Windows Vista Annoyances

Dial-Up Connections

High-speed Internet is where it’s at, baby! But there are plenty of reasons why you may be among the 50 percent of the Internet population that connects via dial-up modem, slow though it is. Dial-up is a heck of a lot less expensive than broadband. And its availability is incredible—you can find a phone jack in almost any room in the civilized world, in places where the closest Ethernet or WiFi network is miles away.

To get online by dial-up, you need a dial-up account. You sign up with a company called an Internet service provider (or ISP, as insiders and magazines inevitably call them).

National ISPs like EarthLink, AT&T, and AOL (which still offers $10-a-month dialup access) have local telephone numbers in every U.S. state and many other countries. If you don’t travel much, you may not need such broad coverage. Instead, you may be able to save money by signing up for a local or regional ISP. In fact, you can find ISPs that are absolutely free (if you’re willing to look at ads), or that cost as little as $4 per month (if you’ll promise not to call for tech support). Google can be your friend here.

Even if you have a cable modem or DSL, you can generally add dial-up access to the same account for another few bucks a month. You’ll be happy to have that feature if you travel a lot (unless your cable modem comes with a really long cord).

In any case, dialing the Internet is a local call for most people.

Tip

The Internet is filled with Web sites that list, describe, and ...