# What Kind of Computer Connection Do You Have?



## SeaBreeze

Since I've gotten my first computer in 2000, I've had a dial-up connection, using my phone line.  I use NetZero, coupled with Norton Anti-Virus for $12.95 per month.  I wanted to stay with dial-up, because I don't want to have high monthly bills.  When I'm on the computer, my phone is busy, also sometimes the pages are VERY slow to load, especially ones with images.  Forget about watching videos or streaming anything. :bashcomp:

What is everyone using to connect to the internet?  Do you have a cable connection, or DSL?  How do you like what you're using, is it reliable, very expensive, much trouble with viruses, etc?  Thanks for any feedback...we're seriously thinking about making a change in the near future.


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## That Guy

Lousy


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## Jackie22

SB, I agree with OG about Dialup, I struggled with it for years before going to satellite, if DSL is available where you are, that would be the best choice.  The first satellite service that I had was a local company....many problems and it was not even fast enough to play videos so then I went with Wildblue (satellite) which is twice as fast and twice as expensive.  It is around $75 per month with limited data, but this is the only choice I have out here in the boonies.

OG, your unlimited service sounds like a bargain, I wish DSL was available here.

I use Avast free antivirus and other spy and malware protection.


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## Pappy

We are cable all the way. TV, phones and computer. I bought my own wireless from Walmart, 2 years ago, and take it with us when we go back up north. Our desktop is quite old, but we seldom use it since we got our IPads.


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## Vivjen

Differences between counties....yet again.
i have wireless, and did without a lap-top for 15 months when I got the I-pad. I think the laptop died out of spite.
eventually I gave in, for photos etc. to discover the new laptops don't have CD drives any more, so UB sticks for me now!
We have free wireless hotspots in lots of places, although downloading data on the phone can get expensive.
i really want a mac air; viruses are so much rarer on apple, and they look so nice.
i take the I-pad with me when I go visiting, and it connects to everybody else's wi-fi, at no extra cost to anybody.


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## SeaBreeze

Thanks for your replies everyone!  I only have the desktop, never had a laptop or IPad.  Good way to get some exercise and some housework done, wait for a page to load, get frustrated, get up, go into another room and do the few dishes in the sink, etc.   For me these things are so confusing, and then they have these "bundle" deals, which I hear are a ripoff.  A long time ago I looked into DSL, and it seemed that every person I talked to gave a different price quote...like shopping on Amazon, lol, just wait 12 hours and the price will change. layful:


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## Vivjen

I have a little box in the corner of my living room, attached to my phone line, but they run in parallel.
The computers are wireless, as is the printer.


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## SifuPhil

> What Kind of Computer Connection Do You Have?



Well, don't let this get around but I have a guy I know on the docks that can get me anything I want - Apple, PC, laptop, tablet, you name it. Some gray-market stuff but mostly stuff that "fell off the truck".


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## Falcon

I'm with Pappy.....I'm on COX cable.....Internet-TV and phone (land line) but also have a cell phone.


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## drifter

I am bundled with Cox cable. Had a desktop, but now use iPad. Miss the desktop.


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## rkunsaw

Hellifino. I don't know nuthin bout computers.


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## That Guy

Did I mention lousy?  Yeah, lousy!


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## gar

I'll answer this like a Lady would. My connection is a do hickey attached to a thingy lol


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## Phantom

What is your speed?

http://www.speedtest.net/


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## That Guy

Phantom said:


> What is your speed?


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## i_am_Lois

Phantom said:


> What is your speed?
> 
> http://www.speedtest.net/
> 
> View attachment 4402


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## kburra

*DIAL Up*,as  _John McEnroe would say "YOU CAN`T BE SERIOUS_"


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## Falcon

COX cable


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## SifuPhil

I'd like a faster connection but the service I have is a robber-baron, and I'm not willing to pay the huge price-increase for the next level. Right now this does what I need it to do.


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## LogicsHere

I did that for a while myself, SeaBreeze, but as I got more involved in the internet turned to DSL.  Unfortunately as they began adding more and more videos and scripts, even the DSL had turned slow.  Verizon wouldn't give me the larger modem because they had introduced FIOS, so I put up with it a while longer and a year ago this past October I signed up with Cablevision. If you all want to go into sticker shock, I pay $185 a month for tv, cable and phone, however, when I added the three costs prior to combining, I was paying $180 a month anyway for all 3 and not benefiting from the lower speed DSL.


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## SifuPhil

Katybug said:


> Oh, SB, I remember dial up from over a decade or so ago.  I would give up almost anything to move beyond that.  You'll never regret it.  Good luck with whatever you decide.



I totally agree - it's like time-traveling from Victorian times to the present. The first time I had cable Internet I stayed up for 48 hours straight, blazing through websites like a flying monkey on meth and giggling like a schoolgirl.  

