The Case for Dial Up Internet Access

There is no denying the fact that broadband has a huge advantage over dial up access. But as with everything in life, there are two sides to the coin.

You can access videos, games, download software, and generally surf much faster than with dial up.

But... let's look at some facts.

For starters, the cost of broadband access is at least twice as expensive as dial up. For people on fixed incomes - and this includes a large percentage of the US population, this is a huge extra burden. Spending an extra $30 per month can be the difference whether a family can afford that yearly vacation (or get that needed new tire for the car, etc. etc..)

The second compelling reason for dial up is ...kids' access to porn ...the hard core variety.

There was a shocking report recently by Forrester. In a survey done in the U.K., 38% of kids under the age of 12 admitted that they have viewed hard core porn videos online. Such figures are the stuff that give parents sleepless nights.

There is no reason to doubt that the numbers are much different here in North America.

To a large part, kids' access to porn has to do with broadband. With dial up, it isn't that easy to download - or even view - video online. Broadband makes it all too easy.

The internet is a wonderful tool for learning. Students can do research instantly - on a scale that could only be dreamed of in the previous generation. But research and learning has to do with text (with some very minor exceptions). Dial up is most ideal for it. Kids do not need broadband for study.

Educators are in a quandary. On the one hand, they encourage students to use the internet for study. On the other hand, educators and child psychologists are in almost unanimous agreement that viewing of porn by children has a very strong detrimental effect on them.

There are all kinds of parental controls available. But as the survey showed, they aren't of much value. Kids know computers better than their parents, and know how to get around controls and filters. The survey showed that the majority of porn access was when their parents were out - the kids were left alone in the house.

Indeed, some educators have started advising adults on an almost radical solution. They are saying that basically, there are only two ways to avoid having children accessing porn online.

1) If one parent (or other adult) is always at home AND in the vicinity of the computer.

2) For people who have no choice and must leave the kids alone in the house (this constitutes the vast majority of the population), they are advised to install broadband access only on laptops, and to TAKE the laptop with them when going out. Sure sounds radical.

The easy solution, as mentioned above, is having ONLY dial up access in the house. While this isn't the perfect solution, it goes a long way in cutting back viewing of hard core videos by kids.

So, people trumpeting that the end of dial up is here are not basing it on the reality of the situation.

Dial up access will be around until a totally new, revolutionary type of filter that is truly tamper-proof is developed for home PCs. Until then, many parents will insist on having only dial up access on their kid's computer and/or in their home.

Based on the above two reasons, we can expect that Dial Up ISPs will be around for a long time to come.