 |
||||||||
 |
||||||||
|
||||||||
|
Broad opinions on broadband
By DAVE GUSSOW
Real estate agents chant "location, location, location" when selling property. For Internet access, many Tech Times readers say their priorities are "price, price, price." Dialup users still chugging along in the slow lane said they're simply not willing to pay the higher price for far faster cable modem or digital subscriber line service. Even some high-speed users say any rate increase could send them back to less costly dialup access. They were responding to an April column about reports that high-speed service may get more expensive for heavy users or that cable companies might introduce tiered rates: less money for slower speeds, high rates for faster connections. Time Warner's Road Runner, the leading cable modem provider in the Tampa Bay area, has not announced plans for a change in its rate, but other companies across the country have. Just the thought sparked a flurry of responses. Some readers who have cable complained about the speed of their connection, reliability and tech support, but the majority of high-speed subscribers expressed satisfaction with their service and life in the (costlier) fast lane. Here are excerpts from some of the responses: I have not switched because I do not think the value of a cable modem or DSL connection is nearly (worth) the $40 to $50 a month demanded for the service. I use the Internet at home primarily as an e-mail service. My wife and kids do some lightweight surfing -- comic strips, MapQuest, school research, updates on the progress of the latest Star Wars, Harry Potter or Lord of the Rings movie. The only real value a cable modem or DSL connection would provide at home would be to speed the occasional movie trailer I download. But I can't see spending $500 to $600 a year to save a few hours a year in download time. -- William Carroll, Gulfport
I switched to cable modem in early 2001 and found it made an incredible difference in my Internet use. With dialup service, I was always reluctant to download graphics and files or to visit Web sites that used a lot of graphics. With cable, you can really use all of the good features of the Internet and e-mail without hesitancy. The service has been very reliable and problem-free. You can just do a lot more in less time with high-speed access. And it is especially important if you have children who want to access content-rich sites such as Barney.com, PBSkids.org or PlayhouseDisney.com. -- Bill Silberman, Seminole I switched to Road Runner about two years ago. Overall, I have been quite satisfied with the service. I have experienced times when the system was rather slow, maybe due to "bandwidth hogging" in my area, but I have no way to know that for sure. The best thing about the service is instant log-on, quick Web searching and speedy downloads. Most of my downloads are Word documents and software upgrades, and very little in the way of music or graphics. I bring work home from the office (where we are connected by way of broadband as well). I do not plan to leave broadband unless the price goes up dramatically or a comparable service comes along with a competitive performance and pricing. -- Ernie C. Sumrall, Clearwater I did try the cable service. It was convenient in that it was always on. The difference in speed? I thought it was more consistent but really not that much faster in that you were sharing space. To me, it was not worth the cost involved. I returned to Internet Junction dialup. Properly set, it takes me all of 90 seconds to get connected from the time I actually get on my computer. The cost vs. the little bit of time . . . no problem. I'll wait! -- Kenn Sidorewich, Oldsmar I have had Road Runner for more than a year. My experience has been very good from Day One. No problems with installation, rare to have an outage and performance is fast and flawless. On the few times that I have called for technical assistance, the calls were answered promptly and the problem solved quickly. The only gripe I have is the cost, but I would never go back to dialup. -- Robert G. Schmid, Inverness I changed from AT&T dialup in November because of slow to no connections at times. Now with EarthLink via Time Warner cable, I'm very satisfied. Speed is more than adequate. I would prefer to have the parental controls, which AOL dialup offered, since my teenager can't seem to avoid the forbidden sites. The other difference I see is that I must keep my Norton AntiVirus and ZoneAlarm Pro firewall in place at all times. The best part is sitting down and quickly getting where I need to go without tying up the phone line any more. The price is fair at $41.95 a month. -- Anne Morrissey, Largo I have dialup Internet access because high speed is too expensive! Apparently, the people who offer it need to wake up and see beyond their own greed. Business is down, so raise the price. Really smart! When they start losing customers, they'll wonder why. Here's a tip for them: Lower the price and you'll get more business! I mostly use the Internet to get information and prices on products, but I consider the Internet a huge waste of time. People who spend most of their waking hours online need to get a life. So what if the service goes down? Think of all the meaningful things that could be accomplished with that extra time! -- William Hauckes, Seminole
