dial-up

Jason Scott from the Internet Archives stopped by the CNET New York office last week to tell The 404 Podcast why nothing is too small to earn a spot in cyberhistory. Jason's virtual contribution (one of many) is his collection of Netscape buttons; ditto for this "Under Construction" GIF graveyard. The Bleeoo Project is doing its part on a less serious level with a site that lets you record your best impression of a dial-up modem.

Bleeoo.com is a safeguard to maintain our memory of a time when we waited for a box to call an … Read more

Losing the password to your Internet service provider account can be frustrating, especially since the only way to contact many ISPs is online. Nirsoft's Dialupass is a free tool that enumerates all the dial-up and VPN entries on your PC and displays their details, including User Name, Password, and Domain. With it, you can recover a lost password or logon ID. You can run the tool when things are swell and save the list as text, HTML, CSV, or XML files for when you need it. You can also copy the results to the clipboard.

Like most of Nirsoft'… Read more

EarthLink beat analyst expectations for the first quarter of 2009 as fewer customers dumped its Internet service.

The company, which provides dial-up and broadband Internet service, said first quarter profits fell to $32.5 million, or 30 cents a share, from $51.7 million, or 47 cents a share, a year earlier. Revenue was down 24 percent to $199.1 million.

But these results beat analysts' expectations. Analysts polled by Reuters expected earnings of 27 cents a share, excluding exceptional items, on revenue of $202.4 million.

EarthLink is still losing dial-up Internet users. But it appears that rate is … Read more

Some broadband users are considering going back to dial-up as the tough economic climate forces them to cut their household budgets, according to a story published Friday in the Chicago Tribune.

While it's unlikely Americans will ditch broadband for dial-up en masse, there are likely to be some people who find the $20 to $50 monthly fees for DSL or cable modem broadband service to be too high, when dial-up providers such as NetZero are offering new $9.95 service plans.

One Florida man, Arnold Zimmerman, 66, said that after his work hours got reduced and his stock portfolio … Read more

CNET News senior writer Dawn Kawamoto contributed to this report.

Time Warner has taken a step closer to splitting up AOL's business, The Wall Street Journal reported Monday.

Time Warner is expected to announce Wednesday that it has completed the internal process of separating AOL's dial-up Internet access business from its advertising business, the newspaper said.

Time Warner has been talking about splitting the company into two different entities for a while now. And it's been a main focus of Time Warner Chief Executive Jeff Bewkes, who took over as CEO seven months ago. AOL has long … Read more

Internet service provider EarthLink could be interested in buying AOL's dial-up business, its CEO told The Wall Street Journal in a story published Wednesday.

EarthLink CEO Rolla Huff first brought up the idea of EarthLink buying AOL and other dial-up providers during the company's quarterly conference call Tuesday.

"We believe we're best-positioned to be the consolidator in this industry," Huff said during a conference call with analysts.

The news has spurred a flurry of speculation that EarthLink is looking to buy Time Warner's AOL. Huff wouldn't comment specifically on whether his company has … Read more

And that, my friends, is how we get you to listen all the way to the end. But in actual news of the day, a judge ordered Google to expose the viewing habits of millions of YouTube users. But it's OK, because only a few people will get to look at them. That's fine, right? Also, we freak out about privacy and identity theft, just in time for a study that acknowledges that consumers are freaking out about privacy and identity theft. Plus, the power of video compels you...to switch to broadband.

Got dial-up and don't want to give it up? You're not alone.

An estimated 10 percent of Americans are surfing the net via dial-up connections, according to a report released Wednesday by the Pew Internet and American Life Project.

And a lot of those people apparently see no compelling reason to change. The report indicates that those users are not itching to make a change to a speedier broadband connection in large part because, they say, broadband is too expensive.

Of this dial-up group, 35 percent cited the cost issue, while 19 percent say nothing will ever prompt … Read more

AOL is raising the subscription fee by 20 percent for its low-cost dial-up service plan, a move that illuminates an awkward phase of its transition from an Internet service provider to an online media and advertising company.

The Time Warner division told subscribers last week that beginning July 27, it would raise its monthly dial-up rate from $9.99 to $11.99 per month. Subscribers who specifically sign up for a plan with limited technical support can keep the $9.99 rate, though, but they won't get phone-based help unless dealing with an Internet connection issue.

The move obviously … Read more