A friend of mine lost his dialup Internet service several years ago
when his copper phone service was forcibly replaced with FiOS fiber.
His dialup modem wouldn't work on his FiOS phone line.

He's not willing to pay for FiOS broadband Internet, which costs much
more than dialup. He doesn't need the speed, as he just wants to send
and receive plain text email. He doesn't have a cell phone.

He has savings, but no income. He owns his own house.

This is in Prince George's County Maryland, and he is elderly (70s),
but not eligible for Social Security.

He doesn't drive, and isn't within walking distance of a public library.

How can he get inexpensive Internet service? Thanks.
--
Keith F. Lynch - http://keithlynch.net/
Please see http://keithlynch.net/email.html before emailing me.

On Thu, 24 Feb 2022 04:55:48 +0000, Keith F. Lynch wrote:

> A friend of mine lost his dialup Internet service several years ago when
> his copper phone service was forcibly replaced with FiOS fiber. His
> dialup modem wouldn't work on his FiOS phone line.
>
> He's not willing to pay for FiOS broadband Internet, which costs much
> more than dialup. He doesn't need the speed, as he just wants to send
> and receive plain text email. He doesn't have a cell phone.
>
> He has savings, but no income. He owns his own house.
>
> This is in Prince George's County Maryland, and he is elderly (70s), but
> not eligible for Social Security.
>
> He doesn't drive, and isn't within walking distance of a public library.
>
> How can he get inexpensive Internet service? Thanks.

Not to be nosy, but how did he earn enough to buy a house without
amassing the necessary 40 credits for Social Security?

On Thu, 24 Feb 2022 04:55:48 +0000, Keith F. Lynch wrote:

> A friend of mine lost his dialup Internet service several years ago when
> his copper phone service was forcibly replaced with FiOS fiber. His
> dialup modem wouldn't work on his FiOS phone line.
>
> He's not willing to pay for FiOS broadband Internet, which costs much
> more than dialup. He doesn't need the speed, as he just wants to send
> and receive plain text email. He doesn't have a cell phone.
>
> He has savings, but no income. He owns his own house.
>
> This is in Prince George's County Maryland, and he is elderly (70s), but
> not eligible for Social Security.
>
> He doesn't drive, and isn't within walking distance of a public library.
>
> How can he get inexpensive Internet service? Thanks.

This thought occurred to me: Since all he does is email, he probably
doesn't spend that much time on the internet. So he could take his
laptop to the nearest public place that has open wi-fi access and
take care of it there.

On 24/02/2022 15:55, Keith F. Lynch wrote:
> A friend of mine lost his dialup Internet service several years ago
> when his copper phone service was forcibly replaced with FiOS fiber.
> His dialup modem wouldn't work on his FiOS phone line.
>
> He's not willing to pay for FiOS broadband Internet, which costs much
> more than dialup. He doesn't need the speed, as he just wants to send
> and receive plain text email. He doesn't have a cell phone.
>
> He has savings, but no income. He owns his own house.
>
> This is in Prince George's County Maryland, and he is elderly (70s),
> but not eligible for Social Security.
>
> He doesn't drive, and isn't within walking distance of a public library.
>
> How can he get inexpensive Internet service? Thanks.

Note that this may not apply in the USA, but here in Oz I would suggest
getting a Wireless Internet Dongle and a pre-paid data-only SIM card, so
that when he runs out of data he can re-charge at his leisure.

I did a similar thing with my 80 year-old Mother when they stopped
putting the cinema schedules in the paper. I got her a Mobile-capable
tablet and a data-only SIM, it worked for her for years, until it got
too difficult for her to go to the theatre.

Cheers,
Gary B-)

begin fnord
Charles Packer <mailbox@cpacker.org> writes:

> Not to be nosy, but how did he earn enough to buy a house without
> amassing the necessary 40 credits for Social Security?

Some jobs don't pay into Social Security, but (in my experience at
least) they have their own pension systems.

--
Steve Coltrin spcoltri@omcl.org Google Groups killfiled here
"A group known as the League of Human Dignity helped arrange for Deuel
to be driven to a local livestock scale, where he could be weighed."
- Associated Press

Charles Packer <mailbox@cpacker.org> wrote:
> Not to be nosy, but how did he earn enough to buy a house without
> amassing the necessary 40 credits for Social Security?

He inherited it. He was born in it more than 70 years ago, he lived
in it his whole life, and, having no siblings, he inherited it when
his parents died. His parents had of course paid off the mortgage
decades ago.

His largest expense is the property tax. Fortunately, the property
tax is relatively low. Unfortunately, that's because he lives in a
high-crime neighborhood.

