Off-topic discussion split from Question for Linux Users
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Although you didn't ask me I can pretty much answer it and that is broadband is too expensive here in the U.S.A. for allot of people myself included and it's not a viable option even though there are vast speed advantages, especially since the cheap ISP's are in existence for allot of us at $9.99 or slightly higher for other dial-up options.

And for the life of me I don't know why the hell some company doesn't have digital cable for t.v. with broadband Internet and broadband phone service included at a sane price say $50 (oh but they do but you'd have to be near impoverished to be solicated such a low price), which isn't anywhere near $100 or more it would actually cost. Well for me it would be approx $50 for broadband Internet, $50-$100 for digital cable t.v. (depending upon the package purchased), plus another $40-$50 for broadband phone service which is anywhere from $140-$200 and that's too much considering all other costs like food, lights & gas for the home, fuel for the automobile, property tax, etc., I could go on forever. There's the American dream: Sky high bills galore and it gets worst every year as more people enter the lower-middleclass designation or worse here in the U.S.A.

At the moment in the UK Andavari, providers are falling over themselves to get your custom. Very cheap deals are on offer for combined broadband, phone and sky digital.
The cost of gas and electric is so high now though, you have to decide, as you say, which you consider more important to your family needs.

i guess its apples and oranges everywhere. i pay approximately 50$ per month for hydro electricity and approximately 105$ per month for natural gas (to heat the home). my home is a 1500 square foot 4 level split, so thats actually quite cheap compared to a lot of places. another 80$ or so per month for my television/internet/phone (not including our cell phones) is (in my opinion) an acceptable cost for the entertainment and uses that they provide.

all canadian dollars by the way.

Well I've heard for several years where ISP's were as you stated falling over themselves to get consumers in Europe and elsewhere and I even heard of AOL giving away free Internet in some parts of Europe, whilst here in the U.S. prices have increased to some extent with AOL being a prime example.

At least ISP's like NetZero and PeoplePC (both dial-up) started the "cheap" ISP's that even AOL had to get into via their subsidiary Netscape. Now if they could only figure a way to make broadband affordable for all which is something the current U.S. president Bush had stated about making it affordable in a speech a few short years ago - which is yet to be realized.

Well, do you have flat-rate dial-up?
Or do your dial-up pay for every minute you are online?
If you pay for every minute you are online, isn't it more expensive than broadband?

Also, there are many broadband from different operators at different price, like 1 mbit/s have one price, then there is 2 mbit/s and maybe 5 mbit/s and 8 mbit/s and 10 mbit/s or something and you can pick one which is good for your price. All broadband in USA is expensive?
That truely sucks.

I have broadband TV via my ISP too, its like 32€ too, but then its 50€ every 6 month for some card or something, so its not so cheap. Most stuff on TV is crap, but I like The Simpsons, Family Guy and sometimes some other stuff. I also like the extra pay channels we get which actually does have movies.

I also have broadband telephony, it is free call to everybody who have same ISP as us. I don't know the price of it. Due to my retarded brothers using the phones to call cellphones the bill was high, so I called the ISP/phone-company and made them block outgoing cellphone calls, now the bill is much much more cheaper.

You can get bicycle instead of ride car. You can buy low-energy lamps instead of lightbulbs. You can turn off lights in room where nobody is. You can turn off or unplug devices instead of let them be on standby mode. You can mount a solarcell panel on the roof that generates electricity.

Yeah it's flat-rate as you say, or as the ISP's say unlimited Internet for $9.99 or whatever they charge. I don't think most people in their right frame of mind would pay per minute for measly dial-up unless they had no choice and accepted toll charges.


Indeed most stuff on TV is crap like allot of the reality shows which I wish would just die off, and all the re-runs that I could seriously do without but there are a few handful of shows that have me suscribe to cable t.v. being Battlestar Galactica (the new series), Formula 1, The 4400, MotorWeek, some of the movies on FX channel, and just a few others.


Yeah a bicycle can indeed reduce the dependancy on an automobile or motored vehicle but let's be real it's in no way convenient when traveling long distances and if you lived where I did all these damn hills would kick your ass in a hurry on a bicycle as it isn't all flat and easy peddling.

The low-energy light bulb thing is something I do and the house is typically dark anyways which creeps some people out - maybe I was a bat in a previous life.

Solar panels aren't cheap if they weren't integrated into a house during construction because then a conversion would have to take place. However if I were to build a brand new house or completely renovate one it would have a roof covered with solar panels and the basement would have those large massive several feet tall either glass or plastic containers of water which hold the solar generated heat for heating the house during cold months, but I also think they work for cooling in the summer months.

When I had my USRobotics 28,8k dial-up modem, it wasn't flat-rate, it was pay per minute. That sucked.

Ask around, there must be some cheap broadband. Or atleast ISDN if you don't already use that.

It is strange how USA invented the Internet but have so sucky slow and expensive Internet connection. In Sweden nobody is on dial-up anymore. The slowest is 128 kbit/s, but I don't think much people are on that either.