Calling all frugal CWers: What kind of internet connection do you have and how much do you spend? (Full Version)

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momof4 -> Calling all frugal CWers: What kind of internet connection do you have and how much do you spend? (5/13/2008 7:15:09 AM)

OK, some of you guys around here know how "low-tech" I am. We have had "dial-up" internet since we first got the internet, maybe almost 10 yrs ago. Please don't think poorly of me, but I have a confession to make: I didn't know ther was anything else but dial-up until maybe a yr or so go. Oh, I saw the ads on TV for something called "DSL" and "Blazing Fast Internet". but I thought it was all the same, and those ads were just a marketing ploy to get me to switch to a more expensive option that would really be no different that what I had now, still tying up the phone lines, etc. Well, recently my hubby has been trying to get me to agree to signing up for DSL. I am a little leery, b/c it will be more expensive. Right now we pay $4.97 (I think) for a cheap "no frills" dial up, that IMHO, works just fine, except it ties up the phone lines. But I don't really consider that a problem anyway, b/c everyone that I really want to talk to has my cell phone #, and they know to call it if they can't get thru on the land line. So all we're missing is some telemarketers calling , big deal, huh? Anyway, the ad we got says this DSL will be "only $17.95/month. Tht sounds OK to me, but of curse it will go up to $24.95 after 3 months. I'm not sure I want to pay that much, when I'm used to only paying $4.95. Our son has this "cable internet" thing, where he gets cable TV and the internet together, and he says that is even faster than DSL, and he spends $70/ month for the package, and calls that a "deal", b/c he knows people who spend EVEN MORE for the same thing! I know I don't want that. That sounds like WAY too much money, and I won't have cable TV in my home, both for some of the content, and the fact that it costs sooo much. I just won't have it. Hubby feels the same way (about cable TV), but he is trying to get me to agree to this DSL thing, and I'm not sure it will be worth spending and extra $20/month.

So what do you frugal CWers have? It seems a lot of you have cable TV, b/c you talk about all these cable shows, like the Duggans, and their 17, almost 18 kids. I looked around for where they were on TV, and then someone told me they were only on some cable channell! So that's why I've never seen them! But it seems a lot of CWers have, so you guys must have cable. That surprises me, b/c I thought CWers were, for the most part, a pretty frugal bunch! Anyway, tell me what you think. What kind of internet do you have, why do you have that kind, how much do you pay, and why is it so much better than dial up, other than not tying up the phone line? How much "speed" is really necessary in the online world?



3cappuccinosmom -> RE: Calling all frugal CWers: What kind of internet connection do you have and how much do you spend? (5/13/2008 7:40:17 AM)

Well, we still have dialup. [:o] $7.95/mo (includes Slipstream which means you can lower graphics quality so pages load faster). At some point we are going to have to switch, but right now it works. The biggest problem I have is uploading photos. That can be frustratingly slow at times, and sometimes it just plain doesn't work. [:'(]



iluvatar -> RE: Calling all frugal CWers: What kind of internet connection do you have and how much do you spend (5/13/2008 7:43:31 AM)

Though we subscribe to it, I'm not sold on the value of cable tv either. But if you use the internet quite a bit, there really isn't any comparison between dial-up and broadband. Go to any library or school or internet cafe that provides internet access to the public and surf around for a half hour or an hour and compare the ease and speed at which you can navigate around pages to the same experience you have at home. It's not so much about being "fast" as it is just not having to wait for e.v.e.r.y...s.i.n.g.l.e...t.h.i.n.g.....

As far as speed differences between cable and DSL, it depends on the package, the provider and your usage patterns. I'd guess that since you've been on dial-up all this time, you're not in the habit of downloading large files or playing high-bandwidth online games (e.g. first-person shooters). Given that, I doubt you'd experience much appreciable difference in speed between cable and DSL.

-Dan.



