Re: No pain, no pair gain?

Hello Keith,


Cell out here would become quite expensive if you'd ditch the land line. Just imagine you'd have to dial into the web when broadband is down. You'd hear a loud slurp and that were your "free" minutes. Gone.

If I needed broadband for work it would justify a satellite connection. In a pinch, there is always the public library or an open WiFi connection somewhere. Maybe even a book. ;-)

Satellite was about $80/mo out here last time I checked. Plus it required dial-up for the uplink. Bidirectional was theoretically possible but realy, really expensive I was told.


Cable, yes we have that but IMHO they aren't very smart in marketing and I bet Missy Bell knows that. They always tout their cheap fast Internet but when you want to take them up on it a wee footnote is in the way: You must subscribe to their TV deal to get that rate, else it's higher than Missy Bell's. Nah, not going to do that. That isn't what I call competition. Same with TV. We don't have cable, don't want any.

Our cable company sure knows how to market high-speed Internet they do it on TV, even. ;) Our provider (like most) charges $5/mo. more if you don't subscribe to their cable TV, but it is available without a tie-in.


Then you have a better deal. Good. Here they tout $24.99/mo, first three months free and all that. Then I called and was told "Oh, you don't want TV? It'll be $55/mo then." "No. thanks". DSL is $50/mo.


Cable companies have to compete against satellite too. There is no (widespread[*]) monopoly there anymore.


But no matter how you turn it, the prices aren't that different. Whenever I asked in the neighborhood people paid between $45 and $70 a month whether they had cable of satellite. Oh, want local channels? That'll be extra...


[*] there are certainly holes in coverage for any over-the-air service.


Out here the holes have been nearly closed by now. But if you wanted true untethered voice comm via cell you'd be looking at over $50/mo. IIRC that gets you over 1000 minutes, not enough for dial-up and I bet you'd also get hit with roaming charges.

Regards, Joerg

http://www.analogconsultants.com
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