Report: Some dial-up users wish to stay that way

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 them to change. Another subset--14 percent--say they're still on dial-up because broadband is not available in their neighborhoods

The Associated Press, in its posting on the report, cited this assessment by the report's author, John Horrigan: "That (resistance to change) suggests that solving the supply problem where there are availability gaps is only going to go so far."

The survey collected information from 2,251 U.S. residents, between April 8 and May 11.

Earlier this week, AOL said it would be raising the subscription fee for its dial-up service by 20 percent, starting at the end of July.

[dragonbite]

Until about a month or two ago I was on dial-up. Finally DSL came to the area and since I was dial-up with them already they gave me a special deal that was 1/2 the price of my dial-up! That was really cool because I was itching to go DSL anyway and that made the pot sweeter. I didn't want cable because [ 1 ] I don't use that much bandwidth all the time and [ 2 ] don't feel like paying 6x what I'm paying for dial-up right now!

[Lerianis]

Ah, but remember: You are getting usually 50X or MORE the speed of your dial-up connection, so it is really worth it in the long run, for DSL or Cable internet.

[ognen93]

I use DSL as well and I can say it's pretty cool, The speed is 2Mbs, the price is not too high, and I have 100 GB of monthly transfer.

[deathcry73]

Your provider limits your monthly data transfer?
I have heard of this being tried out in other states, I hope it fails, I would hate to lose my unlimited data transfer. Even though 100GB is a lot and I most likely will never use it all, I just don't like the idea of being limited on usage. This can get costly in overages for those who like to play online games and watch streaming movies.

[StrongBrad247]

Having people on dial-up, for whatever reason, actually hurts the business I work for. We do sales force training for companies that have reps all over the country. A lot of this training is done via interactive Flash microsites or through distance learning/webconferencing. Because something around 10%-15% of the sales force is still on dial-up, in some cases, we cannot make very creative/interactive pieces or we end up compressing the videos so much (to run through dial-up bandwidth) that they end up looking like junk.

I wish companies still providing dial-up would raise the price to equal DSL in areas where both are available. It will help force people to make the switch and help move web technology and access forward.

[The_happy_switcher]

Probably the same people who still own a rotary phone, too.

[Lerianis]

Yep, you hit the nail right on the head with that. My parents owned a rotary phone until 1992 about (they had bought a rotary phone from AT&T years ago and felt as long as it worked, they would use it). Once we FINALLY moved into our new home in 2003, my father made the 'big switch' to a dial-tone, answering machine phone from the dial-tone phone he got in 1992.

[stlwest]

If they don't want to do it for financial reasons I can appreciate that but people who are offered dsl for under $20 month who don't want to switch probably are just a short drive from crazy.

[someguy999]

so I have cable modem at home now, and actually i was thinking about switching back to dial-up. I work probably 80 hours a week from the office, I have email on my phone... and I've found that I nearly never use my computer/bandwidth at home now... so for me what's the point (plus I have a verizon card for my laptop from work...).

Its sort of like the extra movie channels on cable, if you're not home to watch them what's the point.

[cnetcensorssuck]

Rather than go dial-up, why not go with a low tier DSL service instead. Something similar to AT&T's (or whatever provider is in your area) $19.95 package. Much better than dail-up and much cheaper than full blown cable. See here:
http://www.att.com/gen/general?pid=6431

[sundance808]

well the report is spot on! about 1/8 of the comments so far is for dialup =)

[blabtech]

Maybe one day, dial-up will be eliminated, like how the "All digital" TV thing is taking place by 2009.

http://blabtech.blogspot.com

[Doomrayz]

I am using dial-up. I would love to switch to DSL or Broadband or ANYTHING faster, but the only thing faster available is Satellite. $300+ for equipment and $40+ a month. We can't afford it.

[Robert G K]

Someguy999 Why don't you just do this. Get rid of the broadband and get a card reader for your computer at home so you can use your Verizon card on your computer. Unless you only have the laptop from work in which case you don't need to get dial-up just use the verizon card.

The day I heard about DSL I got it with Pacific Bell, I couldn't get away from dial-up fast enough. I got cable when I saw the 3MBs compaired to the 1.5MBs I was getting before. Now I'm back to DSL at 10MBs. Its not that much more for DSL than it is for dial-up, if you get the cheapest in most cases your just paying $5 more for the slowest DSL. I could never understand people using dial-up, it boggles my mind. I hope they do get rid of dial-up. I play games and I can tell when someone is using dial-up because the performance becomes crap. Sad sad sad.

[dirty55409]

Are 2,251 U.S. Residents really enough to make a compelling argument? Out of 301 Million U.S. citizens, how many use the internet at all? How many of them use DSL/Cable/T1/ Fios etc. Just thinking that this was a silly report from the A.P.

[dantheman962]

This story reminds me of the Comcast Slowsky commercials...except this time it's the humans that want the slow speeds.

[Bobalkin]

I'm agreeing with Doomrayz. I would love to have DSL service. Shame on Verizon for not having it available to all their customers. This is 2008. People like me who have only dialup are 2nd class citizens in today's America. So many things we cannot do. No YouTube, no downloading songs or videos and no accessing MSNBC et al to name just a few. My frustration level is HIGH! I'm hanging on to being connected to the world by a very SLOW thread. It sucks!

[lcarliner]

Not only that some 14 percent of the users do not have any reasonable broadband options, but many are routed through phone circuits that limit speed to 28.8 or 26.4 KB. At these speed levels, not only can you forget about multi-media or streaming videos, but many websites do not reliably work at these low speeds! I was fortunate enough to get the county attorney's help in getting the local cable provider to extend service. For areas that do not have viable broadband choices, the phone companies need to be made to provide phone circuits with full dialup speed capability. What is ironic, is that DSL requires phone circuits with full speed capability, thus reducing incentive for these fortunate users to upgrade to broadband.

[Frost7331]

I have cable,it's ok,but I think it should be cheaper.Or atleast South Korean speeds.

[SildenafilCitrate]

i really like the info at this comment... thannks

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