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How to connect to DSL for free?

K

killswitch1698

macrumors regular
Original poster
Jun 9, 2009
102
0
Hey all.

My folks have recently cancelled our houses comcast internet bill in order to wait out the bad economy by making sure they have enough money. Ive been stealing my neighbors internet recently, but its not enough; and always crashes in 30min. of making use of it. I have a 20' ethernet cable, a comcast modem, and a netgear wireless router (not sure what model) before the bill got cancelled i was connect through the internet via airport. I have an iMac g5 9.0ghz /w 512MB RAM I currently have 10.x Leopard installed.

Is there any tips you guys have for me to connect? i only have 1 phone jack which is about 22' from where my computer is positioned in my bedroom. (Obviously thats not going to go too well because ill have cables running all over my house).

So what I was thinking, is that i could set up my cable modem and wireless router, put a phone jack cable from the jack to the modem, then turn on my router so i could get a wireless DSL signal to my computer and dial up for free without any cables in the way. Is this possible?

Again feel free if you have any better ideas than this.

Thanks in advance.

-Devin
 
As far I know Netgear is a manufacturer of networking hardware, not an ISP. There is no such thing as a free lunch, you will need to pay an ISP for a network connection if you expect to access the internet. As stealing your neighbor's wireless, that is theft unless you have come to some sort of an understanding with them regarding access; just because it's open doesn't give you permission to be a leach.
 
First of all, your Comcast modem will be useless. It's a cable modem, which is a different kind of internet connection than DSL. Second of all, even if you did have DSL service (which you'd have to pay for), you'd still have to pay for having a phone line always in use. Thirdly, you're probably thinking more of dial-up than DSL. I don't know anyone who's looked for a dial-up service in the past decade, so I don't know if there are any free ones available, probably not. Either way though, you have to go through a service (you can connect to a phone line, but without a number to dial, it's useless). You don't want dial-up anyway. Abysmally slow.

Also, there's a joke here to be made about "connecting to DSLs for free", but I'm not feeling clever enough to formulate the punch line.
 
devburke said:
First of all, your Comcast modem will be useless. It's a cable modem, which is a different kind of internet connection than DSL. Second of all, even if you did have DSL service (which you'd have to pay for), you'd still have to pay for having a phone line always in use. Thirdly, you're probably thinking more of dial-up than DSL. I don't know anyone who's looked for a dial-up service in the past decade, so I don't know if there are any free ones available, probably not. Either way though, you have to go through a service (you can connect to a phone line, but without a number to dial, it's useless). You don't want dial-up anyway. Abysmally slow.
Click to expand...

Well believe me; dial-up would be 10x as better for me in this situation if you dont have a credit card or a job. suprisingly i DID find a free dial up service, but yeah i would still need to pay for the phone bill.

and sorry about that...i thuoght DSL and dial-up were the same thing :S
 
killswitch1698 said:
sorry my bad...i meant net zero :S

i always get those mixed up xD
Click to expand...

It might work if you purchase a USB modem but most of the free ISPs are gone and the ones that are left have thinned out their free access numbers to only major areas. You will still need to pay for phone access, however so it's only so 'free'.
 
Guiyon said:
It might work if you purchase a USB modem but most of the free ISPs are gone and the ones that are left have thinned out their free access numbers to only major areas. You will still need to pay for phone access, however so it's only so 'free'.
Click to expand...

Alright you guys have fulfilled my questions.

Thanks-

Devin
 
If you an find an old "UFO-style" AirPort base station, they have dial-up modems in them; and can be set to dial in to your provider automatically when you try to use the Internet.

You should be able to find one fairly cheaply.

The only thing to look out for is that the 802.11g "AirPort Extreme" models came in three different setups, only one of the three has a modem. (But it was the most common. It is sometimes called "AirPort Extreme with antenna port" because, in addition to the modem, it had a jack for using an external antenna.)

Of course, you'd still need to find a free ISP. NetZero is free, but requires custom software, which they don't offer for the Mac (and which won't work with an AirPort that has a modem,) and only lets you connect for 10 hours each month. After that, it's $1.00 per hour, or part of an hour, $10/month max. And, even though their website mentions free service; I can't find *ANYWHERE* on their website that says how to get it!

r.j.s said:
Probably more expensive than the internet service itself.
Click to expand...

Depends on the cell provider. For some, if you have any data access, tethering is free.
 
Wow bud, you've got whole kinds of confusion. You cant get any of this without a credit card. You can't sign up for netzero's 10 free hours without having a credit card for them to charge you more when you go over. You could probably get naked DSL for $20 a month if you're desperate.

Since you have no job and no card, I assume you have no car, so driving to your local starbucks is out. You could go to the library. They have free tubez there.

As for your neighbors, my philosophy is if they can't secure their wifi, it is open for use
 
The problem is that most people don't have a clue about even needing to secure a wireless signal. They don't even understand computer or network security and the need to secure both the computer or the wireless signal. Vendors come in and set it up and walk away.

It's just taking advantage of something they pay for. They are paying for their personal use, not yours and theirs.
 
belvdr said:
The problem is that most people don't have a clue about even needing to secure a wireless signal. They don't even understand computer security. Vendors come in and set it up and walk away.

It's just taking advantage of something they pay for. They are paying for their personal use, not yours and theirs.
Click to expand...

That doesn't excuse the fact that it is their responsibility.
 
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