.

DSL is the higher speed phone line internet. Don't know what dsl mean - digital satellite link? I do know what http means for bar bets though.

More confusing terminology. What's a bar bet? And OK, I'll bite. What's http? (This better be clean)

We had DSL (don't know what it stands for...) through our local phone company. It was my first step away from AOL. Only bad thing was the local phone company didn't provide very good virius protection. That's why we switched to RR. There is even a button on the modem that 'shuts off' the internet from your computer when you want it to.

Good luck and take your time!!!

Nicole

bar bet - I'll bet you a beer I know this and you don't
http = hyper text transfer protocol, what that mean I don't need to know

Nancy, for someone who deals with photographs as much as you do, Why are you not on High Speed yet.
I'm with Comcast for internet and basic TV. $68. The speed of cable fluctuates with the number of users on the line. Ask your neighbors if they are happy with Time Warner internet. Also check if you have to sign a contract for 1 or 2 years. Comcast is no contract, unless you 'get a deal'.
Andy P

I can't thank you guys (oops) enough for all your help! Really! I feel slightly less stupid.

Al, very interesting! Next time you're in your favorite bar, order a beer and tell them to put it on my tab. (....hyper tufa transfer protocol...no, wait...high pertex frans...no....hi Tex prance fur....no, that's not it...)

Oh, Andy! Thanks for contributing to my education! Yes, I just haven't switched because of ignorance, but I do know I should. That's what I'm trying to do. I need all the opinions I can get. Thank you.

I was under the impression that I don't have a choice for Cable TV. I think Time Warner is "it" for WNY. I have never heard of Comcast, except from you. I'll have to check it out.

There is usually only one cable provider, the terms are negotiated with the city or town. Comcast bought out Adelphia here in southeast MA.

I looked it up - digital subscriber line

we have Time Warner in our area. They do have package deals. You really should look around - it won't kill you ;)

That's right, Nancy.
No one is holding a gun to your head.

That is the best pic I have seen in a long while.

What did I ever do to deserve such wonderful friends! (Big smile here!)

That picture's good enough to steal Andy.

Al, I stole it, why shouldn't you. lol

When cable finally arrived out here in the boonies, I signed up for the ISP and cable right away. Getting the phone service took a little longer, but I switched our phone to cable too, and saved about $50 monthly, as dial up calls were adding to our phone bill. We are both on line a lot, and every dialup was another phone call. We dropped our extra phone line, which was included in the savings. My cable, internet high speed and phone all together run about $180 a month, with a couple of premium channels and the DVR boosting the cable package price a little. Still comes out cheaper in the the total than the AOL, ATT, and dish bills were.

The one drawback, when DH and his buddy were moving the tv armoire out of the living room they broke the connection to the cable input on the DVR and we were without cable in the living room, and no phone service all week. Until we moved all the furniture back in, no internet either but none of this was the cable company's fault.

There are three kinds of "high speed" DSL (dedicated subscriber line) over a phone line, must be within a certain distance from the phone company's equipment. Dish witch is real expensive to install because of the equipment required (may be the only "hi speed" option in some areas) & Cable (preferred) - not available everywhere and not always on as advertised.

Thank you Sheila and Dyson. I'm not sure what you mean, Dyson, by your last sentence. "Not always on as advertised." Say it again please.

The cable co says "always on" but it is not.... some idiot will hit a light pole and the internet will be gone till repairs are made.

Guess we don't have many of those b/c our RR has never gone down. Not counting when the 4 year old unplugs it of course!!! LOL!!!

Nicole

I understand now...thank you. This is all somewhat less "muddy" to me now. At least I have a clue, where to begin.

Nancy/nap ..

We all started with dial up ..

Now have DSL, and I'm still on the bottom of the DSL 'totem pole' - but, it's still faster than dial-up.

I found this site to be MOST beneficial - maybe you will also. > http://www.howstuffworks.com/dsl.htm

My best to you ..

