

Study shows many users wouldn't upgrade even if given the option













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By DASQ on 7/4/2008 4:54:48 PM , Rating: 5
I'll assume "Other" means "I don't know better".

More speed for the same cost. I don't see a downside there other than the possible week or two required for setup.

RE: Yeah...
By JoshuaBuss on 7/4/2008 5:00:29 PM , Rating: 5
specifically, i bet they didn't even know what 'broadband' means

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By FingerMeElmo87 on 7/6/2008 4:59:09 PM , Rating: 3
its not that. its "You've got mail." thats makes them feel special. and thats why they keep it.

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By Donkeyshins on 7/7/2008 1:47:21 PM , Rating: 2
"Why on earth would I need to replace my dialup with an all-girl musical group, dagnabbit!?!"

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By RIPPolaris on 7/4/2008 5:11:49 PM , Rating: 3

People who barely even use the internet probably don't want to go through the hassle of upgrading their internet if they won't use it to its full potential anyway.

RE: Yeah...
By fake01 on 7/4/2008 5:40:39 PM , Rating: 3
Than upgrade to 256KB connection. Still around 5 times faster than dialup at basically no extra cost.

We are slowly beginning to move to optic fibres now and people are still on dialup? Surely sooner or later they are going to have to turn of the switch and upgrade cause it ain't gonna be around forever.

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By getho on 7/4/08, Rating: 0
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Right on.

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Hey, look at me, I'm wireless - omg.




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greetings :)

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By Rebel44 on 7/4/2008 6:04:16 PM , Rating: 2
I hope it will be soon.

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By DASQ on 7/4/2008 7:06:09 PM , Rating: 3
Hardly an issue, as they can still use dialup while they're waiting for their broadband to kick in.

Seriously not a reasonable excuse. No one is telling them to cut off their by-the-MB 56k service the second they sign up for broadband.

RE: Yeah...
By LorKha on 7/4/2008 5:57:37 PM , Rating: 2
Other means "I don't want myself and I to download files with viruses and watch porn without knowing it."

But because I DO have broadband, I DO download files with viruses and watch porn, knowing it.

RE: Yeah...
By GDstew4 on 7/4/2008 6:18:35 PM , Rating: 2
There probably are people out there who are terrified of an "always on" internet connection. They think that someone is going to get into their computer while they are asleep at night and steal their identity. Or viruses are out there crawling through the internet tubes just waiting for a PC to infect.

My mother-in-law is still using her 450MHz Pentium 3 and Windows 98. She doesn't want to bother with upgrading because she has "better things to spend money on."

RE: Yeah...
By Grabo on 7/5/2008 9:52:31 AM , Rating: 2

She probably does? It all depens on your point of view. If whatever works works, and you're not all that interested in it , then why change? Probably those who cling to dialup have a lot of superstitious arguments for doing so, but they're also likely to think 'if it ain't broke don't attempt to fix it'.

Still. It's hard to see how someone could consider dialup 'not broke', from any point of view. They can be a nightmare to get to work consistently, get to work again; and by the time you see a slightly darker than ultra-white cloud on the horizon your modem is probably already dead.

RE: Yeah...
By mindless1 on 7/6/2008 12:54:03 AM , Rating: 2
Huh? In all the years I had dialup before moving to broadband several years ago, I never had these problems you suppose to any significant degree. It was just painfully slow at a time when the internet was rapidly moving away from being mostly text.

I still keep a modem in one system, just in case I want to send or receive a fax by computer. If for some reason our broadband went down for what was known to be a lengthly period I'd start up a dialup plan without hesitation - that is, if I couldn't think of or wasn't in an area where there were other faster alternatives.

Mainly I think certain types of people just don't get into the whole browse-the-internet habit. It's a big country and lots of people out there just aren't like *US*. I'm just a little surprised that these people would have dialup at all if they didn't see an advantage to broadband at the same price. I think an early poster nailed it, they don't understand what "broadband" is, they are picking what they know versus some unknown thing that they aren't sure they can use - they don't realize broadband is (beyond minor quirks and practices like possibly setting up a router) actually much easier, even transparent in use.

RE: Yeah...
By alcalde on 7/4/2008 6:41:19 PM , Rating: 5
The downside is not getting to hear the modem connect noise anymore.

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By FaceMaster on 7/4/2008 6:49:00 PM , Rating: 4
SHUT UP it's a beautiful sound.

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Honestly, I kind of miss the sound.

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this post was worth the gold my rolex is made from.

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By masher2 (blog) on 7/4/2008 11:26:19 PM , Rating: 2


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you get a 6 in my book.

