Dial up ISP for Intel Mac?

Jimmy King

My father in law just switched from a Windows box to a fancy new Intel based Mac Mini based upon my recommendation (I couldn't in good conscience recommend he buy a $500 dell with Vista on it like he was looking at). Unfortunately, I seem to be running into a bit of an issue. He uses the Netscape ISP right now and would prefer to stay with one of those cheap $10/month ISPs which all require special software.

Do any of these cheap ISPs have software compatible with an Intel Mac? They all only list G3 and G4 processor specs for the requirements so I'm concerned that their software won't actually work on his new computer. Do any of them not actually require the software and function properly just using the OS dial up software? Netscape actually might as you can close their worthless ads/toolbar, so I may give that a shot.

If all else fails I can stick him on Earthlink as I used to use their ISP without their crap software back in the day and so I assume they still function that way. I'm just trying to save him the $5-$10/month seeing as how you don't actually get any better service from them.

Ruckus

The G3 or G4 spec is most likely to confirm they have enough processor power to handle modem tasks, the new intel procs have even more power.

But just call netscape or whoever's helpdesk and ask.

Jimmy King

Ruckus wrote: »

The G3 or G4 spec is most likely to confirm they have enough processor power to handle modem tasks, the new intel procs have even more power.

But just call netscape or whoever's helpdesk and ask.

The apps also have to be written to work on them. A couple weeks ago someone ran into the problem with Matlab where it was only compatible with the G3/G4 mac and they were working on a new one that works on Intel macs. OpenOffice also provides separate Intel and G3/4 Mac versions. It's a whole different hardware architecture and so requires the apps to be built differently.

As to calling them, well, if I thought there was any chance that I would get anything other than some Indian with no clue what I'm asking who is going to read the same (completely unnecessary and unrelated considering the question) scripted troubleshooting, I would.

wsreaves

I work for a nationwide virtual ISP that provides dialup services. We don't use software for Macs, instead opting to use the PPP panel under network preferences (10.1 and higher) or other PPP programs to establish the most basic connection. After that, open your browser and go.

If you want the name of one of the services, PM me. I think the cheapest we have now is $9.95, and that's with 24/7 tech support.

mcdermott

Ruckus wrote: »

The G3 or G4 spec is most likely to confirm they have enough processor power to handle modem tasks, the new intel procs have even more power.

But just call netscape or whoever's helpdesk and ask.

Don't most PPC Mac apps run under emulation (Rosetta?) on the Intel models? Yeah, I know some things (like Matlab) have issues...but I was under the impression that most stuff worked fine. Though I suppose something like an ISP frontend that's providing actual networking capability might have issues.

EggyToast

All software for Windows dial-up simply sets up the dialer and activates the modem. That's all. It's no different from Comcast's software that reconfigures a few things with a wizard and changes some icons.

You can do it all manually in Windows, too, it's just easier to use their software (as it's quite simple to simply click a dialer program that remembers your password and all of the available phone numbers). Just make sure he has a list of local phone numbers in case one craps out, and don't be afraid to call the support or sales numbers. Lots of the small dial-up ISPs handle their own support because outsourcing to india is only cheap if you have high call volume. If you get a handful of calls that consist of "I get a busy signal" or "I download it and now I can't find it," you're not going to need a lot of support. I could be mistaken, though, but that's my experience with small dialup companies (I had to help get my parents set up, who could've figured it all out but I figured I'd save them the time).

Jimmy King

mcdermott wrote: »

Ruckus wrote: »

The G3 or G4 spec is most likely to confirm they have enough processor power to handle modem tasks, the new intel procs have even more power.

But just call netscape or whoever's helpdesk and ask.

Don't most PPC Mac apps run under emulation (Rosetta?) on the Intel models? Yeah, I know some things (like Matlab) have issues...but I was under the impression that most stuff worked fine. Though I suppose something like an ISP frontend that's providing actual networking capability might have issues.

I really don't know about the emulation. I'm a Windows and Linux guy, but I really didn't want to recommend my completely non-technical father in law get a now out of date OS (XP) or Vista (he's been running win 98 on a k6-233), and I don't use Linux as a desktop at all so am not familiar enough with it's desktop features to feel certain I could make it friendly enough for him. So, I figured giving Mac a shot was probably the best bet to get something that isn't going to be total shit and still simple enough for him to use. This is going to be as much a learning experience for me as him.

Jimmy King

EggyToast wrote: »

All software for Windows dial-up simply sets up the dialer and activates the modem. That's all. It's no different from Comcast's software that reconfigures a few things with a wizard and changes some icons.

You can do it all manually in Windows, too, it's just easier to use their software (as it's quite simple to simply click a dialer program that remembers your password and all of the available phone numbers). Just make sure he has a list of local phone numbers in case one craps out, and don't be afraid to call the support or sales numbers. Lots of the small dial-up ISPs handle their own support because outsourcing to india is only cheap if you have high call volume. If you get a handful of calls that consist of "I get a busy signal" or "I download it and now I can't find it," you're not going to need a lot of support. I could be mistaken, though, but that's my experience with small dialup companies (I had to help get my parents set up, who could've figured it all out but I figured I'd save them the time).

A lot of those cheap ISPs such as Netzero at least used to require having their software running or you would get disconnected if their front end dialer/toolbar/ad display didn't communicate with their servers for more than 1-2 minutes and wouldn't let you connect if you tried to just dial in without opening their software. That was back when they were free and made all of their money off of showing ads, so now that most are charging $10/month (and don't seem to have any ads from the few I've seen on Windows recently) it is possible they've changed it.

As to support, almost any of those budget $10/month or less ISPs are going to have outsourced support, I'd bet. I used to run a small web hosting business and even for low call volume support you could get 24x7 support for a month for less than it would cost to pay an American for a single 40 hr week. Ridiculous shit starting at around $100-$200/month. I'm sure it was little more than a warm body to read a script so that companies could claim to have 24x7 support but that's all the considerably more expensive local level 1 support that I've talked to (and heard about from friends who are competent tier 2-3 support at ISPs) seems to be these days, anyway, in most cases.

PatboyX

we got a load of new macbooks that teachers can borrow for a weekend or whatever to do work at home.
almost all of those teachers have dial-up and had a hell of a time getting connected. the first issue, somewhat obvious to us but less so to the teachers, was that the macbook didn't have a modem. not sure if the new iMacs are the same way or not but that is also something to consider. those USB modems apple has were a righteous bitch to get to work with AOL, Earthlink and a couple others. the machine emulated the older X systems but would often knock them out or (in the case of AOL) not identify the modem.

most of those teachers sort of used it as an excuse to get new service especially since, here in jersey, verizon's cheapest dsl is sometimes considerably cheaper than some of the dial-up alternatives.

corcorigan

Dial up?

So 20th century...