could you live without the internet?

[kwak zzr]

Honest question no joke,
i find these days i do more and more online, banking, shopping, taxing cars and bikes, insurance (bike,car,buildings,contence) keeping intouch, the weather forcasts, the news, booking tickets, the org the list goes on and with the price of fuel these days its much quicker and cheaper to do it online, i know its sad:( but life would be very different without my net.
am i sad or do you go cold turkey when u loose your connection:rolleyes:

[Lissa]

I COULD live without it, but I'd be really, really, really miserable:D











































Even MORE miserable than I normally am:p

[Luckypants]

Without it I would be rather stuck working from home. I'd have to move.

A more pertinent question is can you live without broadband? Go back to a 56K dial up? I think most folks would not want 'the internet' at that speed, but would still use email and messenger services.

[missyburd]

I found it very difficult when I came home from uni as my mother won't have anything to do with it at home so I get my occasional fix when am at YC's lol. Hence why I disappear for weeks at a time then reappear just as suddenly :rolleyes: Not that anyone notices my comings and goings....:smt085

[kwak zzr]

ive got my house full wireless at mo and my pc has one of those wireless dongle adapters and god its slow! ive got a 8meg connection but thats hard wired i think? wireless does do my nut in.

[husky03]

nope-not now,use it for everything nearly

[kwak zzr]

Not that anyone notices my comings and goings....:smt085


awww we do miss you :grouphug:

[kwak zzr]

Without it I would be rather stuck working from home. I'd have to move.

A more pertinent question is can you live without broadband? Go back to a 56K dial up? I think most folks would not want 'the internet' at that speed, but would still use email and messenger services.

i remember when an NVIDIA display driver used to take an hour 10mins to download via 56k dial up:smt021

[Luckypants]

ive got a 8meg connection.....

Have you actually measured your connection speed or you going on the 'up to 8Mbps' marketing hype? Very hard to get full 8Mbps from an ADSL line.

ive got my house full wireless at mo and my pc has one of those wireless dongle adapters and god its slow!

Again what connection speed does your wireless think it's running at? What protocol? (802.11x where x is a suffix that helps to indicate speed)

[kwak zzr]

the reason for this thread is my bl@@dy wireless connection keeps dropping :( i think i am on the edge of my routers capability :( i need a G+ or something with better range.

[Luckypants]

the reason for this thread is my bl@@dy wireless connection keeps dropping :( i think i am on the edge of my routers capability :( i need a G+ or something with better range.

Wire it in. Ethernet way better than wireless.

[kwak zzr]

Have you actually measured your connection speed or you going on the 'up to 8Mbps' marketing hype? Very hard to get full 8Mbps from an ADSL line.



Again what connection speed does your wireless think it's running at? What protocol? (802.11x where x is a suffix that helps to indicate speed)

mike i am hopeless with pc's all i know is i can get 6meg on a good day when ethernet wired, but my wireless dongle thingy is a netgear 54mbps.

[mister c]

I probably could, I've noticed that I'm using it less & less at home these days. Do spend a lot of time on it at work when we are quiet....................................like now :)

[kwak zzr]

Wire it in. Ethernet way better than wireless.

i got fed up of cables running round the house and the main reason for the router being where it is is the kids use the wii online :( i may change it back round again.

[Luckypants]

mike i am hopeless with pc's all i know is i can get 6meg on a good day when ethernet wired, but my wireless dongle thingy is a netgear 54mpps.

Then you have answered my question :D. Your ADSL speed to your house over the phone line is about 6Mbps. That's pretty damn good. Your wireless finds it hard to achieve that speed of throughput because you are at the limit of range, resulting in lost/corrupted data packets. It may connect at 54Mbps as it's raw 'carrier' speed, but the actual data rate is much lower due to being at the limit of range.

You may also be getting data 'collisions' with another wireless network nearby, because you have the same default settings and so are using the same channel. It might be worth changing the channel on your router to see if that works any better.

[kwak zzr]

mmm yea my pc and lappy pick up my neighbours sky router, maybe he's on the same channel? i wil change it and give that a go.
cheers mate.

[timwilky]

Prior to broadband, I had 2 isdn to my house, giving me a whopping 256k of bandwidth, my monthly phone bill was about £500. When I proposed a vpn solution work were very happy to pay the £45 a month.

Could I live without the internet, of course I could. It would just be damm inconvenient.

As for my current speed, I am on a 20Mb service, get it 9/10th of the time, except when the kids swamp the net with downloads.

As for connections, all rooms are cat 5e, 24 port gigabit switch, vpn router, and most important all my telephones are on VoIP ATAs

[Luckypants]

mmm yea my pc and lappy pick up my neighbours sky router, maybe he's on the same channel? i wil change it and give that a go.
cheers mate.