P31W -> RE: Calling all frugal CWers: What kind of internet connection do you have and how much do you spend (5/13/2008 8:25:22 AM)

I don't have a computer or the internet. I bum off other people. I have found that to be the cheapest way to go! [:D] I tell them all the time when they ask me "when are you going to get your own computer and interent service?" "Why buy the cow when the milk comes free".[:D][8D]



Row1 -> RE: Calling all frugal CWers: What kind of internet connection do you have and how much do you spend (5/13/2008 12:26:30 PM)

i have the cheapest dsl plan. $20/month. this is with at&t.

there will be a big jump, for the better, between dial-up and this slowest level of dsl. for the extra $15, it might be worth it. you never ever have to wait for a connection to be made. you leave it 'connected' and just open your web browser program [explorer or whatever] and it jump open. we have gotten used to lookign up ph numbers, addresses, recipes, movie times, etc cuz it goes so smoothly, compared to dial-up.

we are fine with this slowest dsl speed. sometimes, things run slowly. especially compared to my work where my connection is really fast. but we still can watch youtube videos or stream music with only occasional gaps.

i research various topics, and it does ok for that. but you really need faster if you are going to depend on internet for lots of work, like jobhunting, selling lots of stuff online, etc.

downloads go slowly if they are big files. if i download some big music file, like an entire cd in cd quality not mp3 quality, i just start it and take a break or begin when i go to sleep. so we cope with the slow download of big files.

uploading of big files takes a long time, which is a big reason to go faster than the slow speed we have. we upload digital pics to snapfish. we start it then take a break. so, like you, we adjust and manage.

we don't play any online interactive games, where speed really matters.

here is how the speed is rated: either kbps or mbps. roughly, 1000 kbps = 1mbps. this is how much data can come into your comp in one second.

so, if you see one choice as '768kbps' and another as '1.5 mbps', you can move the decimal three places to get .768mbps compared to 1.5mbps, or in other words, 'twice as fast' (.768 x 2 = 1.536).

i would start with the lowest plan. sometimes, 'they' don't even let you know it exists. they just say 'our starter plan is $25/month." and you have to ask: 'is there any plan less expensive, or slower?' they use words like 'starter, home, intro,' etc. to make you think you are getting the slowest plan, but really there could be one slower. so just make sure.

try that slowest plan. it will be way better than dial up.

dial up is at 56kbps, or .056mbps.
so, the slowest dsl is more than 10 times faster.
it is just a different technology.
they use the same phone line, but just different capability.
it basically can stay 'on' without you using the phone, for no add'l cost.

so, you can leave it 'on' and download or upload big files for hours without interfering with phone service or paying more.

pester them to give you free dsl modem, free install. but if you can't get that, it is no big del just a one-time fee.

btw: usually, the phone company tell you that you MUST have telephone service to have dsl. technically, this is not true. however, they just market it this way. i told them this but they denied it.

for some people in some parts of the country, because of a law suit, you can get dsl service on the phone line with no home phone service.

thus, you can get rid of your home phone if you feel safe with only cell phones (but think: if power is out eventually cell phone will die and you will be phone-less).

i would do it but my area is not one of the regions of the country that can have dsl without phone service.

cable internet is even faster.
tops on dsl may be 6mbps.
tops on cable may be 8mbps.

if you go to a really fast speed, cable is usually the best deal. but this would be if you use the internet a lot for work productivity, like selling online.

cable internet might be $30/month plus, but they have their same ways of making you pay all those extra fees. that is how someone gets to a $80/month bill.



Row1 -> RE: Calling all frugal CWers: What kind of internet connection do you have and how much do you spend (5/13/2008 12:27:30 PM)

i put that big long note cuz i spent so much time trying to figure out all of that, and i am glad if my homework helps anyone else save a few bucks.