((huggs))

- Magpye

Do I live in magic land ? Normally called flyover land by people on the coasts. But I have the best system in the internet world, wireless internet! Never off, never slow. It's from the same company as our cell phones, thus one bill.
My bill for unlimited minutes on 2 cell phones & the internet service is $99 a month. They supply the best filters you will ever get to stop virus & spam. All spam e-mail is in a separate place that they give you about once a week. all you have to do is hit a button called select all & then delete. I also have Norton & it scans once a week. I have never had anything found.
Our TV is Direct TV. My son pays that so I have no idea what that costs, but we have hundreds of channels on 4 TV's.
Just for kicks I have no idea what AOL is.
I also took Dave's advice & use Firefox.
I am out in the boonies, too.
Bernie

Bernie, who is your cell phone / internet provider? Sounds like a "deal" to me.

Midwest Wireless.
I don't know how many states they cover.

Magpye, you're right. That was very interesting. I didn't go past page one, but will another time. I think I may get some other use out of the site as well. Thank you so much!

((hope it will help familiarize ya a bit, nappers))

- Magpye

[quoted]Well, what about the cost? Our current phone bill is about $50. Our cable bill is about $52. Our AOL is about $27.

Gosh, I wish I hadn't written it down. I can't believe we're shelling out so much hard earned money on "services".[/quoted]

nap, I know what you mean! We cut the sat TV a few years back but we have home phone JUST for internet and it stinks all the extra charges...mostly with tax and then the base fee just to have the phone. The high speed we have is $14 with AT&T but with all the add-ons it ends up being about 30 bucks (with no long distance, caller ID, etc). We did add all the phone features in November (cannot BELIEVE they charge a stinkin' "service connection fee") and to add all that our bill for the next month (with unlimited long distance for ONE price) was still over $100!?!?! We immediately cut our losses on that and just got 2 cell phones for the same price as the long distance at home. Least then we can have the phones on the road in an emergency.

We had sat TV but every 6 months the price was going up a few dollars. If you tell them (at least DirecTV) that you don't like the price and want to cancel they will lock in your old rate for another 6 months...always with apologies that their channel providers are raising the rates.

You know there is NO tax on sat TV in Colorado! I thought that was great...moved to Texas and the tax adds to the bill several dollars....

We have Bellsouth internet DSL. I originally signed up for their higher speed $45.00 monthly and found out that if I didn't download games and lots of music that I could go with the lower package $24.00 monthly. AT&T are merging with Bellsouth and I think that Direct TV can also be lumped together on one bill. I dumped Cox Cable because of prices increasing every year. They kept changing the programing and adding on shows that nobody really wanted in order to raise their price. The last time they did this they took off the weather station from the basic package. Made so many people mad since we have so many hurricanes, we need this information. When I had dialup nobody could use the phone if someone was on the computer. How do you let people know that you are working on a report for work and they can not call your house for hours? Our city is trying to hook up fiber optics that is suppose to be the fastest and have the most options, phone, tv, internet at a lower cost. Of course Bellsouth and Cox Cable have been paying big bucks to stop them. It went for a vote to the citizens and won, so they keep bringing it to the courts to stop them. I believe it is now in the Supreme Courts.

Well, well ..
The baby-bells that flew the coop years ago .. are now returning to the roost of (grandy) Maw Bell, with in-laws !! .. LOL ..

Bellsouth & Cingular, back to AT&T > http://www.att.com/customer_merger/index.html

* (not intended to risk a hi-jack, nap) *

- Magpye

Not sure if anyone put it in numbers, but....

Dial up is limited to 56k, that is 56,000 bps (bits per second roughly). DSL (digital subscriber line) varies from 128k to 1.5M (1.5 million bps) and cable can be 2 to 5 times faster (depends on who is doing the quoting) than DSL. Cable speed can be reduced as more subscribers download because the "line" is shared whereas DSL is dedicated to one user per line (i.e. you shouldn't see any change in speed).

With these figures DSL can be over 25 times faster than dial up and cable 50 times or more than dial up. The beauty of either system is you don't tie up the phone line, you can always be "on-line" - in other words no dialing to connect, and you don't get bumped off. If you pay for two phone lines to dedicate one phone line for dial up, then you would be further ahead by dropping the second phone and the dial up ISP and going with broadband - not only a lot faster but probably save a few bucks as well.

I dropped my dial -up, got cable internet then went with broadband phone service (vonage) unlimited calls (US) no additional charges for 26.99 a month. Since the company I work for pays for my internet connection this has been a real money saver. The only down side is that when there is no internet available the is also no phone service so I also have a cell phone so I can call the cable co. and tell them to restore my internet.

lol dyson!