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Have a Broadband Connection? Need a backup?
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The answer is "Yes," whether you know it or not.
You need a backup for your broadband solution. The time to arrange it is before you need it.
I've got a cable modem, which means I have a really fast Internet connection. But, what happens to my Internet connection if my power goes off? That's what happened when Hurricane Katrina came to town.
My cable company has Uninterruptable Power Supplies on the cable system. They need these in order to provide phone service during power outages. Unfortunately, they don't appear to have diesel-powered generators for the system. When the outage was longer than a very few hours, the system went down -- no cable Internet and no cable television.
Like Walter did in the article above, you can sign up for NetZero's "Get Free NetZero Internet Access for 10 hours per month" deal.
What a great option at a fantastic price — free!
In my personal case, I've already got a prepaid Internet deal that I've used for a couple years and am happy with it. So, I plan to sign up for NetZero's free service to use as a backup and for travel. My prepaid service through BudgetDialup.com will become my "second-level" backup — for those times when I have exceeded my 10 free hours at NetZero.
The dialup system I currently use for travel and backup is BudgetDialup.com's prepaid Internet service, and it sure came in handly on August 29, 2005. With my notebook computer, I used my BudgetDialup.com dialup account to access the Internet and keep informed on what was happening as Hurricane Katrina finished with our area. Even more important for subscribers to my free Terry's Computer Tips email newsletter, I also used it to I could send my newsletter that day!
With local numbers in many large and small cities, and an 800 number for use in the rest of the U.S., BudgetDialup.com provides easy dialup access to the Internet. If you ever travel internationally, BudgetDialup.com also access phone numbers for the rest of the world.
BudgetDialup's prepaid system offers options of 10 hours ($5.95), 20 hours ($9.95), and 60 hours ($28.95) — all of which roll-over the hours from month to month, until they expire 365 days after their purchase date. BudgetDialup also offers a 120 hours per month plan and a 5-hour free trial. The monthly plan and the free trial are only good for local-access numbers, not 800 numbers, nor are they good outside the 48 contiguous U.S. states and Canada.
If you access their service via a toll-free number or from outside the 48 U.S. States and Canada, then you are charged "equivalent minutes." Toll-free calls with the U.S. are charged at a 6-equivalent-minute per clock minute rate — in other words, the $5.95/10 hour package would only provide 100 minutes of 800-number access. Still, that's much better than long-distance telephone rates. Equivalent-minute rates differ for different parts of the world, but they don't differ by much.
Try NetZero's NetZero's Free Dialup Internet Service. Please use the links in my article.
Link to this page — just add this code to your web page!
<a href="http://www.terryscomputertips.com/computers/backup-for-cable-dsl-connection.php">Backup for a Cable or DSL Connection?</a>
Copyright © 2006 Terry A. Stockdale. All rights reserved.
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