Is there anyone else out there who still uses dial-up internet access?
My local independent telephone company wants $60 per month for DSL. I am not willing to pay $720 per year for internet access. I also do not have cable or satellite TV.
I was cheap before cheap became fashionable.
Haha, I have worse than dial-up.
beep bob, boob, meep, merp, mup, neep neep neep neep… geeeeeeeeeeeeeeeerrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrgggzgzgzgzgzgzgzgzgzgzgzgzgzgzzzgzggguuurrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrroooooooooooooOOOOOOOOOoooooo merp gingo goingo gzt.
It is not even proper dial-up going through phonelines like normal since, where there is no regular phone lines. It gets beamed to the CB radio tower repeater before going into the grid. very show in some weather conditions.
Omg… I can’t even remember the sound of a dial up tone.
i remember it vividly. and i’m glad it’s gone…
You do know that that sound came from a speaker, and therefore was easy enough to mute, ¿right?
Huh, what’s dial-up? Must be some ancient method for accessing the internet. Still using the rotary phone, and the outhouse too?
Being cheap is not fashionable. It never was and never will be. Being thrifty is.
All I know is you said you don’t have cable. Sucks to be you. My Tivo is flipping you the bird you cheap bastard.
Please don’t bring up such horrible things!
You should get cable internet. Its awesome!
Techy consumerism can become addictive. I applaud wheel rider for standing fast.
(I must confess, though, that I have cable internet and don’t seem capable of letting it go)
Yeah, and I also just got my first cellular phone! I’m lovin’ this neato technology! And what about these new awesome internets?
cell phone - first.bmp (469 KB)
Haha. Good one terry!
I really don’t see how it is techy consumerism. Cable internet has been out for a long time and is much more efficient then dial-up. Nothing wrong with a bit of speed.
with a hammer
I basically connect via log drum across a wide ravine to a link on the other side. Elmo can really hammer the wood tube so my connection speed is pretty much up there at about 0.2 to 0.7 bps.
I have been a Ham radio guy since way before home computing
I like trying stuff, and discovered months ago that is trivial to get free internet access, unless you live in a remote area.
Buy this.
Put it as high in the air as you need to get good signals. If you go past 16 feet, you need an active cable, that uses a DC powered transceiver to boost up the signal (gigahertz signals drop strength over even short distance). You can string 5 active USB cables together. This is what an active USB cable looks like. You can get a better deal at New Egg for this part.
http://www.amazon.com/Tripp-Lite-U026-016-Certified-Extension
/dp/B0002D6QJO/ref=pd_bxgy_e_text_b
Get the Alfa access card with the big ant. Don’t pinch a penny here. Not waterproof, I have mine inside an upside down Parmesan cheese container. Drill a hole through the bottom and push the ant up. Make a tapered dome of silicone seal to seal and run off the rain.
The result ? Mine is about 20’ off ground. I have a choice of 5 unsecured wireless routers. The best one gives me mb/sec download speeds. However if I am downloading a large torrent file, I set the speed low. I don’t want to noticeably slow down someones connection. So the result is free internet at better than DSL speeds. This will not work in remote places, because you will be out of range of the unsecured routers.
In case anyone thinks this is illegal or unethical, I don’t have the skills or interest to hack into anyone’s computer. I have no idea who owns these wireless routers that I have been using. I just use a bit of their 10 mb/sec cable bandwidth. It costs them nothing. This is not the same as hacking into their computer. The software is intuitive and will access internet from any open wireless router it finds automatically. This is legal. I never look at anyone’s computer, I don’t know how hard that is if I wanted to try. This device just gives you access to unsecured wireless access ports, free internet.
Bad link, sorry
This is an active USB cable.
Just a reminder: If you don’t want your wireless internet bandwidth to be used up, make your router password protected, or, even better: set it so that only your devices can connect to it.
There are only two computers in the world that can connect to my wireless, regardless of whether they have the password.
If you can hack it, http://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/WPA2 , all I have to say is… why aren’t you connecting to one of those other networks that are unsecured?
Nimble is correct
My USB wireless card picks up about 15 wireless routers. 10 are password protected. Unless I wanted a puzzle, there is no motivation to try to hack them. I have a choice of 5 working internet connections, and I can only use one.
I don’t actually slow down anyone’s connection. The only way to go in Key West is Comcast, and you buy TV and a 10 MB/sec pipe or you buy something faster and more expensive. A 10 Mb/sec pipe is the smallest option, and I never use more than about 3 % of that. When I was paying Comcast, I left my wireless router open, because I didn’t mind helping others at no cost to myself. I don’t think having an open wireless router impairs computer security, although I am maybe uninformed about computer hacking.
The one unsecured network that I have access to is super slow, since there are a lot of people who use it:p
If it’s encrypted, your information is probably safe.
Actually, I also have to say… if you have the skill level to do that, there are people who want to pay you lots of money
It took me a bit to figure out what that was. I never saw the “classic” modem handshake written out in text before. Glad I don’t need to listen to it anymore.
Sorry Wheel Rider, I’ve had 10 Mb/s fiber for about four years now and I’m spoiled. That’s an actual 10 Mb/s, not the “up to” your cable company tells you you’re getting. We pay $50/month for that, as part of a bundle with our phone service (which comes through the same fiber).
It sucks to have limited choices in your area. Beware of DSL also. Even at $60/month, the speed you get is directly related to your physical distance from your local phone switching station. At my house, that distance got us only double the speed we had previously been getting with dial-up, which wasn’t worth what they were charging. All advertised speeds are “up to”, not what you actually get.
I guess there is also the option of satellite, but if your MO is being cheap, it’s probably not for you.
I think I just saw you in a FreeCreditReport.com commercial. 
I’m not sure of the legality of that, but I don’t consider it unethical either. Unlike leaving your keys in your car with the engine running (an invitation for it to get stolen), not securing your wireless network is a much more harmless choice that you don’t have to make.
people plug them in, and are happy they work
IMHO, leaving your wireless router open will not impair your own service (I did this for a year). I don’t want to BS about what I don’t know about computer security. In my maybe ignorant opinion, the method I have shown to get free internet has saved me 70 $/month since I figured it out last spring. I have had free service so long, I feel bad I didn’t tell you guys sooner how easy it is. I am not kidding you, buy the Alfa USB thing, waterproof it and put it high enough to get solid links, and you are on for free.
Like all things computer, Napsterishly, this ploy will perhaps fade as the tech changes. But for this year, and likely next, my ISP is in an old cheese can wrapped with duct tape. Works really well, and I pay zero.
Also, no skreetching weird modem sounds. Even though I sorta miss that. I miss Morse code too.
