Wednesday, April 05, 2006

I'm in Internet Service Provider (ISP) Purgatory

I'm now living in a suburb of Memphis that is large enough for a super Wal-Mart, Starbucks and Lowe’s. However, the town has only one high-speed internet service (ADSL) which is widely available and they charge $59.99/month. I can't believe it!

I've temporarily set-up a T-Mobile account and will blog from Starbucks until I find a decent ISP. I don't want to switch to dial up, especially after living for 4 years with DSL or cable broadband. Has anybody had any luck with satellite broadband? I'm considering this. However, the big two (Dish Network and Direct TV) are not offering it (installing it) in our area.

I'm considering starting a T-Mobile annual contract for $30/month, but don't like the idea that I have to come to Starbucks (1.5 miles away from house) every time I use the internet.

Any recommendations? Any dial-up ISPs that have surprising speeds?

Posted by Finance Junkie at 11:39 PM

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Have you looked into Qwest DSL? It's got blazing fast speeds and it's only about 49.99. Dedicated IP's as well. As far as Dial-up, you get what you pay for... unless you sign up for AOL, in which case you get much less. ;)

12:19 AM
Finance Junkie said...

Unfortunately, Qwest doesn't offer service in TN (just checked).

I will be testing out netzero hi-speed 3g dial-up. Perhaps a misnomer; however, downloading software now while at Starbucks.

2:38 PM
Finance Junkie said...

As of today, Netzero sucks. I'm considering "wild blue" satellite:

http://www.wildblue.com/forYourHome/index.jsp

Wild blue satellite broadband is available to most locations around the U.S. regardless of whether cable or DSL service is available in your area.

However, there's a $300 equipment charge which is unusually high. I'm going to look into whether all the equipment is proprietary or whether or not I can get the equipment from other sources.

11:36 PM

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