Hi. Acquired the AT&T connect card in December and found that it wasn't any faster than dial-up at first. The representative said sometime in January I should see a substantial increase in speed after the upgrades were made from their end. As recently as a few days ago I called and asked when it would get faster and they said "soon." Well for the past two days my download speeds have increased from 4 to 5 kb/sec to between 15 and 20kb per second. It isn't just my imagination either but the internet is MUCH faster now than when I had dial-up. That is with just a "good" connection as opposed to "very good" or "excellent" connections which I sometimes get. Even though it isn't as fast as DSL or cable yet I've been told that it is just a matter of time before those speeds will be available. Overall I am very happy with the service and only expect it to get better. After 15 years of dial-up this is like a million dollars to a blue collar worker. I don't believe you would be disappointed in getting the card. Regards.

I've had Dish for several years and any time they told me the problem required a home visit I was charged around $100. When I complained, I was told I could purchase a plan in which I paid a monthly fee and then, if they had to come out, it would cost me only $XX. I feel very strongly that because my reception is so much poorer than my neighbor's (his dish is about 300 feet away and we both built on previous farmland so there are no trees anywhere near our houses) there has to be a problem somewhere in their equipment. A while ago I raised enough hell that they did send someone without charging me and the technician told me I had the wrong dish! He installed a different one and my problems did diminish for a while. It was quite a session with a poor guy with a wicked accent that I could hardly understand that got me any help. I kept telling the man on the phone that their service had been substandard from day one and I refused to pay for anyone to come out, but I did expect to have the problem resolved. I didn't abuse the poor man but after every scripted apology he gave me I repeated that I wanted to talk to his supervisor. He put me on hold three or four times and each time he returned and read me the responses the company uses to stonewall customers. I persisted and he finally returned and said an exception would be made and indeed, a tech person would arrive at my house the next day. That is when the man changed the dish and the reception improved for a while. I became too angry to use this technique last night and I just decided to end the conversation. I can't remember the last time I have become so angry. Besides considering their service to be extremely poor, I refuse to pay them to come and correct a problem I did not create. There is no foliage blocking the signal, there is no ice buildup on the dish, there is no snow on the dish. The weather (I checked local radar) was light snow. Because the signal was gone for at least 7 hours I believe something really was wrong with their signal. Still, I recall that in the past and very occasionally, when my phone service went out, the telephone company credited my bill for time lost. My biggest beef with Dish is that they expect me to pay for repairs that I have done nothing to cause. I havenÂt called TDS regarding the slow DSL service because I want to get someone out here, and I will pay him, to go over my computer and make sure the PC isnÂt the reason for the loss in speed. Thanks for the responses and suggestions. Nancy

I have enjoyed the disucssions here. I am on the quest to find what I will be able to do in my new RV. The main issue will of course be first getting a wifi signal from something. I do have an ATT air card which has a 5GB cap, I have my cell phone but have the minimum data plan on it currently and they do not offer an unlimited. I have a zyxel portable router that can make a hotspot from a wifi signal. 11n-compatible Wi-Fi router supports DSL/Cable and 3G connectivity, and a unique failover capability; should your wired connection be interrupted for any reason, the MWR222 will automatically switch to a 3G/4G wireless signal via the users Mobile Broadband Adapter modem. So now I have the ability to have enough wifi in the RV to use any of the devices I want to use. but I need to search out other cheap(ha!) sources to obtain an internet signal on the road. I know some places we will stay do provide free wifi and using my own portable router will make that wifi secure, but for those places out in the boondocks that don't provide wifi, I will need some kind of access. My ATT air card at 5GB cap sure won't allow much streaming of anything. Any thoughts? I have been looking at Roku and other boxes and with the usb port I definitely could download plenty of my own content to have available to view for the times I am not able to gain decent access to anything. The RV does have a roof top antenna and it is wired for cable for when we are at a site with cable. I do have direct tv at home and I know they do offer an on the road version to be able to use you current direct tv account with RV direct tv equipment, no idea of additional costs. the zyxel I have MWR222

I'll try to answer several of your questions. Yes, you will need a special router, but I would NOT buy the one the salesman is pushing on you. I have one made by Cradlepoint (the CTR350) which I bought at Amazon.com and did not pay nearly that much for it. It is very small and I plug the wireless "card" (modem) into a USB port on the router. Then I connect my desktop computer via Ethernet (cat 5 cable). I connect my laptop via the wireless signal sent from the router. It is very easy to set up the security on the router. In addition, I also use software firewalls on my computers. The built-in wireless in the laptop is not the same thing as what you plug in. It allows the laptop to receive and use wireless signals, and all new laptops come with this. Now whether this would be faster than your DSL is questionable. Sometimes my service with Verizon is quite fast, but at busy times, mostly evenings, it slows down quite a bit. With DSL you have a dedicated line, so your speed should remain constant. I went this route, because I cannot get DSL or cable, and I suffered over 2 years with satellite. Then Verizon's 3-G (EVDO) became available to me. You need to be fairly close to a tower to get a good, strong signal also. If your cell phone service is good, chances are the wireless Internet would be good, also. I was able to buy a used "card", which is really a modem, so that I was not locked into a contract and I can end the service at any time without penalty. So it's your call. If you are unhappy with your DSL, you might give it a try. Do they have a trial period during which you can return anything and only owe for the usage you had? If not. . . . .It's your call.