Having the information instantly available (without waiting for the computer to start up or the slow dialup connection) makes the Internet so usable. I find new uses for the Internet every day and find it hard to believe that others aren't in love with high-speed access. Very few of my friends have high-speed access and some of them call up to have me answer questions for them on the Web. It's hard to appreciate the many uses of the Internet when you have to wait for long download and connection times. -- Kim Freedman, St. Petersburg Why haven't I switched to a high-speed service? I'll tell you why. The cost! It's not that I cannot afford to switch, it's just that I feel $50 a month is not worth the gain in speed. I am not an occasional user either. I average 90 hours a month. I use CompuServe and have found that the speed is just fine for the price. Pay by the year and it's less than $20 a month. Connect success? I'd say 99.9 percent of the time I connect on the first try! Dropped carrier? What's that? I never get knocked offline. How much do I rely on Internet access? It's the lifeblood of our existence. I am retired so I really put the Internet to work for us. I do my banking, investing, travel planning and bookings, as well as transmit and receive 90 percent of my correspondence. Then there is the sending of musical greeting cards, playing of online games, instant breaking news, movie reviews, and on and on and on. Yes, picking up a little speed would be nice, but not at double what a dialup is. When the cost gets more sensible, I'll reconsider, but for the moment, I am quite satisfied. -- Robert Lartz, St. Petersburg I have dialup Internet service through AOL. At work I use Verizon DSL. I like how fast the DSL connection is when I surf at work. For the house, I can't justify another telecommunications bill. My husband and I pay around $30 a month for a land line (if no long-distance), $65 a month for two cell phones (bare-bones account, no voicemail or other features), $23.95 a month for the AOL account. We spend more a month on telecommunications than our electricity bill. We are unwilling to justify another telecommunications cost. -- Marie Harrington, Temple Terrace The cable companies are sitting on a gold mine with products such as Road Runner, yet they seem unable to mine it. I pre-pay for Prodigy at the cost of $213 a year ($17.75/month) for unlimited service. Prodigy's service, in terms of down time, has varied over the years, but in general is reliable. There have been some e-mail issues, but I use Hotmail as my primary e-mail, so this has not been critical. Road Runner is $45 a month, or $327 more a year ($27.25 a month) than I am paying for Prodigy. I do not pay for a second phone line, so I do tie up my phone when I am online, which can be a problem. Still, the cost of a second line strictly for Internet service is still significantly less than the extra cost of Road Runner. Since I generally use the Internet for recreation, not business, I am not able to justify $327 a year. Imagine what would happen if Road Runner dropped its price to match that of a dialup service plus an extra phone line. Imagine further still, if they dropped their price slightly below that. They would get more business than they could possibly handle. -- Heidi Davis, Clearwater We have a dialup connection to Prodigy, mainly because of the cost. We pay $20 a month, which includes a senior discount, which is less than half of cable or DSL. We get good, reliable service and excellent tech help. Obviously it takes a bit longer to log on, but at our age what difference does it make to wait that extra minute or so? -- Marie Fiorito, Tarpon Springs High-speed access permanently and fundamentally changes the way you use a computer. You will never go back. Once you are always on, (having) the Internet and all its resources on your desktop, a click away, is . . . is . . . let's just say, empowering. Probably an understatement. My father, who proofread an encyclopedia as a printer's apprentice and who therefore knew a lot, would have loved it. I do, too. -- James K. Condon, Spring Hill Yep! I would love to have high speed. No! I will not pay the price, ever. I have MSN. It is more than slow, but I am too happy just to be able to use a computer. -- Grace Agnello, Seminole Initially, my Road Runner service was excellent in terms of available bandwidth, reliability and service responsiveness. Over the past year, and especially over the past six months, it has deteriorated significantly on all three counts, at least in my neighborhood. There is every indication that Time Warner has come to have that arrogant attitude of a monopoly in this area, in which they really don't care whether a Road Runner customer's service quality is satisfactory or not. If I could switch to DSL, I would. -- Ron Swonger, Palm Harbor
 © 2006 • All Rights Reserved • St. Petersburg Times
490 First Avenue South • St. Petersburg, FL 33701 • 727-893-8111 
|
|
