New Internet Rates and Recycling

by Bob Seidel

- I haven't kept up with local broadband Internet pricing, but perhaps I should have. BellSouth DSL has decided to become more competitive with Road Runner, and now offers a new package called DSL Xtreme 6.0 which features 6 megabit speed. BellSouth offerings now include four levels of DSL performance; the low end DSL Lite is much slower but is competitive with dial-up rates. DSL Xtreme 6.0 is the fastest option and is cheaper and faster than Road Runner's standard home package (at about 5 megabits).

Road Runner now has three levels of service for home users including a low-end Road Runner Lite package, with the standard connection about 5 megabits now. But to beat the DSL 6.0 you need to get Road Runner's 8 megabit package, which is about $55 per month vs. DSL 6.0 at about $43.

The speeds I quoted are all download speeds (bandwidth) - the upload speeds are much less but those are really not that important as you usually don't upload much data. If you do upload a lot (example: online backups) you may want to check out these rates also.

Road Runner has a different pricing structure for businesses, but I am not sure about BellSouth. A quick peruse of bellsouth.com did not indicate that there was a different fee structure for businesses. You should also check the fine print - I do not believe that Road Runner charges for the modem and there is no long term commitment. BellSouth may charge for the modem in certain circumstances (their website says that the $75 charge for a modem is waved if you order online) and last time I looked there was a year commitment. Anyhow, shop before you buy - the roadmap is changing once again

- On the AP wire this morning was an announcement from Staples that they have begun a universal recycling program for PCs. According to the announcement you can bring any PC to Staples for recycling even if you didn't purchase it there. There is a fairly minimal charge of $10 per item (thus a system unit plus monitor would be charged $20) but there is no charge for small items such as keyboards and mice. Staples also recycles cell phones and other electronics, but not TVs.

Perhaps we could investigate a transfer point here in the Southport area or some other method of getting local PCs taken. Recycling of PCs is very important and it is just so unfortunate that there is no easy method locally to do that. I think it would also be wasteful for everybody to burn expensive gas just to bring their individual PCs up to Wilmington. Volunteers needed…

- An interesting video column on cnet.com recently presenting the proposition that the high definition DVD format wars will be decided by the financial impact of the porn industry. An interesting analogy was made to the VHS vs. Betamax format wars of the late 70s and implies that the porn industry was one of the prime supporters of VHS. That industry now seems to be getting behind HD DVD and in doing so is again going against Sony.

But if you check the Wiki article on Betamax you will see that this was debunked as urban legend, citing a column in Forbes that shows that industry's revenues and impact to be overrated.

In my case, I am getting desperate enough that I would welcome anything that forces a decision on HD DVD vs. Blu-ray. This may sound strange (and a bit morbid), but since I have turned 60 this year, I am wondering if I will EVER get high definition in my home! There is a significant chance that I may pass on before it comes into widespread use.

No, I am not depressed - so you armchair psychologists can relax.

(Bob Seidel is a local computer consultant in the Southport - Oak Island area. You can visit his Website at www.bobseidel.com or e-mail questions or column ideas to him at bsc@bobseidel.com. For specific inquiries, please call Bob Seidel Consulting, LLC at 278-1007.)