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eerrrrrnnnnnnn EEEE errrr EEEE errrr SCREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE er er er blblblblblblbl EEEE!

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Mouse? That's why they put down mousetraps! ;)


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Here's one for nostalgia sake:


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By Alias1431 on 7/4/2008 11:11:47 PM , Rating: 2
For some people, it's more therapeutic than smoking.

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By CyborgTMT on 7/4/2008 11:47:24 PM , Rating: 4
If my mother was polled, that is her response exactly. A few years ago I moved in with her during her recovery after she had cancer. The entire time I lived there I had cable internet. One day I connected her up through the high speed and set her [sarcasm]precious[/sarcasm] AOL to use my connection. For my troubles I received a hour long lecture about why her computer doesn't work anymore because it doesn't make 'the noise' when she goes to AOHell. After spending a few days trying to explain the advantage of the broadband connection, I finally lost the argument and switched her back. 5 years later she sill has AOL and dial-up... but I'm not giving up yet...

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By alifbaa on 7/5/2008 12:31:17 AM , Rating: 5
Ha... you said "if my mother was polled."

Sorry, I couldn't help myself.

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By CyborgTMT on 7/5/2008 1:30:40 AM , Rating: 2

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She'd never know.

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By carrotroot on 7/4/2008 10:02:42 PM , Rating: 2
It basically boils down to ignorance and/or laziness.

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By Tsuwamono on 7/5/2008 8:16:41 AM , Rating: 2
week or two? My broadband took 1 day for them to hook up. I called on a wednesday afternoon i believe and it was setup by thursday at dinner.

RE: Yeah...
By AlexWade on 7/5/2008 8:29:06 AM , Rating: 2
I know some people who use Netzero, which is cheaper than any high-speed internet service available. They use the internet about once a week. Why do they need to pay for broadband when they barely use the internet?

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By SlyNine on 7/5/2008 10:03:44 AM , Rating: 2
They could use the internet even less, Because there would be no waiting.

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By mindless1 on 7/6/2008 1:22:06 AM , Rating: 2
That brings back memories. I recall an argument to the wife at the time we were considering broadband, she said I already spent enough time online and I countered that I'd be able to get done what I do on the 'net faster, get done sooner.

What ended up happening instead? I spent nearly the same amount of time

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By mindless1 on 7/6/2008 12:58:48 AM , Rating: 2
ok, but getting back to the survey it is asked if they could get broadband, and if it were the same price. Do you feel those who are using Netzero picked it in preference to a faster connection at the same price if there were another alternative they knew about?

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By Googer on 7/5/2008 11:04:24 PM , Rating: 2
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By zolo111 on 7/6/2008 12:49:57 PM , Rating: 2
I think they believe that it's almost impossible for them to get a bradband connection for the same price as dialup.. Or at least they don't spend the time to search for better deals anyhow ( using thier dialup, searching for deals is frustrating I guess..) I helped a friend get comcast service in Seattle for a whole year for $19.99 a month, he couldn't believe it, but after a couple of months he regret getting the service since he doesn't use more than 3% of the extra speed he's getting. He'd rather go back to dialup for $10 a month. Meanwhile I went back to my home country, Saudi Arabia. I'm paying $80 a month for a lousy 1mb/128kb :/

Let's get post modern
By Alias1431 on 7/4/2008 11:10:04 PM , Rating: 2
Dial-up should be free for everyone. The internet is becoming less of an option and more of a necessity. It would do wonders for education, or just overall awareness. The only problem is the inevitable flourishing of ungodly creations on myspace. *shudder*

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It went by the name of FREEI.NET.

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I used a freebee ad-supported connex also.

The AdBlockers kinda killed that idea.





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RE: Let's get post modern
Well said.





Your comments are appreciated. Thanx for gentle correction.

RE: Let's get post modern

By alp689 on 7/5/2008 10:59:46 AM , Rating: 2
I still remember when my mom told me and my sisters we were getting rid of our stupid dial-up and switching to DSL (well, actually we ended up getting cable, but I digress...), we started CHEERING! She was the most awesome person in the world that day, and when we finally got it, we all couldn't help but marvel at how amazingly fast it was, and how we didn't have to wait 1:30 every time for our modem to connect (I think this was in about 2002), or worry about getting booted every time the phone rang (oddly enough, we had two phone lines, the second of which we never used, yet we never switched our dail-up to that line...).

I wonder if most people would at least experience the same kind of shock it was to us the first time we got our connection. I'm not saying it would convince most of these holdouts to switch on the spot, but I'd have to imagine they might at least see the benefits of it, because they really are painfully obvious.

