Recommend me a good dial-up ISP - Page 2

SMHarman · 01-07-2004, 22:17

Dunno, but that supports ISDN. Have not looked at the dial up market in a while.

**Chris** · 01-07-2004, 22:20

Quote:

Originally Posted by SMHarman

Dunno, but that supports ISDN. Have not looked at the dial up market in a while.

mmmmmmmm, time to start phoning some of these companies, I think.

jazzy · 02-07-2004, 15:51

Quote:

Originally Posted by towny

Thanks Jazzy, that looks very attractive. Have you experienced it yourself?

Yes, set the service up for a few people!
They are all pleased with the speed and the connection access.
I would use them but unfortunately I am stuck on a ntl line

**Chris** · 02-07-2004, 15:52

Quote:

Originally Posted by jazzy

Yes, set the service up for a few people!
They are all pleased with the speed and the connection access.
I would use them but unfortunately I am stuck on a ntl line

aha ... so do you know anything about the BT SurfTime thingy then? It appears from the Virgin.net website that you don't need to subscribe to it - is that right?

jazzy · 02-07-2004, 16:01

Quote:

Originally Posted by towny

aha ... so do you know anything about the BT SurfTime thingy then? It appears from the Virgin.net website that you don't need to subscribe to it - is that right?

never used the bt surftime service!
It was just a matter of signing up with virgin net and that was it a 24/7 service!

DrAwesome · 02-07-2004, 20:11

Firefly have been on the top of a very popular well known website for a few months now, Firefly might be worth considering?

**Chris** · 26-08-2004, 12:55

I have good news and bad news.

The good news is, I have just finished rummaging around the clever worldwide interweb for phone numbers I can put through BT's broadband checker to try to get a better idea what might be available at my new pad. In the course of this, I discovered that my local 'phone exchange is a lot closer than I thought - less than 5km, in fact, which puts me in range of 1 or 2mb ADSL now BT has extended its reach. Yay!

The bad news, however, is that this exchange is one of the few they have no intention of upgrading without some form of corporate sponsorship, under their so-called 'Exchange Activate' programme, being as it is very remote and serves only a few people. As if BT isn't coining it in already. Tight gits.

Back to the dial-up drawing board, then.

SMHarman · 26-08-2004, 13:05

Quote:

Originally Posted by Chris T

<snip>
Back to the dial-up drawing board, then.

Have you seen this product?
http://www.onspeed.com/

**Chris** · 26-08-2004, 14:12

Quote:

Originally Posted by SMHarman

Have you seen this product?
http://www.onspeed.com/

Wow. That's amazing ...

Paul K · 26-08-2004, 14:29

Just did a google group search for that product and there are a few negative comments about it. Things like Lag due to the page being compressed by the onspeed servers before it gets sent to you. The fact that they can monitor/ track every site/ page you visit etc. I suppose everything has it's pro's and cons though.

SMHarman · 26-08-2004, 14:32

Quote:

Originally Posted by Chris T

Wow. That's amazing ...

I'd like to add that I have not tried it or even seen it in action, merely saw an ad for it in the Easyjet in flight mag.

Jon M · 26-08-2004, 14:36

Quote:

Originally Posted by Paul

Just did a google group search for that product and there are a few negative comments about it. Things like Lag due to the page being compressed by the onspeed servers before it gets sent to you. The fact that they can monitor/ track every site/ page you visit etc. I suppose everything has it's pro's and cons though.

Also it can only compress "compressable" data... seems obvious really doesn't it, but when you consider that compression is more and more widely used, even within browsers, you start to see that it's effects are fairly limited.

Fair enough, if you are an average joe surfing for gardening tips from your AOL connection it might make a difference, but would someone like that really be bothered?

SMHarman · 26-08-2004, 14:39

So JPEG etc won't be compressed, but I imagine there would be a noticable performance increase on a site like this where the images are mostly cached locally and you are downloading compressable text.

**Chris** · 26-08-2004, 14:42

Quote:

Originally Posted by s1lv3r

Also it can only compress "compressable" data... seems obvious really doesn't it, but when you consider that compression is more and more widely used, even within browsers, you start to see that it's effects are fairly limited.

Fair enough, if you are an average joe surfing for gardening tips from your AOL connection it might make a difference, but would someone like that really be bothered?

Not so good then. /sigh

So, BT is looking for sponsors to upgrade their remaining rural exchanges for them. What a pity Broadband internet is outside their universal service obligations.

Wonder who I could lobby to get my exchange upgraded for me?

SMHarman · 26-08-2004, 14:58

Quote:

Originally Posted by Chris T

Not so good then. /sigh

So, BT is looking for sponsors to upgrade their remaining rural exchanges for them. What a pity Broadband internet is outside their universal service obligations.

Time to lobby your MP i feel. Don't you do corp comms, a good PR campaign is needed here, perhaps you could even offer him (well most are hims) some help with his reelection campaign.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Chris T

Wonder who I could lobby to get my exchange upgraded for me?

Find yourself a nice government job that enables you to work from home and requires a BB connection. That would be a pretty good sponsor.