Re: [libreoffice-users] Re: top and bottom - again. was (Re: Re: new article - with quote from TDF.......)

Ken,

I have always lived on a remote farm.  Until satellite came along with
DirectPC, I used to have to spend $300/month on dial up just to check
email.  Not only was dial-up the only game in town, every ISP was long
distance.  Switching to satellite the day it was available was a no
brainer.  

It is true that there are more people on dial-up than one suspects in
the U.S.  In many cases they are simply stubborn.  One of my Aunts would
be a prime example.  Where she lives she can have cable or satellite TV,
but she has an antenna.  She has a choice of cable, wireless broadband,
DSL, and ADSL for Internet, yet chooses dial-up.

I suspect you would have better signal if you changed cell carriers.
Those maps lie.  Verizon is the worst company on the face of the planet
to work for (with the possible exception of Walmart), but its 3G and
wireless network does cover > 90% of the geographic U.S.  All other
"nationwide" carriers only cover about 20% of the country.

That being as it may.  There is a massive push mandated by state and
federal governments for all phone carriers to upgrade all switches
around the country to provide at a minimum ADSL service.  Even the lowly
little switch in the town of less than 300 people which provides my
local phone service got a brand new fibre channel cable trenched to it.
The switch is way down on the waiting list for upgrade...but...I believe
the carriers only have until the end of 2012...just like when the
government mandated the elimination of rotary dial switches and party
lines.

FWIW, the government body which compiles Internet statistics has stated
that they are going to remove from counting "dial-up access customers"
because they could not obtain the minimum bandwidth necessary for most
services these days.


On Thu, 2011-06-02 at 10:26 -0600, Ken Springer wrote:

> On 6/2/11 9:17 AM, Roland Hughes wrote:
>
> Hi, Roland,
>
> No personal insults, hits, bad vibes, etc. are intended, but here's some 
> points you may not have considered.
>
> > While there may be a few people
> > in the U.S. still on dial up,
>
> I think that depends on the "number" of people, percentage wise if you 
> prefer, that you associate with the word "few".  :-)  Personally, I 
> think there are far more people (numerically) still on dial up than many 
> people think.  My view may be a bit skewed, as I do live in an area 
> where many people, *if* they can afford a computer, only have the dialup 
> option.
>
> > unless they are unemployed or on a
> > seriously fixed income, there is no excuse for it.
>
> You can be employed and not be able to afford it, sadly.  Between the 
> two of us, we could probably come up with at least 25 valid scenarios 
> where the high speed option is not possible or even valid and supportable.
>
> > For around $60/month
> > Verizon has wireless broadband plans that let you have 5Gig of high
> > speed traffic each month.This is a vast improvement from the HughesNet
> > (formerly DirecPC) satellite service I used to pay $100/month for and
> > endure 100Meg/day limit.
>
> Until about a month ago, dialup and satellite were the "only games in town".
>
> > Satellite Internet service is available world wide, even in places like
> > Pakistan and Afghanistan.  Wireless broadband follows the cell phone
> > markets.  While you may not have access to 4G speed and bandwidth, you
> > will have access to speeds far faster than dial up.
>
> While it may be technologically available in Pakistan and Afghanistan 
> (just using your examples, but I'm speaking worldwide generally), how 
> far away is the tech to install your dish and fix your problems?   :-)
>
> When it comes to our perspective of availability, we often think of that 
> as a percentage of the population, when we should be including the 
> geographical component also.  I have a cell phone, but rarely use it 
> since I have no signal.  So, I'm counted as part of the population that 
> has a cell phone, but I don't have "access" to it.  Do you see the 
> difference?
>
> Web page designers don't help either when it comes to accessing and 
> using the internet.  :-(
>
> But, that's another topic.   :-)
>
> -- 
> Ken
>
> Mac OS X 10.6.7
> Firefox 3.6.17
> Thunderbird 3.1.10
> LibreOffice 3.3.2


-- 
Roland Hughes, President
Logikal Solutions
(630)-205-1593

http://www.theminimumyouneedtoknow.com
http://www.infiniteexposure.net

No U.S. troops have ever lost their lives defending our ethanol
reserves.

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