RE: Wow...
By JoshuaBuss on 7/5/2008 12:20:47 PM , Rating: 2
no, i think our family basically had the exact same experience.

our house was in a 'prime location' for testing DSL, and my dad knew some people at the phone company.. needless to say, the idea that we'd be the first in our town to have DSL left us on a proverbial high for weeks

RE: Wow...
By larson0699 on 7/5/2008 2:14:19 PM , Rating: 2
The benefits are only "painfully obvious" to those who care.

Enough people on here have already said it -- some of our folks like things the way they are and consider them "not broken".

The idea that your mother became so awesome the day she upgraded suggests that you need to unplug and get out more. My kind of love is unconditional, and as such, doesn't rely on material amenities for me to come to the realization that my folks are awesome. I am here, which more than suffices.

The fact that you got "booted" every time the phone rang immediately raises the "idiot" flag for your household not having taken advantage of *70 (call waiting) if you really valued your time online. I, for one, hate having to do things over because of interruptions. Either those people can wait or I can get a cell phone (which, in 2002, was a practical choice).

Some are just so spoiled.

RE: Wow...
By mindless1 on 7/6/2008 1:18:47 AM , Rating: 2
It's not the material amenities, it's the thought, it's the doing something for someone else that makes all our lives better.

That's what you do for someone you love, and they recognize it. You've taken the simple awesomeness comment and stretched it way out of proportion.

Is your love really unconditional, is it all someone has to do to have unprotected sex and get pregnant in order to (deserve?) someone else's affections? Isn't unconditional love really a load of nonsense since there is one clear condition already, that you believe some other person to be your parent? Wouldn't it be that if the only factor were that she were YOUR parent, that it is more vanity than love? Isn't it true that the love comes from time spent together in harmony because you both did things for each other?

Awesome is as awesome does. Love without action is baseless. If you feel that way about your parents then they too must've done a few things right with regard to you, even if it wasn't some particular thing like faster internet connection. It could easily have been something else instead but do we go around calling you spoiled because of it?

RE: Wow...
By larson0699 on 7/6/2008 2:31:00 PM , Rating: 3
Talk about taking things out of proportion.. I think it's you who couldn't be farther from the reality of things.

Where I come from (and everywhere I've been, imagine that) someone's deed to another is well appreciated and remembered, but remains just that. It doesn't strengthen love unless it was based on how much you did for me to begin with.

Whether you believe it or not, unconditional love DOES abound among families and close friends alike. The saying goes that you can't choose your parents. But no matter if they've beaten and neglected you and sold you on eBay, the underlying love remains, as in that case I would still do anything to save their asses. They'd probably wonder why I did, but they'd already have the answer deep down, no need to show them the door.

Vanity has nothing to do with any of it. Except for maybe this guy who's excessively proud of his new ISP and mom. Get real. I think he's due a lesson on what's really awesome in life.. such as life itself. If I presented myself online in the way he did, I'd more than expect to be called some names.

You're confusing "love" with "like" anyway. Both are feelings that grow in time, but love is untold, beyond words, a personal connection (getting anywhere? You at least had harmony right, but in the wrong context) while you may like the person more because of what she's done for you. Love is generally not something that you manipulate, but what that person reveals in you, whether you like him/her or not.

Anyway, it's to show the merits in U.L. that some just don't believe in.. You know I won't try to preach to those with heads firmly up asses.

For the record, if I took it upon myself to "do something" for dad and set up broadband at his place, it wouldn't make all our lives better. I'd be scolded for having the audacity to meddle in his business. Sometimes you just let people be and you find that everyone stays happier that way.

Don't tell me about love.

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By mindless1 on 7/7/08, Rating: 0
Government Promotion?
By wrekd on 7/4/2008 8:46:33 PM , Rating: 4

Government promotion? The government wants us all on broadband?

The government wants to give immunity to Telco’s. Wasting time on the floor of Congress with terrorist protection spy bills. They are wasting our tax dollars to enrich their investments and their lobbying cronies at the expense of our privacy.

Government needs to stay the hell out of business and focus on protecting liberty and civil rights.

RE: Government Promotion?
By ZootyGray on 7/5/2008 2:08:03 PM , Rating: 1
Good comment - and the idiot masses just run along, as they are told to do, with wallets open, competing to be first up on the kill floor. (Huh, was zat mean?) The quality of mercy is abandoned. The sense of community is 'screw you', we are all forced to compete to eat - and "security" enforces it, government sanctions it.

