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Generally thought of as the oldest and slowest way to get online, dialup services allow users to access the internet over a landline telephone network, using a modem.
Still used in many rural and underpopulated areas, dialup lacks the speed and performance benefits of broadband, but is generally sufficient for email and basic web surfing.
Most dialup internet services currently available offer bandwidth speeds of 56 kbps, or slightly lower.
Availability
Dial-up requires no additional infrastructure on top of the telephone network. As telephone points are available throughout the world, dial-up remains useful to travelers. Dial-up is usually the only choice available for most rural or remote areas where getting a broadband connection is impossible due to low population and demand. Sometimes dial-up access may also be an alternative to people who have limited budgets as it is offered for free by some, though broadband is now increasingly available at lower prices in countries such as the United States, Canada, Australia and the United Kingdom due to market competition.
Dial-up requires time to establish a telephone connection (several seconds, depending on the location) and perform handshaking before data transfers can take place. In locales with telephone connection charges, each connection incurs an incremental cost. If calls are time-charged, the duration of the connection incurs costs.
Dial-up access is a transient connection, because either the user or the ISP terminates the connection. Internet service providers will often set a limit on connection durations to prevent hogging of access, and will disconnect the user — requiring reconnection and the costs and delays associated with it.
High-speed dial-up
Performance
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