A disheartening report in the Orlando Sentinel finds that some people are switching from broadband to dial-up in order to save money. Sad but true, it seems. Those who are switching are “not the iPod crowd,” according to NetZero CEO Mark Goldstein, but mostly people from older generations who use the internet for very basic e-mail and light web surfing.
And you can kind of see where they’re coming from, I guess. It’s either at least $30 per month for broadband or around ten bucks for dial-up. As ludicrous as it sounds, some people don’t “need” the internet enough to justify the cost of broadband. Blasphemy, I know.
Think how much you could save by cutting out cable TV and broadband. We’d pocket about $200 here in the Aamoth household. But then we’d have to “talk” or “read books” and “go to bed early” – not to mention how difficult it’d be for me to get any work done. “Hey, check out this YouTube video. It’s been buffering for three hours on my computer, but I’m sure you guys would like it (maybe, probably).” But a lot of people have high-speed internet at work and could probably go without it at home if things got really tight.
Both Earthlink-owned PeoplePC (starting at $7.95 per month) and NetZero (starting at $9.95 per month) have seen an increase in subscribers, although adoption rates for dial-up are still at less than ten percent of American households, while broadband is at 57 percent according to the Pew Research Center. Indeed, an Orlando-area ISP says that its seen a “spike” in dial-up users although “it’s still not a robust, growing segment of the Internet-service business.”
Anyone here made the switch? Actually, you’re probably not reading this if you have. For everyone else: How bad would things have to get for you to switch from broadband to dial-up?
Consumers return to dial-up to save [Orlando Sentinel]
My broadband would be the last to go. First I would adjust heat/air to save money, then cut home phone, then stop eating out, then stop satellite service, then car pool. I would probably stop internet on my phone if it came down to it.
Most people can save $100s of dollars a month. It’s really what’s most important to you.
A prepaid wireless phone, dial up Internet, and over the air HDTV. You can spend less than $25/month to be “connected”.
are you a vegan also?
It’s like a package deal from Amish Telecom. Dude, you need a better plan.
For folks in my area where DSL and Broadband do not exist and where getting Satellite is way to expensive and restrictive they would give up their first born to get DSL, Broadband anything as long as the price was low enough, say $25. However we do not see any help in getting cost reduced for our and others rural areas.
So, we live on with outdated and poorly maintained telephone equipment which reduces our dial up speeds to a crawl.
They can save far more by keeping broadband … use it for phone via voip and drop the land line (magic jack is $20 a year), use it for TV via hulu or fancast and drop the cable bill (that’s the big one), use it for news and drop newspaper subscription, use it for mail and shipping and drop trips to the post office, use it to find the cheapest price for an item before purchasing … I could go on and on …
Dial up? Do companies still offer that service…wow!
I agree with toddlorensinclair, in the long run dial up will end up costing you more money without doubt!
I want to know if the people that are going back to dial up are also giving up smoking, drinking, fast food, soft drink etc.
I’d give up cable, water, electricity,store bought food and use solar to charge my laptop and eat tree rats before i’d give up broadband. If my wife didn’t like, it she’s downsizeable too.
Some of those posts were classic. A lot of it does depend on what you are offered. If you can get all your services bundled it’s not much more costly and it’s easier to work with/pay etc. I pay for high end internet and cable and it does end up being a couple grand+ every year, that’s a new car every 8-10 years paid in cash. I look up the latest in internet etc. security trends at justaskgemalto.
As a small business we are all praying that the bail out will work! But with the word depression being thrown around will our prayers be answered?