New book by Klein exposes this - in great language and with diplomacy - gov pigs feed on disaster, crisis, suffering - the question is asked - HOW is this wealth being redistributed (cos it is NOT going to the people, and the people finance it through taxes - iraq, afghan, new orleans, etc etc - fill your pockets GWHitler. Price of oil is to MAX profits.

And suffering businesses are bailed out - if my business suffers, too bad.

And the telco monopoly - shooting fish in a barrel.

And to speak against it? That's the work of heroes and messiahs and other martyrs.

Privatize means make it a profit maker - e.g. water.

Dialup? It costs money to run wire to rural areas - so, back to easy money, shoot fish in barrel.

You broadband jokesters don't know - you are just the fish in the barrel - hey, the costs are covered - it's all profit now, thx to you all. Broadband should be cheap and cheaper.

This study is a spin/bias. The telcos don't want to service rural areas cos there's not enough fi$he$ in the $barrel$.

That's why people are still on dialup! You believe people are stupid = you are stupid.

But when CONTROL of the internet happens, it's back to dialup - cos that's the foundation of the net.

What are you doing to sell us all out to big biz/gov? Yes, you. It can't be done without mass support - 3 (zillion) blind mice.

It will take some real change to reverse/undo this. Abandon money-based economy, or similar radical change - it's got to stop.

would not want to upgrade from broadband
By Segerstein on 7/4/2008 6:33:07 PM , Rating: 2
would not want to upgrade from broadband???

By gaakf on 7/4/2008 11:34:55 PM , Rating: 2
You gotta love the classic Dailytech typos that just completely go against the entire article. It's comical at this point.

By Screwballl on 7/4/2008 6:48:06 PM , Rating: 2
I work for an ISP that has dialup, DSL and cable options (contracts through other companies) across North America. The biggest thing we hear why people do NOT want to upgrade is mostly they only use it 2-3 times per week for maybe an hour or so and have no desire for anything faster. There is a decent percentage that hear of all the viruses and hackers and they think that as soon as they get high speed they will lose control of their computer. Even though we try to explain that with a decent anti-virus program the virus issue is minimalized and they are just as likely to pick viruses up on dialup... and as for hackers, they tend to go after commercial targets so home users are not a likely target.
Even then people still prefer their dialup.

Someone mentioned Hughesnet... would you want to pay $75-100 per month for a 128-256K (actual speed) connection? Some people do but most are happy with their 2-3 times per week checking email and seeing a few websites per week.

By TSS on 7/4/2008 7:06:17 PM , Rating: 1
maybe it's because they've become attached to their dialup. i'm sure those who do switch will miss the dial in sound the first week orso, before getting used to the silence.

about the same reason why i've got a friend who'd buy AMD's because he wanted maximum performance. which was at the peak of the core 2 duo pwnage, where athlon prices hadn't dropped yet so intel was both cheaper and faster. he just "didn't trust intel". maybe these people just dont trust broadband.

it might not be all that bad though. i mean, picture some quiet farmer somewhere in the middle of the nowhere on dialup suddenly getting broadband. and within a week he runs across youtube. might be pretty shocking to him :P

Sick of it.
By NinjaJedi on 7/4/2008 6:00:53 PM , Rating: 2
Haven't the people that say they can't get broadband in their area seen the same Hughes net commercial that has been playing for over 3 years now? The one with the red headed step child chick. I would think after over 3 years they could afford to make a new commercial.

By brentpresley on 7/6/2008 10:09:53 AM , Rating: 2
Did you guys ever consider that a lot of the people that say they never want broadband simply do not want to support the companies currently offering broadband?

I am not quite at that extreme, yet, but if there were another ISP in my area you can bet I would drop AT&T in a heartbeat, even if it costs me 50% more and my speed is 1/2 as fast.

That's how much some of us hate these companies (and for good reason).

Mobile Abilities
By mixpix on 7/6/2008 4:17:24 PM , Rating: 2
I'm not too sure how many people would fall into this category, but some users may not want to upgrade their dial-up connection because it can be used pretty much anywhere. Laptops and users that have multiple computers in different locations may benefit from being able to connect from anywhere all under one account.

I know that some ISP's offer dial-up hours with their high-speed connection, but not a lot of people know that.

By yacoub on 7/6/2008 10:16:20 PM , Rating: 2

Yeah it's "only" going to take care of 79% of them.

Proud to be ignorant
By PWNettle on 7/7/2008 1:58:07 PM , Rating: 2

I'm pretty sure the USA is the only country where some people are ignorant and proud of it.


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