LCannon -> RE: Calling all frugal CWers: What kind of internet connection do you have and how much do you spend (5/13/2008 12:30:37 PM)

My primary server is wireless(Wi-Fi)with a city wide 100mb Ethernet network. No modem or dialup however I can dialup use a 56k modem in a pinch with nationwide coverage. I pay an annual fee of $239.40($19.95/mo.)for unlimited use.



stellaluna -> RE: Calling all frugal CWers: What kind of internet connection do you have and how much do you spend (5/13/2008 12:32:01 PM)

I have DSL through AT&T. I think we pay about $60 a month for the internet, landline phone and whatever else I have tacked onto it. There are cheaper options, but we're not going to use it much longer and there's no reason to switch at the moment, especially when some deals require contracts. (That's also why we haven't switched to a cable modem.)

For several years I had Netscape internet for $10 a month and I was quite happy with it. It was actually really fast for dial-up.



2shaye -> RE: Calling all frugal CWers: What kind of internet connection do you have and how much do you spend (5/13/2008 12:59:09 PM)

I've had cable for years. Now we have the phone, cable and internet wrapped into one package. Anyone who comes over with a wireless modem can log onto the internet. I pay about $100 per month and if we had to cut back expenses, that would be one of the last places I'd cut. I have several businesses I run on the computer and I adore the speed. I used dial up for about six months about 10 years ago. No way would I ever go back!



momof4 -> RE: Calling all frugal CWers: What kind of internet connection do you have and how much do you spend (5/13/2008 6:42:52 PM)

Thanks for the responses everyone. We don't really download that much, and I know what you mean about how difficult it can be sometimes, when you can't get or send a picture, it's frustrating! Our pastor just got into putting his sermons on itunes, and so I went there thinking I would download the first sermon he put on there, but soon after I started it, it told me that it would take 3 hours! So I quit the download. We had heard the sermon already anyway, I just wanted to try it out. So a 15 minute or so sermon, that doesn't have any video, just the audio, takes 3 hrs on my dial up, how long would that take on DSL or cable? I suppose if we used the internet for more than just entertainment, I would want the cable thing, but do you have to also pay for cable TV with your cable internet, if you really don't want cable TV? Interesting about the different levels of DSL. I didn't know that. I thot there was just DSL period! I'll have to do some more research on all of this. I hate it when things get too complicated, but in the internet age, of course it will be more complicated than I wish it would be!

One thing holding me back is that our city is supposed to "someday" have wireless internet available for the entire city for an affordable rate, whatever that means. Another city near here is trying to get it started city-wide for approx $20/month, and that sounds OK to me, so I'd rather just wait for that. But hubby says, no, they won't have it that cheap anytime soon, with the way the economy is going, so why don't we sign up for DSL now. I just don't want t get locked into a DSL plan for a yr or something, and the next month here comes the city wide $20/month wifi. Hubby says I'm dreaming, we will have plenty of warning, so we could get out of our DSL to get into the city's plan, if that ever happens.



iluvatar -> RE: Calling all frugal CWers: What kind of internet connection do you have and how much do you spend (5/13/2008 8:14:03 PM)

quote:

ORIGINAL: momof4
So a 15 minute or so sermon, that doesn't have any video, just the audio, takes 3 hrs on my dial up, how long would that take on DSL or cable?


It depends on a few things, but probably under 5 minutes. The best speeds I've gotten downloading stuff on my cable connection are about 150x faster than the best speeds I ever got on dial-up. This is where broadband really becomes worthwhile - the difference between loading a web page on dial-up and loading a web page on cable/dsl may only be a few seconds, but when downloading large files, the difference quickly balloons to hours or days.

quote:

I suppose if we used the internet for more than just entertainment, I would want the cable thing, but do you have to also pay for cable TV with your cable internet, if you really don't want cable TV?


No. In both apartments I had before I got married (and my wife insisted on having cable tv), I had cable internet but not cable tv. Actually, that's not quite true - in one of them (the 2nd, I think), I had both, because the cable guy forget to put the filter in the box outside, so I had free basic cable for a while.

quote:


One thing holding me back is that our city is supposed to "someday" have wireless internet available for the entire city for an affordable rate, whatever that means. Another city near here is trying to get it started city-wide for approx $20/month, and that sounds OK to me, so I'd rather just wait for that. But hubby says, no, they won't have it that cheap anytime soon, with the way the economy is going, so why don't we sign up for DSL now. I just don't want t get locked into a DSL plan for a yr or something, and the next month here comes the city wide $20/month wifi. Hubby says I'm dreaming, we will have plenty of warning, so we could get out of our DSL to get into the city's plan, if that ever happens.


