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Life in Slow Motion: How to Live without DSL

By Zemfira Kurbanova

There are cost-effective options now with Internet speeds | Photo credit: MS Clips

Less than a decade ago, having a "high speed" Internet connection was considered a luxury that only those with privilege or substantial social connections could have.

Well, maybe it wasn’t that bad, but it was definitely much rarer and more expensive back then because of the cable networks' infancy stages of development.

These days, cable networks run throughout every urban area, making "high speed" more of a synonym for "regular speed" Internet. However, those folks who don’t live in urban areas don’t usually get to enjoy the same level of telecom infrastructure as those who live in the city do, relegating them to the aforementioned days of when cable Internet was an exclusivity that they could only hope to have one day.

If you’re one of these people, don’t worry, because there are solutions. The first is to purchase an Aircard. Most cell phone providers offer them, and usually give you a discount if you buy one when you renew your contract. The Aircard itself is essentially a wireless modem that connects to your USB drive, streaming data from the same wireless network that you would use if you were on the Internet on your phone.

If you think using your cell phone provider’s Internet network sounds a little limited and expensive, you’re completely correct. Aircards are usually around $100 to buy, but the real shamelessness begins with their data rates and penalties. Most cards will have plans that run from $20 to $60 a month, or $15 a day for one-time use. If you ever exceed your allotted time, though, you best believe that the bill will show you no mercy for every minute you go over.

If this doesn’t sound appealing at all to you, there’s the much more popular option of satellite-based Internet. For example, HughesNet satellite Internet will give you speeds comparable to cable-based Internet, but will limit you to 200-400 mb of data transfer a day. Instead of charging you an obscene amount for this like an Aircard potentially would, it simply will lower your speed to 56k for 24 hours (irritating, yes, but much better than having to take a loan out to pay your Aircard bill) if you exceed your limit. Having a satellite dish for Internet is also a much greener choice, since it’s better than using a cable line, which impacts miles of earth on its way from a substation to your home.

If none of these choices sound like viable options for you, then you can always consider this third choice, which is having no Internet at all at home. While that may initially sound shocking, for some people, it could make perfect sense.

With many of us being able to take care of errands via our Internet connections at work or with a cell phone, letting your home personal computer go au naturel might be a cheaper, better decision than you’d think.

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Life in Slow Motion: How to Live without DSL