You really _won't_ regret it - treat yourself!


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## SeaBreeze

Thanks everybody for your advice, we wanted to keep our ISP and email address, and they didn't provide DSL in our area, so I upgraded for a couple bucks more to their "HiSpeed"...not happy with that, even seems slower sometimes and I have to turn it off.

We're paying $100 for cable TV, one step above the basic plan, and $50 for our phone bill, which doesn't include long distance calls.  I didn't want to have high monthly bills, especially now that we're retired...but I may have to do something.  I'm eating the Slowskis dust, lol...even they have DSL now! 

We've talked about using broadband, but they made a big hole in our house for the cable wire for the TV, and the computer's in another room.  My husband doesn't want any more holes in the walls, inside or outside the house.  I can't see how we'd connect to the cable in the other room without one.  Something we're discussing anyway for now...there's a library close by, so if I need to see a video, etc. I go there...but getting tired of that too.

I'm amazed at how much people pay for their internet connections, their Iphones, etc...the poorest people paying for their food with food stamps, will have an internet connected device....priorities, I guess.  Also, seems like the costs keep getting higher on all that stuff after you sign up.  Right now I'm paying just $25 a year for Norton Antivirus, I've heard somebody on the radio saying they pay $40 a MONTH for their broadband internet security.


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## SifuPhil

Sea, you could use a wireless router set-up to send the 'Net signal to the entire house ... no need for any new holes.


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## Bullie76

I'm with Comcast. My speed test results are......  ping 78 ms, 49.69 Mpbs and upload of 8.80 Mpbs. I currently have a 6 month special package that is about to run out that includes expanded cable and internet($80/mo). Plan to drop cable and just keep internet. I have a Roku box and I'm fine with the free stuff on it and 12 channels I can pick up with an HD antenna. I do pay for Netflix and will keep that. I'm happy with my internet speed, but will be interesting to see what internet only will cost. The only other option in my area is the slowest option available with Att. Tried it and it was horrible.

As as far as computers go, I have a 5 year old Gateway laptop which is showing some signs of problems. Might have to upgrade before too long. I bought a Nook tablet not long ago and like it. Planned to use it mainly when going out of town but use it a good bit when in the recliner just for quick access to the internet.


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## SeaBreeze

SifuPhil said:


> Sea, you could use a wireless router set-up to send the 'Net signal to the entire house ... no need for any new holes.



Not into wireless, don't want to turn my home into a microwave oven.


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## That Guy

SeaBreeze said:


> Not into wireless, don't want to turn my home into a microwave oven.



Too late.  Them waves is bombarding us no matter where we wander.


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## Happyflowerlady

I have Comcast, and have the most basic cable that they offer, and bundled with my internet. If it is not bundled, then the price goes up so just having the internet costs almost as much as having both, so mine is $54 a month. Plus, I rent their modem/router, so if there is a problem, they will come and fix it for me. Norton anti-virus is included with the internet connection. 
I have the old "dinosaur desktop", but I don't use it much anymore (way too slow), except for a couple programs I have there that aren't available anymore, and won't work on my MacAir laptop in any case.
Most of the time, I use the iPad , it is just SO portable, and handy for about everything I like to do online, and I love all of the apps they make for it.
I am still learning to use the MacAir, but I like it as well. My daughter is tuning up the Dinosaur, so it is out of commission for a while, anyway.

Seabreeze, I think you will be glad when you upgrade to a faster connection, and the new things you will be able to do once you upgrade will amaze you. All of those pictures, youtube videos, and Netflix movies that you have been missing ! Or had to go to the library or Starbucks to watch. 
Once you switch, you will be so glad that you made the change. 

Oh, another good idea.....get an iPad, too.


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## That Guy

Happyflowerlady said:


> Seabreeze, I think you will be glad when you upgrade to a faster connection, and the new things you will be able to do once you upgrade will amaze you. All of those pictures, youtube videos, and Netflix movies that you have been missing ! Or had to go to the library or Starbucks to watch.
> Once you switch, you will be so glad that you made the change.



May as well join the 21st century.  It's quickly becoming obsolete as we speak...


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## RedRibbons

50 mbs, with TWC. It's pretty fast. I also watch lots of movies with my Roku and they load a lot better since I got the faster internet a couple of weeks ago. OMG, dial up is so slow, I remember it well. Katy, I called them about lowering my bill a couple of weeks ago. I was paying 23 dollars a month for the bundle of HBO, Cinemax, Movie channel and show time. I hardly ever watched them, so I canceled them. I got the faster internet speed plus two DVR's that communicate with each other. The only thing I gave up were the movie channels, and my bill is 80 dollars a month lower permanently.