I wouldn't hold my breath. Those things take a while to roll out and if they're not currently working on it, I wouldn't expect it to happen "next month."

-Dan.



Auben -> RE: Calling all frugal CWers: What kind of internet connection do you have and how much do you spend (5/13/2008 10:52:36 PM)

We had dial up for years and my husband is a software engineer. It drove him crazy to have fast access at work and such a slow connection at home. I never knew any different so it didn't bother me. We also did not have cell phones until a year or so ago. [;)]

Once we had our school loans paid off and no credit card bills I agreed that it was okay to get DSL. He says it's easier to research at home now. He got the cable/DSL/phone package. Our 'cable' means that we now have ABC, NBC, CBS, PBS, WGN, and FOX I think. They are all standard channels but we live in a rural area so that's basic cable here. We pay about what you were quoted.

Yes, I have to hear about the Duggars here also. We probably won't ever get those channels.



Harvie -> RE: Calling all frugal CWers: What kind of internet connection do you have and how much do you spend (5/14/2008 12:37:14 AM)

DSL $24.95



thisistheday -> RE: Calling all frugal CWers: What kind of internet connection do you have and how much do you spend (5/14/2008 1:19:02 AM)

We pay 33 for cable internet, with a five dollar discount since we also have cable TV. So you don't have to get both.

I'm considering the $99 dollar plan where you get cable TV, i-net, and phone service.

When I was looking briefly at dsl internet it seemed like AT&T had an option where you didn't have to have a contract. For the cable internet we don't have a contract.

For us not tying up the phone line is important since our only cell phones are pre-paid and are not on a lot.

Dee



jod78 -> RE: Calling all frugal CWers: What kind of internet connection do you have and how much do you spend (5/14/2008 8:08:45 AM)

I think I'd rather not use the internet at all then to sit through the agony of dial-up. I pay $115 a month for DSL, Dish HD, and landline. I think the DSL part of that is around $25.



seagullplayer -> RE: Calling all frugal CWers: What kind of internet connection do you have and how much do you spend (5/14/2008 3:44:52 PM)

We still use dial-up at home, DSL is not in our area yet.
I use ISP "high speed", it is not that bad really.

At work I have a T1 line, it is faster of course, but I don't mind it at home.
If I ran a biz from home or did more on the computer at home maybe.

We removed the dish last month, we can't get cable where we are, I worked on the arial
and bought the digital converter box, we get about half a dozen channels clear as can be, nothing
like free TV!

If given a choice, I would spend more on internet and less on TV, well I guess that is what we are doing now...



Miss Giggles -> RE: Calling all frugal CWers: What kind of internet connection do you have and how much do you spend (5/14/2008 7:10:41 PM)

I have DSL. The FCC recently ruled that apartment complexes cannot have exclusive contracts with dsl/cable providers (I can only get DSL in my apartment) but that doesn't mean that they are going to run the cables anytime soon. I can see how it might be difficult to get customers who are constantly moving but at least give people the option.

If I absolutely couldn't pay the bill or the power goes out for a long time I'd go to Panera or Borders or something and use their wi-fi, its one of the reasons why I have a laptop. I have like 5 coffee shops within a mile or two radius and they all have free wi fi.



momof4 -> RE: Calling all frugal CWers: What kind of internet connection do you have and how much do you spend (5/15/2008 6:48:47 AM)

