I just had to add this little note regarding what I can get now vs. what I could get when I lived about 100 miles to the north of Green Bay, WI. Yeah sure we have TWC and their choice of RR, Earthlink, and Athenet. Apparently our only other option is SBC/ATT/Yahoo DSL which hasn't been as competitive as necessary to cause TWC to raise speeds any faster than their national rollout of the 5/384 package last year (TWC is always advertising on local channels about how they are more than 3x faster than the most common available DSL package) but take a look at this. When I lived in Florence County (population 2,200) it was barely 28.8kbps dialup....sometimes 44kbps if the wind was blowing the right way....or satellite which I tried two different companies and both were overpriced and substandard.
The local mom & pop telephone company up there is now offering DSL in 'selected' areas and here is their pricing:
Afffordably Priced
Monthly Charge 256K $47.90
Setup (One Time) $19.90
DSL Modem (One Time) $89.00
Additional Options
Static IP Address - $ 10.00/month
Borderland Dial-Up Account - only $19.95/month
384K $67.90/month
512K $87.90/month
Yessss that is "afffordably priced" directly from the website.
So I should just enjoy my 5/384 and be happy I only have to go back to dialup when I visit my mom. I get so frustrated I only use it for checking email!
Yes folks it could be worse....