In-Laws finally getting a computer-know any good&cheap dial up service?

<p>My in-laws who are in their late 70s are finally going to get a computer. I told them I would find them a cheap dial up service. They won’t be doing anything more complicated than sending emails. Any recommendations? They’re worried that they will get all confused with what to do, but I told them that they can handle it and if they get too confused just turn the thing off!
Thanks!</p>

<p>My 79-year-old mother uses AOL for $21 a month (I think)…works for her but is EXTREMELY slow. The speed (or lack thereof) doesn’t bother her at all. She will turn it on, go make her bed, come back and do her stuff!</p>

<p>We pay $9.95/month for SBC dial-up— we use it as a backup if the cable modem goes on the fritz.</p>

<p>650dialup.com $6.50/mn, unlimited time, local access.</p>

<p>Can get Verizon DSL for 14.95 a month. Well worth the extra few $$ over dial up…</p>

<p>cheap dial up…the words alone can cause me to wonder how they still sell that service. I’d sign them up for a better service for the trial period and then let them see how much they like being online…with a workable system. You can always disconnet when the rate hops up and get them the creep at that time. Think of your time training them is that is what will occur…</p>

<p>^ I wouldn’t do that. It’s really hard to go back to dial-up when you get used to something faster.</p>

<p>precisely. Hey…they are your in laws and you know them best. I think lots of folks who surf and don’t use much software really have a harder time on the slow road but that is just my opinion. One older lady I helped thought she had died and gone to heaven when I showed her high speed…she went nutty and has learned to do lots of stuff and like photos and sharing now.</p>

<p>Hey- I use dial up- Earthlink is hella faster than AOHELL however
I also have noticed that except for downloading video clips- which I can always do at the coffee shop with free wireless- my new processor is as fast as I need, even with the same old modem speed.</p>

<p>I think they can always move up- but some areas have problems with DSL/cable- your best bet is to get on their areas livejournal and see what people use</p>

<p>before we had dsl we used walmart dial-up. 9.95 a month and it really filtered out objectionable stuff . never had any problem, just wanted faster service. now we use verizon dsl also!!</p>

<p>I just checked- how come I have verizon cell service but dsl isn’t available?</p>

<p>also use firefox.</p>

<p>Everyone’s Internet <a href=“http://www.ev1.net%5B/url%5D”>www.ev1.net</a>. It’s available with local access most places. </p>

<p>Some of you apparently don’t understand that that the majority of the land mass of the United States is not covered by DSL. The phone companies have zero interest in bringing that type of technology to low density areas outside of town centers and major housing developments. Texas actually guarantees 1400 baud only by state law. My phone lines are good for 26.2 KB due to SBC’s use of Pair Gain technology which cuts native bandwidth in half. Thank you for wide band wireless service. Yes, this is my personal soapbox and I write the state legislature about it regularly.</p>

<p>My mother is in her 70’s. She has a computer and went to the senior center to learn how to use it. She never uses it. She does not allow her grandchildren to use it. She thinks that they will mess it up and she will not be able to fix it (her grandchildren are teenagers). The computer is basically a piece of furniture for dust collection.</p>

<p>my sisters household has 4 computers of varying levels of technology.
One is used for computer games- one for internet access with one browser- another is set up for a different browser and one is used for my brother inlaws work.
I told her that if she had a mac she could have one computer to do all of those things :wink: ( yes I know if she set up her computers properly she could do it on pc also- but they never have known anything about maintaining their hard drive- something as critical as choosing which computer to get)</p>

<p>hehehe…right you just cannot trust Apple now can 'ya. I love people who could make great use of the product but refuse to inform themselves.</p>

<p>EmeraldKitty4,</p>

<p>DSL is based on your local phone service provider once AT&T was broken up. Verizon is primarily Northeast and Mid Atlantic. Not sure who your provider is. SBC is also offering cheap DSL I think.</p>

<p>AOL is probably still the best of the dying dial-up breed, but be aware that their service has software that installs stuff you might not want and takes over your browser. Dropped AOL for high-speed cable a few years ago after AOL software killed our computer…</p>

<p>AOL is so slow- I am happy with Earthlink- I don’t have dropped connections- I can filter spam- access my mail through other computers-use parental controls- plus it is very mac friendly which other connections aren’t always.</p>

<p><a href=“http://www.consumersearch.com/www/internet/isp/[/url]”>http://www.consumersearch.com/www/internet/isp/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>I second, third, & fourth Earthlink. Comes with great virus protection and scan blocker and one can actually cancel the service. Impossible to do with AOL.</p>