Do you really have that much time on your hands?

I hate to beat a dead horse, but I need to know. One of the most common responses I get from people who don't have a high speed Internet connection is, "I have plenty of time to wait and am in no hurry." While I admire the Zen like focus and calm nerves of these folks, I have to ask the obvious. "Really?"

Today, I worked with a customer who lives literally in the middle of the mountains…the nearest town (about 200 people) is more than 20 miles away and the phone line sounds like popcorn in a microwave and there is no cell service. She has been patiently using dial-up Internet service for more than 7 years connecting at speeds of between 12 kbps and 14.4 kbps on a good day. Yes, you read that correctly…12-14 kbps!!! That is half the speed of a poor dial-up connection…good dial-up connections range from 44 kbps to 52 kbps. An entry level DSL connection starts at 256 kbps. When I setup her new computer today, it took almost thirty minutes to download and install the flash plug-in for her browser. I ended up disabling graphics from showing in her browser and showed her how to view a graphic if she really needed to since a 54kb graphic would take nearly two minutes to load.

The only other option this customer has for an Internet connection is satellite. Satellite, however, is costly…$200 to setup and $50 a month for service. To justify a satellite connection, you really need to evaluate how much you use the Internet and for what purposes. I explained to my customer that going with a satellite connection (if her budget allowed) would give her at least three valuable advantages over her current dial-up service:

Always on connection that does not interfere with her phone line's ability to make and receive phone calls.

She would actually save time by performing functions on the Internet in about 1/8 or faster the time she currently spends. 

Because Windows and security software need almost continuous updates in order to keep her computer secure, she would save time and money by keeping the system secure and not requiring tech support.

It's a tough call, but the Internet is leaving dial-up customers further and further behind every day. Unless you can get a strong dial-up connection (33.6 kbps or greater), you really need to consider the benefits of a broadband connection.