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  • AKICIF: Inexpensive Internet?

    From Keith F. Lynch@21:1/5 to All on Thu Feb 24 04:55:48 2022
    A friend of mine lost his dialup Internet service several years ago
    when his copper phone service was forcibly replaced with FiOS fiber.
    His dialup modem wouldn't work on his FiOS phone line.

    He's not willing to pay for FiOS broadband Internet, which costs much
    more than dialup. He doesn't need the speed, as he just wants to send
    and receive plain text email. He doesn't have a cell phone.

    He has savings, but no income. He owns his own house.

    This is in Prince George's County Maryland, and he is elderly (70s),
    but not eligible for Social Security.

    He doesn't drive, and isn't within walking distance of a public library.

    How can he get inexpensive Internet service? Thanks.
    --
    Keith F. Lynch - http://keithlynch.net/
    Please see http://keithlynch.net/email.html before emailing me.

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From Charles Packer@21:1/5 to Keith F. Lynch on Thu Feb 24 08:54:59 2022
    On Thu, 24 Feb 2022 04:55:48 +0000, Keith F. Lynch wrote:

    A friend of mine lost his dialup Internet service several years ago when
    his copper phone service was forcibly replaced with FiOS fiber. His
    dialup modem wouldn't work on his FiOS phone line.

    He's not willing to pay for FiOS broadband Internet, which costs much
    more than dialup. He doesn't need the speed, as he just wants to send
    and receive plain text email. He doesn't have a cell phone.

    He has savings, but no income. He owns his own house.

    This is in Prince George's County Maryland, and he is elderly (70s), but
    not eligible for Social Security.

    He doesn't drive, and isn't within walking distance of a public library.

    How can he get inexpensive Internet service? Thanks.

    This thought occurred to me: Since all he does is email, he probably
    doesn't spend that much time on the internet. So he could take his
    laptop to the nearest public place that has open wi-fi access and
    take care of it there.

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From Charles Packer@21:1/5 to Keith F. Lynch on Thu Feb 24 08:45:38 2022
    On Thu, 24 Feb 2022 04:55:48 +0000, Keith F. Lynch wrote:

    A friend of mine lost his dialup Internet service several years ago when
    his copper phone service was forcibly replaced with FiOS fiber. His
    dialup modem wouldn't work on his FiOS phone line.

    He's not willing to pay for FiOS broadband Internet, which costs much
    more than dialup. He doesn't need the speed, as he just wants to send
    and receive plain text email. He doesn't have a cell phone.

    He has savings, but no income. He owns his own house.

    This is in Prince George's County Maryland, and he is elderly (70s), but
    not eligible for Social Security.

    He doesn't drive, and isn't within walking distance of a public library.

    How can he get inexpensive Internet service? Thanks.

    Not to be nosy, but how did he earn enough to buy a house without
    amassing the necessary 40 credits for Social Security?

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From Gary R. Schmidt@21:1/5 to Keith F. Lynch on Thu Feb 24 21:04:07 2022
    On 24/02/2022 15:55, Keith F. Lynch wrote:
    A friend of mine lost his dialup Internet service several years ago
    when his copper phone service was forcibly replaced with FiOS fiber.
    His dialup modem wouldn't work on his FiOS phone line.

    He's not willing to pay for FiOS broadband Internet, which costs much
    more than dialup. He doesn't need the speed, as he just wants to send
    and receive plain text email. He doesn't have a cell phone.

    He has savings, but no income. He owns his own house.

    This is in Prince George's County Maryland, and he is elderly (70s),
    but not eligible for Social Security.

    He doesn't drive, and isn't within walking distance of a public library.

    How can he get inexpensive Internet service? Thanks.

    Note that this may not apply in the USA, but here in Oz I would suggest
    getting a Wireless Internet Dongle and a pre-paid data-only SIM card, so
    that when he runs out of data he can re-charge at his leisure.

    I did a similar thing with my 80 year-old Mother when they stopped
    putting the cinema schedules in the paper. I got her a Mobile-capable
    tablet and a data-only SIM, it worked for her for years, until it got
    too difficult for her to go to the theatre.

    Cheers,
    Gary B-)

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From Steve Coltrin@21:1/5 to Charles Packer on Thu Feb 24 10:22:07 2022
    begin fnord
    Charles Packer <mailbox@cpacker.org> writes:

    Not to be nosy, but how did he earn enough to buy a house without
    amassing the necessary 40 credits for Social Security?

    Some jobs don't pay into Social Security, but (in my experience at
    least) they have their own pension systems.

    --
    Steve Coltrin spcoltri@omcl.org Google Groups killfiled here
    "A group known as the League of Human Dignity helped arrange for Deuel
    to be driven to a local livestock scale, where he could be weighed."
    - Associated Press

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From Keith F. Lynch@21:1/5 to Charles Packer on Fri Feb 25 03:28:52 2022
    Charles Packer <mailbox@cpacker.org> wrote:
    Not to be nosy, but how did he earn enough to buy a house without
    amassing the necessary 40 credits for Social Security?

    He inherited it. He was born in it more than 70 years ago, he lived
    in it his whole life, and, having no siblings, he inherited it when
    his parents died. His parents had of course paid off the mortgage
    decades ago.

    His largest expense is the property tax. Fortunately, the property
    tax is relatively low. Unfortunately, that's because he lives in a
    high-crime neighborhood.