Well your lappy / pc will pick up all wireless routers in range, no matter what channel they on. But the fact there is another router nearby suggests that changing the channel from default is a good thing to try (especially if you on Sky BB to)

[Luckypants]

As for my current speed, I am on a 20Mb service, get it 9/10th of the time, except when the kids swamp the net with downloads.

Who is that with Tim?

[kwak zzr]

i'm on tiscali and neighbours on sky, my router is on defaul channel 11 but i know my neighbours sky router is also a netgear so prob on channel 11 also as default, do i just change channel 11 to something else? do i have to adjust my pc settings or wil it just find it and connect to it?
sorry i'm a numpty i know.

[timwilky]

Who is that with Tim?

Virgin media cable modem. I cannot get ADSL, BT's copper is too crap. They have been to my house 3 times and admitted defeat. My neighbour across the road has got it. he pays for an 8Mb and get 128k. He is not happy, but his bosses say he must use their corporate provider.

He would rather just do as I do and submit an expense claim for my "VPN service". I deliberately don't say on the expense form Internet as I guess somebody in finance would start the "Why do we pay for IT peoples internet service?". Answer, because it is less than a 10th of the line costs we used to pay for.

[MiniMatt]

Change channel at the router, PC will pick it up as that looks for the SSID. Two nearby APs on 11 will defiinitely cause some problems, but not as bad as you'd think, they tend to be able to run fairly well. Non-overlapping channels are 1, 6 and 11 - ie. channel 10 overlaps with a channel 11 a bit, so go for 1 or 6. I'd suggest 6 as 1 is also a default on many routers.

Netstumbler is a good free app, 0.4.0 is the current version, that allows you to spot signal strength, channel, SSID and security :devil: of nearby APs.

[Luckypants]

i'm on tiscali and neighbours on sky, my router is on defaul channel 11 but i know my neighbours sky router is also a netgear so prob on channel 11 also as default, do i just change channel 11 to something else? do i have to adjust my pc settings or wil it just find it and connect to it?
sorry i'm a numpty i know.

Two nearby APs on 11 will defiinitely cause some problems, but not as bad as you'd think, they tend to be able to run fairly well. Non-overlapping channels are 1, 6 and 11 - ie. channel 10 overlaps with a channel 11 a bit, so go for 1 or 6. I'd suggest 6 as 1 is also a default on many routers.

Wot 'e sed!

[Jayneflakes]

I love the internet, I have used it to keep in touch with friends, do my banking and buy things that you just can't find in the regular shops..:smt053

I lost my connection a while back and found it very hard to keep in touch with my various friends all over the country and ended up using the works computer for half an hour a week after work.

Now I am back on line, I have got rid of my mobile phone and use e-mail almost every day. Also I have made some really great new friends on line, this includes some of you folks too.

So I must admit to being an internet junkie. :smt106

[Grinch]

I could live with out it, but then its not the 80's so I don't need to. It makes life easier, and makes socialising more massive... after all how else would I have meet you lot. It has its bad points, but then so do all things.

[Viney]

The forum, yes the internet, doubt it nowadays.

[chakraist]

I don't think I could live without internet, no. Computers have been a big part of my life forever, and the internet has been a massive help to me for about 10 years now.

[Grinch]

It would screw up my working life too.

[Warthog]

I could live without it. But after a few days I would be wearing animal furs, hunting with sticks and living in a cave :-P

[northwind]

I wouldn't have a job... But besides that, I'm a totla internet addict- I'm posting on a web forum at 15:40 on a saturday FFS :scratch: I could live without it, but I use it so much socially, and for shopping etc, and for entertainment, and for advice, that it'd be very hard to do without it. I'm too used to thinking "How do I fix this" or "Where can I buy this" and knowing 2 seconds later.

[Stig]

Yes I could. I only use it when I have nothing of any interest to do. Although it is a massive source of reference. But I remember before internet so know it what it was like before.

[Paws]

I deffo couldnt be without my internet connection!

[Shellywoozle]

I could and I have cancelled my internet connection .... ohhh 25 days and counting left :)

God know what I will doo of an evening then, have to find other ways to keep myself occupied.

All the money I will save not having flea bay :)

[Tomcat]

yep I could. I use it when I'm bored, I am sure thereare more healthy things to be doing. I have had no tv for 3 weeks now, and I am beginning to like it, maybe computer will be the next to go! I could go for total shut down of the rest of the world, just live in my peaceful world, I think I like not hearing about all the rapes, murders, and wars :D

[instigator]

I only have the internet to alleviate boredom. When I didn't have the internet and relied on internet cafes, life was great!

