What would you do?

[sounderella]

Question for y'all. I'm trying to cut back right now and I've been looking at our internet service. Currently we are paying $57.95 for cable internet. We don't have cable tv so that's why it's so much. I've been looking at DSL which would save us $12.75 a month... however it is much slower. Actually it's the slowest speed that DSL offers. We only need it for surfing and if we need to do a major download we can do it at work. There would be a fee of $46 to connect it. My question is, would you switch?

[inanewellington]

If you can live with a slower speed, there are no new equipment charges to convert to dsl, there are no break fees for your cable connection then yes. As it stands it will take you 3.6 months to 'save' the equivalent of the dsl connection fee, so you should also consider how long you are going to remain on dsl, the saving becomes more attractive the longer your timeframe.

[mikewoodbooks]

We use Sprint which has phone service bundled with DSL for $80 a month including taxes. I think it was probably promoted as $59.95/month, but by the time you add in all the extra fees, it ends of being $80/month. But here's the trick. First you sign up with them, and typically you get a 785kbs speed. Then a couple months later you say, oh i got an offer in the mail from your competitor, there promising my X, but if you'll give me your high speed dsl for the same rate i'm paying now i'll stay with you. My friends and i have all done this and we're getting 2 or 3 mbs at the cheap rate (normally they want an extra $20/month for each bump up in speed).
So I would take a close look at how much you're paying per month for phone service. You may well do better to bundle your internet with your phone rather than your internet with your cable.

[asianpear]

If you can stand waiting for pages to load for a while and it doesn't bother you, then hooray for you! You should definitely go to DSL if it won't drive you crazy. I can stand not having a phone or cable, but I really can't live without fast internet. To be honest, I spend at least 5-10 hours per day online.

[meatloafkend]

If you think DSL is slow, try dial-up! I have dial up because I'm out in the country. I would absolutely switch over to DSL. The speed wouldn't be enough to keep me from saving almost $13 per month.

[Coleroo]

If I had to pay that much for internet, I'd be using the library.. Right now, we have Road Runner Lite Broadband for $19.95 per month, and the only way we let ourselves afford that is because online revenue from some of my websites pays for it.

Do you do a lot of downloading or such that warrents the actual NEED for speed??

I guess you have to decide which is more important to you - saving money or surfing faster. If it were me, I'd not only switch, but I'd search even deeper for a service cheaper than that.

[Gailete]

Another one in the country with dial up. We usually get connected at 22.4 bps! And we are trying to run an on-line business!!! But we can't afford the cost to get the higher speed. For big downloads, etc. I go to the library with my laptop and use the WiFi for free.

Gail

[LivingAlmostLarge]

I pay $99/month for fios cable, internet, and phone. I don't need the cable or phone really but it's ridiculous to pay $50 for just internet. Plus my DH likes the cable and would complain. So that would turn into $80/month anyway.

I justify it by making money off my blog. It pays for stuff like that.

[MonkeyMama]

Yikes! We just switched from Cable to "Basic" DSL. It's only $25/month. I don't notice any speed difference.

(I just confirmed with hubby - same speed. AT&T offers slower speed for $15/month - but is dialup speed basically, says the techie guy. We didn't get anything top tier but it is fast enough. No issues at all. & we would not settle for anything "slow.").

Anyway, the more I read about cable/DSL costs, the luckier I feel. We can choose from a lot of services. I don't even think Comcast DSL was that much more expensive than AT&T.

But I am still bummed we lost our cable company - they were really reasonable, small guys, and comcast bought them out. Bah.

Anyway, the answer to your question: depends how slow. Can you test another computer (friends?) with the same speed? If it is as slow as dial up, I wouldn't do it. If it is faster than that, I am sure it is all you would need.

[Broken Arrow]

The irony is that I am moving back to cable.

I have DSL right now, but when combined with the pre-requisite landline that I don't need, the total is $70 a month for the bundle. Not bad for dedicated broadband... and if I actually needed a landline, but it's still too much for my taste.

The local cable provider is willing to give me just cable internet for less than half that price, but at half the speed and having to share bandwidth.

Still, not a bad deal to save $40 a month I think.

[sounderella]

Follow up: We did end up switching to DSL. I was able to find a plan that didn't require a phone line. We have one anyways but it has no calling plan or features and it is a straight .10 a min for outbound calls and free inbound. We ended up getting the same speed we had with cable and it actually ended up being about $39 a month with our discount for coming over from cable. Also, there were no connection fees and the modem was free after mail in rebate. Going into our 2nd month, no complaints here.

[Johansen8]

Im sorry but I personally don't like DSL