William Brown wrote:
I had DSL, which requires a land line. My research showed that
switching to cable for internet (I already had cable for TV) and
getting the cell phones would save me quite a bit. I've only had
the cable a couple of weeks and it is markedly faster than DSL (I
had to run tests to confirm this, as both cable and DSL are faster
than I can see). Now I'm waiting to see if the cable is reliable,
before dumping the land line. Of course, if cable isn't in your
area its not an option.
Rubaiyat of Omar Bradley wrote:
A friend has DirecTV's DirecWay for his internet connection and
does not use a landline [not required].

Yes, I'm familiar with Direcway, but unfortunately it would cost
more than 2 times as much as a landline. It would be much faster
than dialup, but for that kind of money I can afford to wait for a
few seconds for each page to load. Here is a price quote from the
DirecWay website:

"DIRECWAY gives you two ways to pay. Our up-front option lets you
pay $599.98 now, and then just $59.99 for Home service or $89.99
for Professional service per month for 15 months. Prefer to spread
out your payments? Then simply pay $99.99 up front, and $99.99 for
Home service or $129.99 for Professional service per month for the
first 15 months. After the 15th month, your monthly fee will drop
to the $59.99 or $89.99 rate per month."

John Cowart

My DSL 3.0/768 (Verizon) has unlimited downloading as well as an
excellent news server. Cable access in my area is provided by Comcast
with a secret download cap and so I've heard lousy news service.

--

Travis in Shoreline (just North of Seattle) Washington
USDA Zone 8
Sunset Zone 5