It contains NetZero.

We've been using BellSouth's dialup access for the last few months, but my parents decided they were tired of BellSouth's lame excuses as to why they wouldn't run DSL out to our neighborhood, and their complete lack of responding to any and all emails, their out of date website, poor information... basically the fact that they were a communications company that doesn't communicate worth a damn.

So they went, "Hey! Let's stick it to BellSouth and switch to a smilar service for only half the price!"

That service is NetZero. And only 3 days in, they've realized what a moronic idea that was, and are looking for someone else.

My dad can't get their stupid dialer to run under every account on his iMac. Repeated emails for support have basically told him nothing he doesn't already know, and pointed him to Apple's website for how to do said things he already knows how to do. They've danced around the subject, and acted like he's something of an idiot. Which he most definately isn't.

I use the internet more than anyone else in the family. Their dialer is constantly downloading..... SOMETHING... I think it's bloody little picture ads to play while I'm dialing in. It immediately launches IE as soon as I'm connected. There isn't any way to tell it not to. It tosses some stupid "I'm trying to be helpful!" banner in the corner of my screen with buttons for Web, Mail, and Search. Can't close it. I can only minimize it. In terms of program options? There aren't any. I can't be positive, but the dialer program that keeps me connected, has crashed every night this week. Usually after my third hour on. Means I get disconnected. Tonight it crashed, I dialed in, and it seemingly vanished 2 minutes after connecting. It did that twice before I went, "No... It can't possibly be so stupid it wants a BROWSER window open to stay connected." Apparently it IS that stupid, because opening Firefox kept it from dumping the connection again. That or it's a coincidence. I was trying to IM people the whole time. It's not like data wasn't being sent.

Anyways... I need a bit of help here. My dad said he found a few alternatives he's going to look into further tomorrow, and he wanted me to do the same. Yeah... well, this is the internet, I haven't got a clue what he went searching for, but when I do a google search for "dialup services" I of course get thousands of hits. Going through page after page of those isnt my idea of a fun night. I have, however, gone looking for broadband and DSL services for my area, with the absurd thought I might actually find something that'll reach us, and is CHEAP. No luck there. About our only choice for Cable is Roadrunner, which comes in about 40 some bucks a month. We're not paying that. Call us cheap, idiots, whatever. That's a stupid price if you ask me. DSL is a fun one. Apparently for DSL, we live in a dead zone. I know someone who lives literally 5 minutes away that has it, and we don't. DSL from BellSouth would've been about 15 or 20 bucks a month... I forget. Found ONE company that'd give us ADSL... they want 70 bucks a month for it though. Yeah, uh, NO.

That's basically all pushing me back towards dialup.

So.... Anyone here have a suggestion for a dialup service that DOESN'T suck, and is UNDER 20 bucks a month? And I'll take all suggestions for DSL and Cable, as long as they don't go above 30 bucks a month.

Probably worthless posting and asking for that here, but hey, at least everyone knows to stay away from NetZero now, right?

Oh wait. You knew to do that before. At least I hope you did.

Fine... Then at least you got all your reasons for NOT using NetZero reaffirmed.

Change ISP.

Quit using Dante's works in threads. >.>

Thank you Captain Obvious. WhatEVER would I do without your INCREDIBLE powers of Obviousness?



No. FREAKING. Duh.

Try reading the whole thread next time.

Have all the DSL providers come up empty?

Empty as in I can't get service from them? Pretty much. BellSouth doesn't want to run lines out here because they don't think it's worth their time. TimeWarner with Roadrunner has already snagged most everyone here. Now, how they can POSSIBLY think that when their prices are better completely eludes me. It seems an acceptable business risk to me to run lines out here to try and compete. You know?

So, from what I'm assuming here, since BellSouth hasn't run lines out here, I can't get much in the way of ANY DSL service. But it never hurts to go plug in our address and check anyway.

I'm glad I have Cox. It's the most wonderful ISP ever.

Umm, there are no lines to run. DSL runs over normal phone lines... More than likely, you probably live too far from the telephone exchange and thus they won't offer service to you because once it starts getting outside of a range of a few miles, the quality of the connection degrades heavily. It's a very common thing for DSL, and it's a fact of life.

Well... whatever. Doesn't change the fact they COULD take a risk and offer it here, and they don't.

I work for verizon DSL, pm me your # and I'll see if your qualified. Our lowest speed package 768/128 can be had for like, $15 a month w/ a year contract or something like that.

I'm so glad I'm on cable. It's damn expensive, but it's nice

I don't know what to suggest, sorry. I'll send the good vibes though!

[QUOTE=Vincent Valentine]I'm glad I have Cox. It's the most wonderful ISP ever.[/QUOTE]

With a name like that, you better hope it doesn't suck.

CAn you get something from the cable company? I have got a deal with Mediacom for about $44 per month that is cable internet and 70 television channels. I think the internet alone is $29.99. It's only like 1 or 1.5mbps service, but I think it's better than DSL.

Also, do you have to use NetZero's dialer? Can you just add a connection in your control panel and use Window's or OSX's built-in dialer? That's what I've done for my parents (they live 10 miles outside of town and can't get DSL or cable. Only thing other than dial-up is satellite, and they don't need it). The SBC Yahoo service that they connect to has a commercial dialer, but I threw the disk away. All you need is the number, their username and password.

yeah, i think timewarner might have a deal where if you sign up for their basic cable AND their cable internet, it comes to around 40-something for both...

I think I already checked Verizon, but hey, I'll PM our number to you anyway.


Yes. You do. We've already tried without it. Without it, none of their retarded software loads. An obvious plus. And everything looks good until you open firefox and attempt to actually DO something. Then it redirects the page and tells you your connection is bad or your software is busted or something stupid like that.