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## RedRibbons

Ozarkgal said:


> Katy, glad you called Time Warner.  I did the same thing with my internet/phone carrier last year and got a nice discount.  A year before they wouldn't even talk to me about a price break.  A lot of times new programs come along and they don't tell anyone, you just have to call to find out.



That is true, and you also have to tell them you are thinking of switching to another company


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## That Guy

Anyone have any experience good or bad with Charter?  They're pushing a hard sell here . . .


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## Pappy

I'm still fine with these. When we want wireless I just unhook them.

We really have Brighthouse cable,Internet and phone here in Fl.
I hear that, up north, Comcast has purchased Time Warner.


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## kaemicha

I'll try posting my question here although it doesn't look like this thread has been active for a while.  I'm full on Comcast. Phone, internet, TV.  I pay over $180.00 a month for the bundle!  And, if that's not bad enough Comcast is supposed to merge with Time Warner making it the biggest conglomerate ... well, for a very long time. I'm in Portland, OR and the only alternative to Comcast is Centurylink and I don't know how long that company will last but I think I'll look into it anyway. 

I was hoping someone here knows something about Centurylink and can tell me if they like the service or not.  I've heard it would cut my monthly bill in half.  Also, do you all still have landlines?  If I can get me to use my cell, while at home, then that would take a chunk out of my monthly bill,too.

Lastly, SeaBreeze, you must have the patience of a saint. Dial up?  Oh my!!  Did you go to broadband or wifi?


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## That Guy

Know nothing of Centurylink, kaemicha.  Tried getting someone, anyone, to speak up about Charter and got nada.  Good luck.

As for landlines.  Both at&t and Verizon plan to get rid of them within a few years.  The normal phone at home will still look the same but will be connected to a cell tower instead of copper wires leading to a central office.  Oh, and service will SUCK!


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## LogicsHere

Would like to be able to help, but none of those companies you mention are available to me. But I do feel your pain. I pay $185 a month to Cablevision for the bundled arrangement.


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## RCynic

I had Verizon business DSL, fastest available in my location. It was passable for regular data use. Replicating my database to my company's server was something best left for overnight. HD movie downloads were out of the question. We finally gave up and switched to Xfinity (aka Comcast), one of their intermediate options. It was literally 10 times faster on my standard speed test sites and we stream HD movies all the time now. I also upgraded our Wifi base station to a new 802.11ac Aiport Extreme and picked up another 20% increase in speed. The latter was due I think to improved signal strength (6 antennas vs.. two before)...many devices went from showing two bars signal strength to 5 bars.


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## Happyflowerlady

kaemicha said:


> I'll try posting my question here although it doesn't look like this thread has been active for a while.  I'm full on Comcast. Phone, internet, TV.  I pay over $180.00 a month for the bundle!  And, if that's not bad enough Comcast is supposed to merge with Time Warner making it the biggest conglomerate ... well, for a very long time. I'm in Portland, OR and the only alternative to Comcast is Centurylink and I don't know how long that company will last but I think I'll look into it anyway.
> 
> I was hoping someone here knows something about Centurylink and can tell me if they like the service or not.  I've heard it would cut my monthly bill in half.  Also, do you all still have landlines?  If I can get me to use my cell, while at home, then that would take a chunk out of my monthly bill,too.
> 
> Lastly, SeaBreeze, you must have the patience of a saint. Dial up?  Oh my!!  Did you go to broadband or wifi?




I also have comcast, and have the basic of both cable and internet, and it is about $60 per month. We don't have a regular home phone, just cell phone with verizon, and also the verizon home phone connect, which uses the cell minutes, but works on a regular phone.
I use netflix and amazon for watching movies besides what might be on tv. This works well for me, but we don't watch a lot of the regular stuff on tv.
The only other option we have here is something called WOW, and it is even more expensive than comcast.


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## SeaBreeze

kaemicha said:


> Lastly, SeaBreeze, you must have the patience of a saint. Dial up? Oh my!! Did you go to broadband or wifi?



I do have a lot of patience Kaemicha, but it's wearing thin. We had some business going on via computer that we wanted to get out of the way before we changed email address, etc.  Looking into using WIFI this week, so looking forward to the change.


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## That Guy

Some day . . . truly fast connections will be the norm.  Don't hold your breath.  But, it will happen.  Well, unless it's the end of the world as we know it and then our major concern will be zombies . . .


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## kaemicha

I appreciate everyone's input and relieved to know I'm not the only person paying almost $200.00 per month for Comcast services.  I will find a way around this!

SeaBreeze, I'm looking forward to hearing how excited you are when you get your faster service.  It truly is amazing how much faster everything is when you're no longer on dial-up.


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## SeaBreeze

I know, I have a library really close to my house that has Comcast Business, and it's super fast.  I'm there right now because there was a couple of videos I wanted to see. nthego:


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## kaemicha

SeaBreeze said:


> I know, I have a library really close to my house that has Comcast Business, and it's super fast.  I'm there right now because there was a couple of videos I wanted to see. nthego:



Good girl!  Just stay there and you won't have to pay anyone for internet.