Yes, we have a number of restaurants/coffee shops close by who all have freee wifi. I've even seen it advertised in a few laudramats around here. I've never taken the laptop anywhere for the free wifi, b/c when I go to a restaurant (and that is a rare occurrance) I go there to eat, not to "surf". I really should just pack up thelaptop and go there, and order a cheap coffee or something, jujst to try out the wifi, and maybe I will see how much easier it is, and tht will convince me. I think part of the problem with me is that home is the only place I ever go on the internet, so I don't know any better. Daughter goes to the public library and likes the fast internet there, also at her school, and she says our dial up is extremely slow, but I don't really have anything to compare it to. I'm afraid my dau and hubby have been "spoiled" by experiencing these other faster internets, where I just don't know any batter. It's like b4 we had central air, we just lived thru the hot days, and we were OK, but we don't put up with that anymore, we have central air!



lexie -> RE: Calling all frugal CWers: What kind of internet connection do you have and how much do you spend (5/15/2008 1:17:04 PM)

We have the fastest internet connection that is available right now. We go with a company that gives you home phone/long distance/internet for a flat fee. We've researched every combination of the three we can get and find that this is the best one for our needs (home phone features, long distance.)

We have satellite tv..we got a good deal when we signed up, but there aren't that many options here for cable tv, so we're paying what we would pay with any other company. And I'll admit. I like my tv and I like my pvr. We can't watch tv over the internet because many of the American stations restrict access to their shows on their websites for people living outside of the country.

We're pretty frugal, we need to be with our situation right now, but we do have our luxuries, and it seems that internet and tv are them. We take a lot of care to save money wherever we can, and we've made sure that we have the best deal for what we want. But I don't think we would cut out tv or high speed internet to save money unless we absolutely can't afford it (and I will work my budget around it!)



Consecrated2God -> RE: Calling all frugal CWers: What kind of internet connection do you have and how much do you spend (5/15/2008 6:03:09 PM)

We pay $21.95 a month for the slowest dial-up in the world. [:'(] Here out in the boonies, it's hard to find any place that services us. The local phone company that we use doesn't even have internet this far out.

We did find a place that uses a satelleite dish, and it cost around $50 a month, but you have to buy $200 worth of equipment to set up. We're not sure if we want to go that route, but everytime I'm online it ties up not just ours, but the church's phone number since we share a line.



karlie -> RE: Calling all frugal CWers: What kind of internet connection do you have and how much do you spend (5/16/2008 12:46:37 AM)

We pay $20 a month through our phone company(AT&T)for DSL. It's the second highest speed option and is plenty fast..nearly instant most days. Having DSL is a necessity for me with school, so I think it's a very reasonable amount.



PrincessDonna -> RE: Calling all frugal CWers: What kind of internet connection do you have and how much do you spend (5/16/2008 7:22:14 PM)

We have a cable/phone/internet bundle for $100. Cheaper than paying for the phone and internet, so the cable is basically "free".



JazTek -> RE: Calling all frugal CWers: What kind of internet connection do you have and how much do you spend (5/22/2008 11:04:11 AM)

I have the cable package of phone/internet/tv for one flat package... I like the fact I can call anyone without any extra fees... I have had Cable internet for a long time, I could never go back to dialup... The performance is that drastic a difference!



momof4 -> RE: Calling all frugal CWers: What kind of internet connection do you have and how much do you spend? (5/24/2008 2:34:38 AM)

Well, they have me uh... convinced, yes that's the word, convinced, not "brainwashed" not "browbeaten", but convinced that we really need DSL. They actually have worn down my resistance. I can't hold out against both of them, so I told hubby to go ahead and get the DSL, but be sure to get the cheapest package they have. We will be locked into a 2 yr contract, so with my luck the city will announce the wireless internet thing for a cheap rate just a few months into our contract, and we will have to wait 18 or more months to be able to get it. If that happens, I have the exclusive rights to the phrase, "I told you so!" [;)]

Thanks to everyone who joined this discussion.



redeemedsaint -> RE: Calling all frugal CWers: What kind of internet connection do you have and how much do you spend? (5/26/2008 4:02:05 PM)

I use the internet package at the library. It is free and I don't have to pay for maintenance when the computer breaks down.



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