NEED ADVICE: Replacing my Cable ISP when I dump my Cablevision 12/7

[bettyellen]

There are afew things to keep in mind:
My computer is a Mac.
I don't have a land (telephone) line, and would prefer to keep it that way, if possible.
Are any of these modem connecting ones at all fast these days anyway? They were pretty awful a few years back!
I am so damned used to the high speed connection, I don't know if I can be happy slowing down.
I am currently involved in a job search, so I need it to be really user friendly as well as reliable.
I need to know what the best alternate ISP's are available in the NJ area.... and also I guess the worst, I'd like to hear your horror stories as well!

Thanks in advance y'all!

[Smirking_Chimp]

1. DSL

DSL I think is your best choice, so you may have to get a land line. The Voice/Data ISP's are going to require you to get a T-1 circuit, which is cool, but pretty expensive.

[bettyellen]

2. i have no idea what all those initials mean, but I'll look into it!

thanks!

[Smirking_Chimp]

3. DSL is an internet service provided by local telephone co.

Depending on where you live, and your local telephone co, you may be able to get a choice of speed options. My wife had DSL at her work, and we have cable at home, and she said the cable is a little faster. They only could get the slowest DSL speed there. But even that is way faster than dial-up modem.

[bettyellen]

5. Okay, thanks for clearing that up! I'm a techno idiot!

[LiviaOlivia]

4. DSL=Digital Subscriber Line

eom

[TexasProgresive]

6. ADSL will require a land line

The ADSL signal rides on the same copper wire as the dial tone. It can be very fast depending on what you pay for and how distant you are from the originating point of the ADSL equipment. In my area, Central Texas, the limit is about 17,000 feet but equipment is being installed that is alleged to be able to run 100,000 feet.

If you get a land line I would suggest that you get a standard corded phone. When the power outage occurred a lot of people lost there cell phone and cordless phone service. The cell sites lost power and the cordless phones are useless without commercial power. The phone lines still worked but the instruments were dead. You can still have a cordless phone just have that cheap insurance of a corded phone.