"Michael A. Terrell" wrote in message
...

Jim Wilkins wrote:

"Michael A. Terrell" wrote in message
...

The local library wouldn't let me access any news server when
my
phone service was out. I couldn't access Google Groups so my
guess
is that they had already had some fool abuse them, and blocked
the
IP addresses.

I have a prepaid cellular modem as a backup. It's usually available
during an electricity outage and costs nothing when not enabled.

It has lower system priority than voice calls and isn't always
faster
overall than my dialup because it halts completely at peak call
times
such as around 9AM. Off-peak it's 10 - 20 times faster, almost
enough
to keep up with Youtube.


Cell service sucks around here. Too many users, and the NIMBYs
raise
hell about building more towers. I use a Magic Jack 2014 that plugs
into
my router. That takes care of a clean phone line, when Brighthouse
isn't asleep at the switch, or busy downgrading quality.

Mine is poor too, but good enough to watch near-live weather radar (so
is dialup) and it's faster at night when I use it for large program
updates. I have two semi-reliable dialup ISPs and am considering
dropping the more expensive for cellular, as they appear to share the
same trunk coming into the modem pool.

DSL isn't an option for my long, old copper pair, although the phone
company switched me to a cleaner spare pair, removed the filters and
bridge taps from it and cut it off beyond my house. It helps to know
what to ask for.

-jsw