[Hidden-tech] dial up accelerator?

[Robert Heller]

At Fri, 05 Apr 2013 16:45:16 -0400 Stacy Kontrabecki <swampdancer at comcast.net> wrote:

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> My friend from Heath is a self-professed cheapskate, a senior with lots 
> of time on his hands (will spend 8 hours downloading a file instead of 
> going to a wifi hotspot to download it) and running and old-ish 
> computer. He will never move to satellite - the only option out there. I 
> can change none of these things, but I might be able to influence what 
> additional cash he spends on software/accelerators and recommend a 
> browser for him, since he asked me.

You friend is not so much a 'cheapskate', but is encountering a bit of
'hard reality' WRT internet access in the USA.  Susan Crawford in an
interview with Bill Moyers covers exactly this issue:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4xI847vQTto

In this interview she points out that Americans are paying way too much
for inferior services.  Many Americans cannot afford what passes for
'broadband', assuming that it is even available.  Consider this: in
Hong Kong, one can get a 500megabit connection for like $30/month. What
is Comcast or Time-Warner offering? 5-10megabit?  Of course Comcast or
Time-Warner are only available in 'selected areas'...  And there is no
way you are ever going to get much more than 10megabits over a satelite
or celluar connection, and that is going to cost close to $100/month,
assuming it is even available.  Satelite and celluar connections can be
iffy in the 'hill towns': between the trees and the mountains, the
signal could be blocked.  *I* live in Wendell and where *I* live
dial-up is the *only* option (and because of Verizon's cruddy wires, I am
now down to 33Kbs).  There is NO celluar signal where I live and there
are trees in the way of the satelite. I'm not on dial up because I am
any sort of cheapskate, but simply because that is really my *only*
option.  I do travel to WiFi hot spots (like the local library or the
Hampshire Mall's food court) to download software updates. 


> 
> I know. I know.
> 
> Stacy Kontrabecki, MBA
> MA Lic. Forester #311
> FSC and ISO 9001 Consultant
> www.swampdancer.com
> 
> +1 (413) 625-9203 office
> +1 (413) 834-3423 mobile
> 
> On 4/4/13 4:26 PM, jeclairm at gmail.com wrote:
> > This might not be the most helpful answer, but has your friend 
> > considered finding an alternate method to use the internet? If they 
> > can't do some kind of dedicated connection for whatever reason (cable, 
> > DSL, fiber), there are plenty of wireless providers that offer 3G and 
> > 4G dataplans that are reasonably cheap. And, there is always satellite 
> > internet. Any of these methods would completely remove the issue of 
> > the slow browsing speed that dial up has. Dialup and modems aren't 
> > really used very much at all (at least in the USA) for internet access 
> > and browsing the web anymore. So, there aren't many resources out 
> > there for browsing the web for dialup users anymore.
> >
> > -Ed C
> >
> >
> >
> >
> > On Wed, Apr 3, 2013 at 10:07 AM, Stacy Kontrabecki 
> > <swampdancer at comcast.net <mailto:swampdancer at comcast.net>> wrote:
> >
> >        ** Be sure to fill out the survey/skills inventory in the
> >     member's area.
> >        ** If you did, we all thank you.
> >
> >
> >     A friend of mine has dial-up internet. He's heard there are internet
> >     speed accelerators that quicken his online experience by compressing
> >     data and rendering images, etc in lower res. I've never heard of this,
> >     but told him I'd ask you what was the best one.
> >
> >     Thanks.
> >
> >     --
> >     Stacy Kontrabecki, MBA
> >
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-- 
Robert Heller             -- 978-544-6933 / heller at deepsoft.com
Deepwoods Software        -- http://www.deepsoft.com/
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