Need some ISPs please!

[Doomgaze]

There wouldn't be any other charges, unless there's an hour limit (I think usually dialup has it as about 360)

I don't *think* you can usually connect two computers to a single account even with two phone lines, and if you could it'd probably violate some TOU.

But it's been a long time since I tried to do that, and my memory's fuzzy. I think it got tangled up in the phone lines I had going all across the house

aside of that, you could always learn to share and or change sleeping hours and work hours to get internet time.

My old dialup ISP let me, but that may have been a mistake. It also wasn't a massive juggernaut of a company.


Anyway, cable or DSL can't possibly cost more than an extra phone line + SBC Yahoo subscription + AOL subscription.

[Ironman0723]

They have DSL and you have AOL? xD

Oh, man, must be painful going to your computer after that. That said, it's called a home network. Look into it. How close are the computers, how much are you willing to pay (one time cost for equipment, not a subscription)

Oh, SBC Yahoo also has a dialup. Erm, is it that? I wouldn't share that connection, no.

...if so, you have two outgoing lines that you use for internet?

Definitely not DSL, dialup. We have one phoneline we use for the internet, and another phoneline for our actual telephone. I'm gonna use the line that we use for our telephone.

If you have two seperate phone lines, you might as well bug your parents to pay the extra $15/month(this is only considering the phone lines - not the cost of the ISPs) and get cable.

As much as I would try, it wouldn't work.. My family are not up to par with anything technological. For years up until a couple months ago, they refused to let us wire cable to more than one room in the house. We told them it would be so easy to wire it ourselves, and they wouldn't budge. Now, the only reason we have cable in other rooms is because they called the cable company. As for the computer, this computer is about to die but they refuse to do anything about it. Its a Compaq (;___, and its been around for about 6+ years. 10GB harddrive, crappy dialup connection, and as many problems with it as you can imagine. They refuse to get anything better because they feel that this one still works fine (it doesn't.) Even if they do get a new one, they're gonna buy an overpriced one from Best Buy, when IMO it would be cheaper to build a computer (thats how I built mine, and mine is a better computer). They would rather rely on being able to get a warranty from Best Buy and customer support (when really, and problem they have had with this computer I had been able to solve anyways, but they just called Best Buy up regardless because they don't trust me). Thus, this crappy computer and my crappy situation.

[Ironman0723]

There wouldn't be any other charges, unless there's an hour limit (I think usually dialup has it as about 360)

I don't *think* you can usually connect two computers to a single account even with two phone lines, and if you could it'd probably violate some TOU.

But it's been a long time since I tried to do that, and my memory's fuzzy. I think it got tangled up in the phone lines I had going all across the house

aside of that, you could always learn to share and or change sleeping hours and work hours to get internet time.

Thanks for the help regardless.

My old dialup ISP let me, but that may have been a mistake. It also wasn't a massive juggernaut of a company.


Anyway, cable or DSL can't possibly cost more than an extra phone line + SBC Yahoo subscription + AOL subscription.

The AOL subscription is my Dad's (My parents are divorced), so I, nor anyone in my household pays for that.

[Raistlin]

My old dialup ISP let me, but that may have been a mistake. It also wasn't a massive juggernaut of a company.


Anyway, cable or DSL can't possibly cost more than an extra phone line + SBC Yahoo subscription + AOL subscription.

It doesn't. Two internet phone lines = $20/month, SBC Yahoo subscription =$?/month(no idea here). Cable = $40/month, plus one-time fees of modem and ethernet cables(marginal cost).

[Citizen Bleys]

Cancel one of the phone lines and get DSL and a router. DSL's usually $40-50 / month (talking Canadian funds here, it'll be a smaller number in the US or Britain), and you're already paying $20/month for the extra phone line. Plus, that way you'll be able to talk and surf at the same time, get better speeds, and not have to juggle around who gets the computer and when.

Some ISPs (including the one I work for) offer "High Speed Light"-type packages. Sympatico's Basic Lite service (160 kbps up and down, 2 GB/month bandwidth limit) is only $20 / month, the same as you're paying for dial. Of course, Basic Lite sucks, but it doesn't suck as hard as dial. (P.S. If you're actually in Ontario or Quebec, don't get Sympatico. I don't want to provide tech support for your mom.)

[crono_logical]

Thank you for a suggestive, helpful post that couldn't be seen as any kind of insult.

The computer I am on as I type this uses SBC yahoo as its connection. Suppose I configured my computer to use SBC yahoo under the same username/password as this one, would there be an additional charge? More importantly, would both computers be able to connect to the internet at the same time using the same user/pw?

You can always disconnect the other computer before getting your computer to connect. As long as there's only one connection active, it shouldn't matter which PC is connected because the ISP won't be able to tell, unless they install something dodgy and mess around with the PC configuration like AOL does. But even in this case, if the computers are configured the same, it won't matter.

You mentioned you built your own computer, so you've obviously got some brains. Work something out to make your parents believe what you currently have is broken/crappy. Do they use the internet or email? I'm sure it would be easy to block sites they commonly visit, then claim it's because the connection sucks or something. Or show to them that it's much cheaper to get cable/DSL plus cables and router to share the single connection between machines, than to pay for two phones plus seperate ISPs for each, like others have said. I think you're giving up too easily with talking to your parents

[Citizen Bleys]

Work something out to make your parents believe what you currently have is broken/crappy.

Install AOL on it, and it will be broken/crappy. I mean, if you're going to install AOL on it, you might as well also install GAIN, CoolWebSearch, 180SearchAssistant, and the Sasser worm.

[Yrkoon]

just buy 2 ether net cards and some cat5 cable then u can use internet sharing on both comps

u can probly pick up cards for bout 10-20 pounds an the cables cheap.

[Ironman0723]

What exactly is the reason for AOL crapping up a computer? Spyware or something?

[rubah]

No. It's just a notoriously bad service.

[crono_logical]

It is very bad service compared to other ISPs (both in terms of what you have to pay and what they give you), yes, but it also install lots of other crap as well, like it's own browser and is very difficult to remove completely unlike well-behaved ISPs when you decide you no longer want to use AOL. Also, I can't remember if it's AOL itself, or it's default IM client, but one of them <i>does</i> come bundled with spyware and installs itself without telling/asking you. Not that it matters which, it's the same company - if they bundle spyware with one product, why trust the other?

[Ironman0723]

Ok, so here is a question. I don't really want to use AOL, but if I created a new connection using XP, would I be able to use my username and password, and the number AOL dials, and create a new dialup connection, and be able to use that freely? Theoretically, I would be using the AOL service, just not the program. Would that work?

[Endless]

In France, I know it doesn't work, I tried (during the time I was switching adsl providers, I had to use AOHell for almost a month).

[Xalioniaf]

You can find AOL CDs at your local Walmart or Blockbuster. I think that target has some kind of ISP of their own.

[ShunNakamura]

You can indeed use a home network to connect through a normal modem.. if fact as long as the computer with the phone-line is online anyone on the network can get on.

Do I recomend this? No, I remember it being a pain to work for some odd reason, that and I know some sites don't like it... so if both the comps were on the same site.. heh it could led to ban.

We were doing this with 4 computers and one dialup connection.. only needed one modem as well.

Actualy you know what... I can't remember how exactly we did manage it that had to be what? 5-6 years ago? I woud have been as young as twelve.. my memory doesn't work THAT well.