Because he lives in a high-crime neighborhood, he's reluctant to carry
his laptop computer to a business with Wi-Fi.
--
Keith F. Lynch - http://keithlynch.net/
Please see http://keithlynch.net/email.html before emailing me.

On Thursday, February 24, 2022 at 10:28:54 PM UTC-5, Keith F. Lynch wrote:
> Charles Packer <mai...@cpacker.org> wrote:
> > Not to be nosy, but how did he earn enough to buy a house without
> > amassing the necessary 40 credits for Social Security?
> He inherited it. He was born in it more than 70 years ago, he lived
> in it his whole life, and, having no siblings, he inherited it when
> his parents died. His parents had of course paid off the mortgage
> decades ago.
>
> His largest expense is the property tax. Fortunately, the property
> tax is relatively low. Unfortunately, that's because he lives in a
> high-crime neighborhood.
>
> Because he lives in a high-crime neighborhood, he's reluctant to carry
> his laptop computer to a business with Wi-Fi.
> --

Internet/phone companies offer special breaks to seniors.
Try searching for "Lifeline" service.

https://www.fcc.gov/lifeline-consumers

--
Kevin R

On 2022 Feb 23, Keith F. Lynch wrote
(in article <sv734k$mjd$1@reader1.panix.com>):

> A friend of mine lost his dialup Internet service several years ago
> when his copper phone service was forcibly replaced with FiOS fiber.
> His dialup modem wouldn't work on his FiOS phone line.
>
> He's not willing to pay for FiOS broadband Internet, which costs much
> more than dialup. He doesn't need the speed, as he just wants to send
> and receive plain text email. He doesn't have a cell phone.
>
> He has savings, but no income. He owns his own house.
>
> This is in Prince George's County Maryland, and he is elderly (70s),
> but not eligible for Social Security.
>
> He doesn't drive, and isn't within walking distance of a public library.
>
> How can he get inexpensive Internet service? Thanks.

T-mob has ’senior’ plans (55+) for $30-50/month explicitly including 5G
hotspots with 5-40 GB of data/month. I would expect that AT&T and Verizon
have similar plans, but I _know_ that T-mob does. I have T-mob on my iPad and
one iPhone, and the hotspot is live. I have AT&T on the other phone, the plan
I’m on there doesn’t include a hotspot, AT&T wants an additional
$10/month, which they’re not going to get. If I paid it would be
‘unlimited’, a.k.a. 100 GB/month. AT&T doesn’t fully understand
English. T-mob rolls over any unused data bandwidth; I have a year to use it
up.

On 2022 Feb 25, Kevrob wrote
(in article<9df50f80-e618-4ea8-886f-65c5c1d7acd7n@googlegroups.com>):

> On Thursday, February 24, 2022 at 10:28:54 PM UTC-5, Keith F. Lynch wrote:
> > Charles Packer <mai...@cpacker.org> wrote:
> > > Not to be nosy, but how did he earn enough to buy a house without
> > > amassing the necessary 40 credits for Social Security?
> > He inherited it. He was born in it more than 70 years ago, he lived
> > in it his whole life, and, having no siblings, he inherited it when
> > his parents died. His parents had of course paid off the mortgage
> > decades ago.
> >
> > His largest expense is the property tax. Fortunately, the property
> > tax is relatively low. Unfortunately, that's because he lives in a
> > high-crime neighborhood.
> >
> > Because he lives in a high-crime neighborhood, he's reluctant to carry
> > his laptop computer to a business with Wi-Fi.
> > --
>
> Internet/phone companies offer special breaks to seniors.
> Try searching for "Lifeline" service.
>
> https://www.fcc.gov/lifeline-consumers

T-mob offers several ‘55+’ accounts, and offers a ‘home hotspot. I’m
pretty sure that Verizon does as well. AT&T probably does, too.

Keith F. Lynch <kfl@keithlynch.net> wrote:
> Charles Packer <mailbox@cpacker.org> wrote:
> Because he lives in a high-crime neighborhood, he's reluctant to carry
> his laptop computer to a business with Wi-Fi.

This implies there are free wifi hotspots within walking distance.
2.4GHz yagi makes wonders for the signal, the last time I was interested
in this on Aliexpress it was maybe $10 for the cheapest ones (build
quality... varies - including shorted dipole in one of the reeviews).
Even a short 1/4λ antenna makes a lot of difference compared to the
built in notebook adapters.

Better yet, put a small wifi dongle into a focal point of a discarded
60cm satellite dish (courtesy of a local junkyard). This makes
connection within many kilometers possible.

--
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| Radovan Garabík http://kassiopeia.juls.savba.sk/~garabik/ |
| __..--^^^--..__ garabik @ kassiopeia.juls.savba.sk |
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