Newbie waving hello!

[Joanie]

I'm trying to keep track of my speeds on a terrible DSL Pace Modem with Wifi, I've been putting up with for years.  I got in early as soon as it was available in my rural area so it's the slowest of the slow...but it was better than dial up.

 

  The fee has only been 43 dollars . AT&T is the internet service provider.  I know for a fact as soon as I make any upgrade they are going to raise my rates and I will not be able to go back.  I won't miss the service, but I'll darn sure miss the monthly price.   I'm looking for something that won't dig too deep into my pension every month.  It's either pay it or live like the Amish around here.   I'm certain they feel that entertainment is overrated.

 

My husband is seventy years old...I'm nearly that but I try to keep up with technology.   It gets hard with no kids in the house so I do a lot of reading and instructionals on YouTube if I can sit through the buffering. Streaming anything live is out of the question.

 

My BIL gave my husband an Amazon Firestick for Christmas.  What a mistake that was!  We don't have high speed internet, the DSL has a  poor Wifi,  his computer is a Win. 7  and he uses a flip phone. LOL! 

I had to call support just to get him signed up for an Amazon membership because I couldn't "TAP" the message on his flip phone.   

 

We were both alarmed to see the bill for DISH TV. It had gone from 52 dollars to 87 dollars!   He told me to cancel the service...thinking the firestick was going to make up for it.

How wrong he was.

In order to correct the problem, I need an internet provider system that can stream, I've already ordered him a Chromebook that he doesn't have to do much maintenance on and relies on apps.

I gave him my old smart phone to play with but he doesn't have a clue.

 

I see Starlink has opened for business to be put on a waiting list but I can't wait that long...and, it's still 99 dollars a month and a wad-full of cash for the kit.  It doesn't even say a technician would be installing it?

 

 

 

 

 

[cholla]

Welcome to the forum.

 

I would search for & read some reviews recommended modems for AT&T DSL .

There probably is a better one.

I had AT&T DSL a long time ago .

I am in town so I got the paid for speed.

 

This may not work for you & AT&T may not offer this any more.

I dropped my landline but kept DSL.

This allowed me a dedicated DSL line with no filters needed.

This did get the speed to the max paid speed fairly constantly.

 

I went to cell phone only for a while.

Then I went to VOIP with Skype.

It worked OK since I didn't video Skype.

 

I have cable now & I use an OOMA Telo for my VOIP.

I believe it will also work with DSL.

 

I doubt the Firestick will ever stream well with DSL.

 

I dropped any satellite or cable TV .

I have a good antenna & get my TV OTA.

 

For YouTube.

Download with a downloader .

Then play with a video player on your computer.

 

I use this downloader: Just keep using the free starter version.It works well for most things.

https://www.4kdownload.com/products/product-videodownloader

 

VLC is a good media player that will play most videos.

It works a lot better than WMP.