Question How are 3% of Americans still using dialup?

[cpams322]

Because I tried it and it simply does not work for web. The only way to use it is if you want to download simple emails using a client like Thunderbird or whatever. But you have to use a client becuase you'll never get a website like Yahoo mail or Gmail to load in.

I signed up for NetZero and Juno service, both of which offer paid dialup and free dialup options.

I tried it on a desktop with external serial 56K modem and a laptop with internal/integrated 56K modem with same results.

It's simply not possible to get a modern website to load in.

So how are 3% of Americans still using dialup? Just for email? Or am I doing something wrong?

 

[geofelt]

Perhaps for phone calls or text.

 

[USAFRet]

Alarm systems.
Basic email.
People who are still paying for it and don't know they are.

Where did you read this "3%"?

 

[Lafong]

I'd assume they have minimum use for the Internet and computers generally. Astonishingly, such people exist.

I have no use for GPS, but I'd assume I'd have a tough time buying a car without it. And I'm sure I'd be considered hopeless and laughable by GPS users. Se habla Rand McNally.

There are still people who have hard copy newspapers delivered to their house daily. Imagine how square they are.....how can they possibly get by in this world?

 

[USAFRet]

There are still people who have hard copy newspapers delivered to their house daily. Imagine how square they are.....how can they possibly get by in this world?

My next door neighbor.
Not quite 'daily', but Sat/Sun.

 

[cpams322]

Then how are NetZero and Juno (same company, different brands) still in business, they have paid dialup plans, too. There are other dialup providers, too. Head scratcher here.

Where did you read this "3%"?

Various articles I found when searching on dialup internet.

 

[kanewolf]

There are still people who have hard copy newspapers delivered to their house daily. Imagine how square they are.....how can they possibly get by in this world?

I get a daily hardcopy newspaper, and have 500mbit symmetric internet. The two things are not mutually exclusive.

 

[Lafong]

Quite a pity this forum apparently lacks a sarcasm font.

 

[Ralston18]

General thoughts here:

Why dial up / land line?

Maybe no choice.

What about seniors and others who have difficulty using and seeing those little tiny screens, confusing icons, and buttons.

Just holding most mobile phones can be tough for people with arthritic hands. Texting and web browsing on mobile devices thus being next to impossible.

Or some people simply cannot afford several hundred of dollars for the phone (even a basic one) plus monthly fees etc. that continue to increase. Gets worse when older hardware will no longer support updated apps that are supposedly "new and improved". Buggy and throwing errors. Get stuck in loops. Or just crash. Add in error codes that the mobile phone store cannot even understand.

Or devices that always seem to get upgraded in some manner and things do not work anymore or do not work the way they used to work. Equally bad for seniors.

I have an elderly aunt (90+). She has a cell phone - mostly for emergencies. Dialing "911" being viable for the time being. Some family calls but only local and her number is only used if she does not answer the land line.

Forget about being able to text, message, take photos, scan in coupons, make, reservations, do banking, play games,and all that. Won't work for her.

Her land line is her link to doctors, businesses, government agencies, and family. Simple, easy, reliable.

She can manage emails and some browsing on her computer. Less and less so I think.

And she still gets a newspaper. Risks life and limb to get it sometimes. Neighbors help. Takes her hours to read but keeps her up to date on local goings-on and friends who have just passed.

 

[USAFRet]

And I have a "landline", if an Ooma counts.
$6/month.

Cellphone? Prepaid TracFone, $100 Samsung, 4 yrs old.
Total, $180/2 years. So $7.50/month.

No, it is NOT "unlimited". But I literally have no need for an unlimited cellphone plan.
I simply do not need that txt/data/minutes.
Especially when that costs a minimum of 4x what my current cellphone costs.

I can't use the cellphone at work, don't need it at home.

 

[cpams322]

Thanks for the replies, y'all, but I don't see how this has to do with the question i posed about dialup internet and how to get it to work for web browsing when it;s marketed for such and 3% of the US population still uses it. I guess I should have posed my question differently, but...

General thoughts here:

Why dial up / land line?

Maybe no choice.

What about seniors and others who have difficulty using and seeing those little tiny screens, confusing icons, and buttons.

Just holding most mobile phones can be tough for people with arthritic hands. Texting and web browsing on mobile devices thus being next to impossible.

Or some people simply cannot afford several hundred of dollars for the phone (even a basic one) plus monthly fees etc. that continue to increase. Gets worse when older hardware will no longer support updated apps that are supposedly "new and improved". Buggy and throwing errors. Get stuck in loops. Or just crash. Add in error codes that the mobile phone store cannot even understand.

Or devices that always seem to get upgraded in some manner and things do not work anymore or do not work the way they used to work. Equally bad for seniors.

I have an elderly aunt (90+). She has a cell phone - mostly for emergencies. Dialing "911" being viable for the time being. Some family calls but only local and her number is only used if she does not answer the land line.

Forget about being able to text, message, take photos, scan in coupons, make, reservations, do banking, play games,and all that. Won't work for her.

Her land line is her link to doctors, businesses, government agencies, and family. Simple, easy, reliable.

She can manage emails and some browsing on her computer. Less and less so I think.

And she still gets a newspaper. Risks life and limb to get it sometimes. Neighbors help. Takes her hours to read but keeps her up to date on local goings-on and friends who have just passed.

And I have a "landline", if an Ooma counts.
$6/month.

Cellphone? Prepaid TracFone, $100 Samsung, 4 yrs old.
Total, $180/2 years. So $7.50/month.

No, it is NOT "unlimited". But I literally have no need for an unlimited cellphone plan.
I simply do not need that txt/data/minutes.
Especially when that costs a minimum of 4x what my current cellphone costs.

I can't use the cellphone at work, don't need it at home.

 

[PsychoPsyops]

Old people, people who are afraid of change, people who think people can be allergic or biologically affected by wifi and fast internet.

 

[USAFRet]

Thanks for the replies, y'all, but I don't see how this has to do with the question i posed about dialup internet and how to get it to work for web browsing when it;s marketed for such and 3% of the US population still uses it. I guess I should have posed my question differently, but...

Still having a landline is not directly related to having dialup.

But it IS an ever shrinking segment of the population.
Of my coworkers, I'd guesstimate no more than 5-10% have a landline.

 

[palladin9479]

Thanks for the replies, y'all, but I don't see how this has to do with the question i posed about dialup internet and how to get it to work for web browsing when it;s marketed for such and 3% of the US population still uses it. I guess I should have posed my question differently, but...

I don't think it's 3% of the population but rather that 3% of the connections are on dialup. I know of several alarm systems and Out Of Band (OOB) access systems that use a dial-up terminal as a fail safe.

Ten years ago I was working on a very sophisticated network system, one of out connections was a 64K serial line that itself was encapsulating a 9600 baud serial connection off the back of a RS232 port. The powers that be simply did not want to go through the effort to convert that working system into something based around TCP/IP instead of a serial feed.

These are just examples of things that would use "internet" but not be something the consumer might even think about.

 

[cpams322]

Old people, people who are afraid of change, people who think people can be allergic or biologically affected by wifi and fast internet.

You didn't even read the OP. You read the title and thought you knew what the OP was about. lol

Still having a landline is not directly related to having dialup.

I never said that and the 3% statistic has nothing to do with owning a landline phone account.

 

[USAFRet]

I never said that and the 3% statistic has nothing to do with owning a landline phone account.

Yes, I know.

The landline comments were simply about a different but somewhat related tech that is also mostly outdated, but still used.

Nothing to get worked up about.