Mailbag 2: Dial-up is (not) history

Mailbag 2: Dial-up is (not) history
High prices keep users from high-speed services

Network World, 11/27/02

I’ve heard a phrase repeated on our tours time and again: We would have a killer app if people would just be willing to pay for it.

This line of thinking is the complete antithesis to traditional rhetoric. Yet, I believe there is some truth in it. Especially when we are talking about the demise of dial-up access.

Readers were quick to say that they do not want to pay the extra costs for high-speed service right now.

“I am one of the many Americans who refuses to pay over twice my current rate to move from dial up to cable access,” says a Delaware reader. “Furthermore, I am one of a zillion Americans who is too far away from a pumping station to get DSL. That leaves [satellite], which my apartment complex won't allow. Even if they did, it still costs more the twice my dial-up services, so lump it.”
Another reader who has to implement more creative methods to gain Internet access stands by dial-up, as well. “Dial-up is not history. Our company uses it every day,” he says.

“We run ocean break bulk freighters from Seattle out to the Aleutian Islands (Western Alaska).” In doing so, he needs to be able to access weather information and e-mail. His solution: “Onboard the vessel, they use FTP to get a daily weather file (47K), and Eudora as an e-mail client. They link up once or twice a day from three to 10 minutes to get and send voyage information.” Doing otherwise, he says would be too expensive. “In the Gulf of Alaska, options for high-speed data come at a very high price. The best method is it to manage your data size and keep messages small.”

Some readers challenged that the reason cost is an issue is because the service is not up to snuff, including installation and maintenance.

“Who is going to invite the disruption to their lives from poorly trained installers and provisioners?” says one dial-up devotee. “The horror stories are around in greater numbers than there were for ISDN in the U.S. An alarming number of broadband installs fail, leaving the customer with a bad taste in their mouths.” He adds that the speed and applications aren’t enough to make him put up with the downsides. Instead, he says he’ll wait until innovators develop the next broadband delivery system.

Others say cost is second only to security. They are not convinced that the Wired Equivalency Protocol is up to the task of securing wireless transmissions.

“I would offer a word of caution,” a reader offers. “Wireless is an open conduit to the world. Wireless encryption is WEP. Encryption slows the transfer. It is often not used, in fact, it is disabled at startup on many access points. The encryption offered is not unbreakable. Any 14-year-old with a laptop, a wireless card and an empty Pringles can has the ability to capture your information. If he captures the files he can take his time breaking it.”

Another reader challenges, “Just how secure is your new wireless connection? I can't bring myself to go wireless until I have sound proof it is secure.” Her sentiment is echoed by many readers who fear that the controls just aren’t there for wireless communication and that broadband, where many users have unsecured lines, is just as compromised.

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