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## SeaBreeze

No thanks Kaemicha, we'll be getting WIFI soon, and I'll post the update here when it's all hooked-up.


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## kaemicha

SeaBreeze said:


> No thanks Kaemicha, we'll be getting WIFI soon, and I'll post the update here when it's all hooked-up.



Can't wait to see how quickly you get spoiled.  Enjoy!


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## SeaBreeze

kaemicha said:


> SeaBreeze, I'm looking forward to hearing how excited you are when you get your faster service. It truly is amazing how much faster everything is when you're no longer on dial-up.



Well, after being messed around for a couple of weeks waiting for the cable company to send me their WIFI modem, and having to go to a local store and pick it up myself. Then not being able to have the service activated by calling their number because they had a problem with the signal...I finally got a tech out here today to see what the problem was.

He went out to our TV cable box, and removed a filter that they used to put on the cable back in the day, before WIFI, etc. Well, after that was taken off, he was able to activate, so I now have the TV and internet. the TV is around $100 a month, and the internet is supposed to bring it to around $127, I'll see what the next bill shows.

Just did that speed test out of curiosity, because everyone I talked to gave me different numbers. It was Ping=15ms, Download=57.04Mbps, and Upload=11.72Mbps. Been enjoying not having to leave the room waiting for a page to upload, and watching some videos I missed out on. :bananalama:

Thanks everybody for your advice on internet connections, and sharing your computer experiences with me! :thankyou:


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## That Guy

Welcome to the modern ripoff . . . I mean modern world.  Your experience getting started is all too typical and the price is just nasty.  But . . . here we are.  Enjoy!


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## SeaBreeze

Thanks for the welcome TG, lol!  My dial-up service was around $15 a month with anti-virus and everything, so this is almost twice as much, but worth it.  Spend a lot less time on the computer now, not hanging around waiting and wondering.  Only have the desktop, so I'm not glued to any iphones, tablets or laptops.  Not a big fan of modern tech gizmos here, just want the basics.  I do enjoy the folks here on this forum, good way to get a few extra smiles and chuckles in daily.


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## kcvet

I have Time Warner TV and high speed internet. also vonage phone. I bought the wireless phones. basic TV and internet about 75 a mon. vonage 29 a mon. and i do remember those dial up days. glad its gone.


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## Vala

I have cox cable's slowest speed and with my PC that is fast enough.  I also use their best phone system for only $9 a month for 2 years without a contract, I cancelled my TV service.  I don't do contracts.  I don't do smart phones, but do have a couple of ipads, a cheap tablet and e reader.   I am looking for someone who needs the last two devices.  I do have a t moble to go service that runs about $8 a month.  I bought a flip phone.  Everything is wifi except my printer.


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## Ken N Tx

I have broadband hooked to a router..House is WiFi..Handles desktop,tablet,Roku and Smart TV.


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## Vala

When I got my first PC, I went a year without internet connection. I used it to write my travel journals and send letters with clip art to my relatives that did not have PCs.  My sister in law loved my letters and had neighbors waiting to see my next one.  I did have free Juno email and spent a lot of time converting the funny stories/jokes sent to me in emails to documents.   I used clip art on the headers and footers that matched the story.   I still have a notebook full of them.  Then I went to Juno for the internet, didn't mind the slow speed because I wasn't used to fast connections.


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## AprilT

I have comcast ripoff, doesn't matter, verizon isn't any better and they're the only service providers I can access in my building.  As far as speeds, .  download speed 43.80, upload 10.50


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## AprilT

If you want to test your speed:

http://www.speedtest.net/


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## Vala

I have never under stood the speed results except for the first one.  I tested my speed and the results were..........WOW, that is a fast computer...... I understood that but not the numbers.  LOL


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## Lon

I have A T & T all the way, I Phone, I Pad, home phone, TV, PC


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## AprilT

Vala, you may find this very helpful, I wouldn't be able to explain it better

<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MGr9mcTESOI" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">





https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TV847Tzj0MM<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TV847Tzj0MM" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">


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## Vala

The sun may be shinning some where, but not here.  We have had misty rains on and off for a couple of weeks now.  We appreciate any moisture we can get,  Kansas has been in a drought for a few years now.


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## ronk

I've had Comcast CableTV & Internet since I moved back to Minnesota in 2014. Comcast (XFInity) has worked very well for me. Yeah, I'm paying about $160 a month, but it's worth it. I'll never go back to dial-up or DSL again.


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## Lon

I have Package with AT&T that includes Wi Fi/TV/IPhone My Laptop, IPad,IPhone are all in Sync

Over all I am happy with the cost and the service.


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