So basically... Yes, you do need it. No, it won't work without it.


I'll look further into that, but from every impression I'VE gotten, it don't work that way. At least not for us. In fact I thought I saw something go by last night in their pricing that said "in addition to your regular monthly cable bill" or somesuch.

The NetZero dialer generates your REAL password out of the username and password you input. If you can figure out that real password (I think there are tools to help you, but you might have to sniff the modem traffic though) you can use the standard Windows dialer to connect.

I seriously recommend you invest in broadband. It's becoming ever more affordable.

[Edit: Oh you can't get broadband... well... don't invest in satellite if you plan to do any gaming. 56k is better than satellite for gaming.]

I say stop being a cheapskate and get Roadrunner. It's going be 5 times faster than that cheap DSL, they're very reliable, and broadband doesn't come at $20 a month for a reason (in other words, they usually suck).

[QUOTE=Cool Matty]I say stop being a cheapskate and get Roadrunner. It's going be 5 times faster than that cheap DSL, they're very reliable, and broadband doesn't come at $20 a month for a reason (in other words, they usually suck).[/QUOTE]

Words from my mouth. 40 dollars for DSL is a steal, and really not as expensive as you think. You will NOT find a DSL provider ANYWHERE that's under 30 dollars that you'll keep for more than a week. You're experiencing a "get what you pay for" sort of thing, and honestly, because your cheap bastards, you're getting cheap service. Pay an extra 20 bucks and you'll have blazing fast internet for a lot cheaper than you think.

JediKirby

*grooooan*

I know this has been pointed out already, but you are a ****ing moron.

WIN.

You get what you pay for.

And Roadrunner isn't the finest option around.


Our standard cable service is something like 47.25 a month.

Yay. Let's give the cable company 92.20 a month!

This is reasonable... How exactly?

Now if I bundle the cable and roadrunner, the total comes out to 87.20. Not exactly a superior deal, but one I MIGHT be able to convince them to get if I say I'll chip in 20 bucks a month.

And no, you don't always get what you pay for. Expensive does not equate to quality. AOL is 20 something a month. Is it better than NetZero?

I doubt it. You're either going to be stuck with crappy dial up or cable, it seems.

AOL is hated by many people for a few reasons I won't go into, but saying that it is a large company and if it's your only option I'd say take it.
They arn't the best but I've known people who enjoyed using it (until they swapped to a different service and found out what they was missing anyway )

You completely missed what I was saying.
He commented I get what I pay for.
I don't believe that to always be true, and as an example, used AOL, which IS crap and far more expensive than NetZero.
Thus paying more for something (like AOL over NetZero) doesn't mean AOL will be better.

[QUOTE=Cool Matty]I say stop being a cheapskate and get Roadrunner. It's going be 5 times faster than that cheap DSL, they're very reliable, and broadband doesn't come at $20 a month for a reason (in other words, they usually suck).[/QUOTE]
Heh, not even that. Bellsouth's cheapest DSL service is $24.95/month for a meager 256 kbps/128 kbps connection. So yeah, you're getting a severely gimped DSL service for that price. Like $8 more or something bumps it up to the old standard 1.5 Mbps/256 kbps speed. Of course, to get a speed that rivals the average cable bandwidth these days, you have to *gasp* pay as much or more than than your average cable connection costs...

A. Call Roadrunner. The "you must have cable service" was a very old rule that they don't require anymore. Call to make sure, but I am 99% sure you don't need regular TV access anymore.

B. I said usually, not always, for that exact reason. :p

Wow. My mom and dad pay $12.99 a month for a 1.5 Mbs DSL line.

[QUOTE=Cool Matty]A. Call Roadrunner. The "you must have cable service" was a very old rule that they don't require anymore. Call to make sure, but I am 99% sure you don't need regular TV access anymore.

B. I said usually, not always, for that exact reason. :p[/QUOTE]
We have Cable. Yes, I wouldn't HAVE to have it.

The cost of the Roadrunner is in ADDITION to what we're paying for cable TV. And from what I was gathering, bundling (which is probably just basically going, "Yeah, I'll use you guys for broadband and cable TV.") lowers the price a wee bit.

I think at least. I've been with my mom in her freezing office all day setting up a new computer. Haven't had alot of time to dig deep.

sorry.. not qualified for verizon

[QUOTE=Cool Matty]I say stop being a cheapskate and get Roadrunner. It's going be 5 times faster than that cheap DSL, they're very reliable, and broadband doesn't come at $20 a month for a reason (in other words, they usually suck).[/QUOTE]
As long as you don't need a lot of upload, I agree

Ewww... imo TV sucks. Internet > TV.

Specifically, since there's no Adblock for TV. I mean really, considering 1/4 of all airtime is commercials, you'd think TV could pay for itself.

Now, since you can "obtain" TV programs for free if you know the proper channels, and watch them whenever YOU want, with no commercials... it's a no-brainer

Of course, legitimate downloads are good too >.>

[QUOTE=The Mega-ZZTer]Ewww... imo TV sucks. Internet > TV.

Specifically, since there's no Adblock for TV. I mean really, considering 1/4 of all airtime is commercials, you'd think TV could pay for itself.

Now, since you can "obtain" TV programs for free if you know the proper channels, and watch them whenever YOU want, with no commercials... it's a no-brainer

Of course, legitimate downloads are good too >.> :psyduck:[/QUOTE]
But... I like my SciFi channel... and my Comedy Central....

Actually our family has talked more than once about dumping standard cable and going for the bare minimum. We usually decide otherwise once everyone realizes some of the programs they'd be giving up.

I'm working on convincing them to consider Roadrunner. I'm not holding out hope though.