rod03801: Great offer at only 15 bucks a month! It is $30 here.. If you are using dialup now wait until you get high speed.. Swooosh! What a difference in page loads!

rod03801: We tried DSL before we went to cable and all we had was trouble. In our area at least, DSL is much slower (I mean significantly slower) than cable. I love my cable!

UzzyLady: What sort of trouble?

rod03801: Now granted this was several years ago, but we had all kinds of connectivity problems. We also had major billing problems. Every month was a nightmare.

I was going to suggest you check the price if you have cable TV as well. Sometimes the rates can be really good.

rod03801: At my old house, I had the (what is now called AT&T/Yahoo DSL), and I loved it.

It was cheap - about $15 a month for first year, and fast - well fast compared to dial-up. Plus for the price, if when it got close to a year, a quick call can keep that rate the same. (even though now I think it is always $15 a month - not sure)

When I moved, the AT&T/Yahoo DSL was unavailable at my new house - but Cable internet was - so I went with that. It is more expensive ($40 a month), but I also LOVE it because it is usually a lot faster then the phone DSL. I've had some minor issues with the cable - they had to come up about 4 times to replace something out on the pole - but other then those down-times, the speed is great. It would have been cheaper if we had cable TV to combo with the internet, but we don't have cable TV.

Other differences: Cable shares the speed with other connections close by. So if all your neighbors also have Cable internet, if they are doing a lot - it can also slow it down for you also. And when I say slow it down, I mean just very little - probable never down to the point of dial-up speeds. I've personally never noticed any type of slow-down where I live - then again, I don't know of any of my neighbors having cable internet.

Phone DSL is not "shared", but distance from where they have their DSL connection point can hurt speed. Chance are they will not even sell you service unless you are within a certain distance from one of those spots - so there should be no problem.

So in my opinion - go with the phone DSL - it is cheaper, unless you need very high speed, then try cable.

coan.net: Nah, I don't NEED very high speed. You need to remember, I just came from WebTV, so even dialup seems very fast. LOL... Having gotten a taste of the goodies available with a computer, I am disappointed with some things I just still can't do. (The slowness of downloading almost anything, for one!) I could live with it, though. But, when I received the email advertising the $14.95/month, which is only slightly higher than I am paying to get online now, it peaked my interest. Are there other costs I'm not considering? I believe the email even said the needed equipment was included. I wonder what system requirements there are, though? Maybe my computer isn't good enough to bother with highspeed?

My cable company does offer deals if you bundle it with phone and cable, but it is still about $30/month. Which I suppose is something to consider since I now pay about $50/month for cable. (Their deal is the standard all 3 for $100/month that I think most offer)

LOL.. too much info to have to consider. I need someone to just make the decision for me! lol...

Thanks for the input.

rod03801: For the AT&T/Yahoo DSL, you will also need a DSL modem which they will provide to you.

NOTE: This is me speaking from memory - things may have changed - I think now they even offer higher speeds for more $$$$ - but the lowest $14.95 a month deal is still very quick compared to dial-up.... and a good place to start in my opinion.

You need a DSL modem, which they will provide for you. It use to be like a year contract, you buy they modem for $79.99 - but could send away for a $79.99 rebate - so the modem would be "free". (NOTE: The rebate comes in an envelope that looks like junk mail - with the rebate check attached at the bottom of the letter. So make sure you don't quickly throw away junk mail, and be on the lookout for the rebate. I guess they figured they can save some money if people throw away their rebate check instead of cashing it.)

It also comes with a CD that you stick in your computer and will walk through all the step to setting everything up. Annoying for someone like me who wants to skip to the last step, but nice for people who could use the instructions on what to plug in where.

Your computer will either need a network card or USB. I'm not sure of other requirements for the PC - probable on their website - well whatever phone company you are going through - guess I'm writing assuming you are also under AT&T/Yahoo - but I guess you might be somewhere else - which in that case, the information above probable does not apply much.

coan.net: My phone company is Verizon.

Network card or USB? I have usb ports... is that what you mean? LOL, pardon my ignorance.

I think later today I will visit the website that the email links to, and see what I can find out. I figured I would get the info in plainer English here, than I would on the website. And I'm probably right about that.. lol..

rod03801: Dang! I am stuck in an area with no cable and only one company that can provide me with my DSL service, so they have a monopoly, and my rate of 37.50 per month proves it!

rod03801: You should have an ethernet card already. It will look like a 2nd phone jack in back but had a green light beside it. That would be all you need.

Check if they offer a wireless router even. The nice thing about that is you then have a choice of using the ethernet line or the wireless connection.

Most laptops these days come with the wireless card installed, so if you ever get a laptop you are all set.

And if Verizon ever offers Fios in your area, snap it up! Its worth every penny and even better than cable.

rod03801:USB Passorport are the same as broadband,well kinda in a way if you look at it like that.What if your using a satillite?

Eriisa knows,opened my eyes on that,I'm just Universal.

rod03801: I've had the AT&TYahoo DSL for a couple years. They gave my the modum and an ethernet card that had to be installed in the computer plus 5 (widgets) You must plug a widget into any phone jack in your house you use for a phone and then plug the phone into the widget. Plus one widget between the computer and a phone jack. One plus over some local dial up is the abiliety to use the computer and the phone at the same time. It made peace in my house. Can you believe I was accused of being on the computer all the time so the phone could never be used