Dialup a Dying Breed

Dialup internet service is a dinosaur. With the majority of the universe getting connections through DSL or cable, those few souls who are forced to clean the house between downloads (because dialup takes so long) may have to wait even longer in the future – if they can connect at all.

Dialup data comes in over the phone line. The phone lines (some of which have been in place for 20 or more years) have a limited capacity. Unfortunately, it seems that web pages are unlimited. The amount of information that must be squeezed through the lines just keeps growing. This means the download time gets slower.

Is there hope? It doesn’t seem like there is. Although companies, like AT&T, are trying to reach every one in the United States with DSL service by the end of the year, there are bound to be dead spots (like my house) in some of the more rural areas. Providers, like NetZero, are working to make the dialup connections faster by using technology to compress the data so more can be transferred through the phone lines, but turtles on speed are still just turtles.