If it wasn't for my job, I'd sell my computer too.

[anna]

yes I could live without it.. but I dont want to.. therefore shant!

[kwak zzr]

I could and I have cancelled my internet connection .... ohhh 25 days and counting left :)


ok so nows the time to get ordering you new connection!!

[Girth]

I COULD live without it, but I'd be really, really, really miserable:D











































Even MORE miserable than I normally am:p


Is Pete posting under your name again Lissa?? :p

[wheelnut]

I wouldnt manage without mine. I use it for everything, shopping, insurance, tax, even learning things because I didnt listen properly at school:p.

Recently I have been using it as a medical reference book and discovered I have got 17 incurable diseases. I only use a standard 1 meg broadband connection which does all I need. If I am downloading a 7MB PDF it gives me time to go to the toilet.

I would miss my Internet connection

[phil24_7]

I came out in cold sweats just thinking about it!!!!

[Lissa]

Is Pete posting under your name again Lissa?? :p

:D:D:D

No, that was me.

And this is me too.

Honest:D

[SoulKiss]

Nope, but then again I work for an ISP so it pays the bills :)

[Ping]

Nope.

[stewie]

Nope, do everything online these days, tax cars and bikes, do my insurance for cars and bikes, buy stuff, sell stuff and made a load of great mates on here :D

[2mths]

I really really wouldn't want to. When my connection goes down it feels like I'm going cold turkey. It might possibly lead to a much healthier life style though.

[Tomtoms]

whats the internet?

is anyone selling one? or have a link to a cheap one.

i have a 2000 curvey, will the internet affect the bhp?

















;) haha

[kwak zzr]

I really really wouldn't want to. When my connection goes down it feels like I'm going cold turkey. It might possibly lead to a much healthier life style though.


exactly:rolleyes:

[ArtyLady]

No I dont think I could, I buy everything online, even my food shopping, I need it for OU, (well you can use snail mail to submit assignments but its much better when you can submit online the day it's due in!). I dont use the phone book I use yell.com - much quicker, I look things up that I need to know, and so on and so on...:cool:

[ooger]

With respect, I think the question is kind of daft, though I see the reasoning behind it.

We can all live without the internet. Man has lived on this earth for thousands of years when Argos didn't offer delivery to his cave.

We could all go without it, but at what expense?

High street shops would have all of our money, at the prices they saw fit.
Insurance companies would have us over a barrel (moreso than they have now)
Maps would still be something you had to go to the library to get
People would (generally speaking) be back in the day when "that was the price, and you paid it if you wanted it"

I think that the advent of the internet really has brought high street shopping and commercialism from the big names and brands to their knees in the shopping sense of things. Consumers are more aware, and more open to shopping around, without having to get on the bus.

Imagine how hard estate agents would have to work without being able to plaster their "units" onto rightmove.co.uk and sitting it out.

Imagine the massive queues in the post office when everything road/car/bike related had to be done at the same time as the pensions were. Imagine how much relief the staff have felt there in the last 10 years since direct.gov.uk helped out (!). Probably best to close those local post offices now, eh? After all, they're not needed.....

Anyway,

I think the best thing by far to come (functionally speaking) from "the internet" is satellite imagery.

Nowhere else historically has been able to give you what Google's Aerial views, street views and AboutMyPlace's birds eye views give you now, without chartering your own plane, or hijacking a chopper.

That said, we'd all be forced to talk to each other on the street a lot more, wouldn't we, without our Facebook friends, forum friends and other cyberloons? The man in the butchers would know your first name, and might ask you how your other half is this week, rather than giving you his meat (sorry) and then getting back to his 3G Facebook Wall-to-Wall?

Think instead - what would you DO without the internet?

I'd not be stuck behind a desk, thats for sure. I'd be doing something practical.

We're lazy, and we like it, in my opinion. I for one can't spend another 30 years on the internet, thats for sure. It has its uses, but its grossly overused, which is why we have children of today hooked on cyber-thisandthat, with no conversational skills, personality or manners. They don't get out enough, and the parents have taught them no better (generalism, excuse me).

Bring back Ceefax, press HOLD.

[Baph]

We could all go without it, but at what expense?


Long post, but exactly on the money with the above quote!

Personally, I have lived without the internet (after being a net-o-holic), and it was great! Mainly as I wasn't working either & just enjoying life.

I wouldn't have a job if the internet suddenly didn't exist, but I could do other work.

What would it cost for me to give up the internet? Well, so long as I had enough money to pay for everything we get now, I'd have to say time. Stop me having to go to work, but I can keep the income, and the internet is gone! Bye! Don't let the door hit you on the way out! In fact, I'd sell my left arm as part of the deal too!