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[-] robocall@lemmy.world 12 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago)

In the U.S., according to Census Bureau data, an estimated 163,401 households were using dial-up alone to get online in 2023, representing just over 0.13% of all homes with internet subscriptions nationwide.

Are these households in rural areas without many alternatives?

Starlink is available in the vast majority of the US. What is the cost difference though?

edit: i dont like elon musk or starlink

[-] whereyaaat@lemmings.world 6 points 1 day ago

Starlink actually sucks fat dick unless it's literally your only option.

Even in rural America, you still have access to Visible's unlimited data for $25/month. They use Verizon's network, which covers just about everywhere people live in the US.

[-] ___ 1 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago)

I didn't realize Visible has unlimited hotspotting. ATT/TMO block/paywall that, though it's possible to bypass using custom ROMs or non carrier firmware in some cases

[-] Zephorah@discuss.online 8 points 1 day ago

Mashable did an article on it, saying it wasn’t easy to find but $9.99/mo appeared to be the cost, still, after all this time. But it would only run on windows PCs.

[-] brbposting@sh.itjust.works 1 points 1 day ago

No way. Kind of awesome of them maybe unless ulterior motives

[-] Reverendender@sh.itjust.works 5 points 1 day ago
[-] cmnybo@discuss.tchncs.de 2 points 1 day ago

You can get the roam plan for $50 a month. If you were doing fine with dial-up, then the 50GB data cap shouldn't be an issue. You could even use the standby mode for $5 a month for 11 months out of the year and will still be an order of magnitude faster than the dial-up connection.

[-] AmbiguousProps@lemmy.today 1 points 1 day ago

I would rather use dialup.

[-] some_kind_of_guy@lemmy.world 3 points 1 day ago

There are other legacy satellite providers like hughesnet that are somehow still hanging on. They don't really hold a candle to starlink performance-wise, and they shit the bed in bad weather, but at least they're not Elon. There's going to be a lot of latency, but it'll feel blazing fast if you're coming from dialup.

There are other dialup providers still remaining as well, besides AOL. I know msn is still kicking at least. It's kind of funny to think about receiving dialup service when almost all POTS lines have gone away, and much of the modern web will be borderline unusable without lots of tweaking, but at least grandma who lives out in the sticks can check her email, use chat clients, download articles and books, etc.

[-] heavyboots@lemmy.ml 3 points 1 day ago

Probably about 1 year's worth of dial-up per month of Starlink, if not more…

[-] Semi_Hemi_Demigod@lemmy.world 2 points 1 day ago* (last edited 18 hours ago)

New retirement gig: Fill the gap in the market for super-rural dialup.

It’d be like the new version of a rural post office. I could actually be a lineman for the county!

[-] frongt@lemmy.zip 2 points 1 day ago

There's no market. Fixed wireless is the current thing.

[-] sp3ctr4l@lemmy.dbzer0.com 3 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago)

Its not perfect to replace for all those rural households, but a 5G based internet 'gateway' is an affordable and viable option for people at least somewhere near a 5G tower.

Unlike that national fiber build out that never really happened to anywhere near the extent that was promised, its not that expensive to set up a 5G cell tower, and for users its eaaay cheaper than any satellite internet, including Starlink.

[-] JackbyDev@programming.dev 3 points 1 day ago

Okay but about the fiber shit, they covered 99.7% of my city and didn't cover my street and I'm within walking distance of city hall. I really wish there was a way I could compel them to give me fiber. One of the few things I dislike about my location.

this post was submitted on 01 Oct 2025
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