    Because he lives in a high-crime neighborhood, he's reluctant to carry
    his laptop computer to a business with Wi-Fi.
    --
    Keith F. Lynch - http://keithlynch.net/
    Please see http://keithlynch.net/email.html before emailing me.

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From Kevrob@21:1/5 to Keith F. Lynch on Fri Feb 25 09:40:42 2022
    On Thursday, February 24, 2022 at 10:28:54 PM UTC-5, Keith F. Lynch wrote:
    Charles Packer <mai...@cpacker.org> wrote:
    Not to be nosy, but how did he earn enough to buy a house without
    amassing the necessary 40 credits for Social Security?
    He inherited it. He was born in it more than 70 years ago, he lived
    in it his whole life, and, having no siblings, he inherited it when
    his parents died. His parents had of course paid off the mortgage
    decades ago.

    His largest expense is the property tax. Fortunately, the property
    tax is relatively low. Unfortunately, that's because he lives in a
    high-crime neighborhood.

    Because he lives in a high-crime neighborhood, he's reluctant to carry
    his laptop computer to a business with Wi-Fi.
    --

    Internet/phone companies offer special breaks to seniors.
    Try searching for "Lifeline" service.

    https://www.fcc.gov/lifeline-consumers

    --
    Kevin R

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From Wolffan@21:1/5 to Keith F. Lynch on Sat Feb 26 09:19:40 2022
    On 2022 Feb 23, Keith F. Lynch wrote
    (in article <sv734k$mjd$1@reader1.panix.com>):

    A friend of mine lost his dialup Internet service several years ago
    when his copper phone service was forcibly replaced with FiOS fiber.
    His dialup modem wouldn't work on his FiOS phone line.

    He's not willing to pay for FiOS broadband Internet, which costs much
    more than dialup. He doesn't need the speed, as he just wants to send
    and receive plain text email. He doesn't have a cell phone.

    He has savings, but no income. He owns his own house.

    This is in Prince George's County Maryland, and he is elderly (70s),
    but not eligible for Social Security.

    He doesn't drive, and isn't within walking distance of a public library.

    How can he get inexpensive Internet service? Thanks.

    T-mob has ’senior’ plans (55+) for $30-50/month explicitly including 5G hotspots with 5-40 GB of data/month. I would expect that AT&T and Verizon
    have similar plans, but I _know_ that T-mob does. I have T-mob on my iPad and one iPhone, and the hotspot is live. I have AT&T on the other phone, the plan I’m on there doesn’t include a hotspot, AT&T wants an additional
    $10/month, which they’re not going to get. If I paid it would be ‘unlimited’, a.k.a. 100 GB/month. AT&T doesn’t fully understand
    English. T-mob rolls over any unused data bandwidth; I have a year to use it up.

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From Wolffan@21:1/5 to All on Sat Feb 26 09:23:28 2022
    On 2022 Feb 25, Kevrob wrote
    (in article<9df50f80-e618-4ea8-886f-65c5c1d7acd7n@googlegroups.com>):

    On Thursday, February 24, 2022 at 10:28:54 PM UTC-5, Keith F. Lynch wrote:
    Charles Packer <mai...@cpacker.org> wrote:
    Not to be nosy, but how did he earn enough to buy a house without amassing the necessary 40 credits for Social Security?
    He inherited it. He was born in it more than 70 years ago, he lived
    in it his whole life, and, having no siblings, he inherited it when
    his parents died. His parents had of course paid off the mortgage
    decades ago.

    His largest expense is the property tax. Fortunately, the property
    tax is relatively low. Unfortunately, that's because he lives in a high-crime neighborhood.

    Because he lives in a high-crime neighborhood, he's reluctant to carry
    his laptop computer to a business with Wi-Fi.
    --

    Internet/phone companies offer special breaks to seniors.
    Try searching for "Lifeline" service.

    https://www.fcc.gov/lifeline-consumers

    T-mob offers several ‘55+’ accounts, and offers a ‘home hotspot. I’m pretty sure that Verizon does as well. AT&T probably does, too.

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From garabik-news-2005-05@kassiopeia.jul@21:1/5 to Keith F. Lynch on Thu Mar 3 05:29:06 2022
    Keith F. Lynch <kfl@keithlynch.net> wrote:
    Charles Packer <mailbox@cpacker.org> wrote:

    Because he lives in a high-crime neighborhood, he's reluctant to carry
    his laptop computer to a business with Wi-Fi.

    This implies there are free wifi hotspots within walking distance.
    2.4GHz yagi makes wonders for the signal, the last time I was interested
    in this on Aliexpress it was maybe $10 for the cheapest ones (build
    quality... varies - including shorted dipole in one of the reeviews).
    Even a short 1/4λ antenna makes a lot of difference compared to the
    built in notebook adapters.

    Better yet, put a small wifi dongle into a focal point of a discarded
    60cm satellite dish (courtesy of a local junkyard). This makes
    connection within many kilometers possible.

    --
    -----------------------------------------------------------
    | Radovan Garabík http://kassiopeia.juls.savba.sk/~garabik/ |
    | __..--^^^--..__ garabik @ kassiopeia.juls.savba.sk |
    -----------------------------------------------------------
    Antivirus alert: file .signature infected by signature virus.
    Hi! I'm a signature virus! Copy me into your signature file to help me spread!

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)