must have internet, please help

[aunt2brant]

I am in Grad school and next month when we will be at DW, I will be taking 3 online classes. I will HAVE to be able to get access to the internet. I am not interested in going off property to use my wi-fi. Dial-up is ok with me, as I am staying at the Pop and that will be my only option. My question is: How many of you have used the dial-up in the resorts and how much does it cost and is it extremely slow? I will not be online the whole time I am there, but I will need to check my e-mail at least everyother day or so, in order to keep in communication with my teachers and classmates. What are your suggestions?
Also does anyone know the price...do you pay per day-24 hr increments, every day of your stay, even if you do not get on everyday, or per minute? I usually do not even think about the computer while on vacation, but with all three classes on line, I will have no choice. TIA

 

[JudicialTyranny]

I think you have high speed access and dial-up mixed up.

High speed access (which I'm pretty sure is not available at Pop) is what you would pay an extra fee for access ($9.95 for 24hrs).

With dial-up, it is just a phone call - Disney does not provide the Internet access. You have to be signed up with your own dial-up ISP already, and you will want to know a few of their local Orlando access numbers. For example, you would need an AOL, Earthlink, or some other national ISP account to get access through the phone line.

If I recall, Disney charges something like 50 cents per local call and it is not timed (meaning you can stay connected as long as you want). But that's just the phone call - it does not give you Internet.

You can check www.thelist.com if you need to find a dialup ISP. But watch out - some require you to commit to a year contract, which would be important to avoid if you are only going to sign up for one month.

 

[aunt2brant]

I guess I did not make that clear...I have a dial-up through my DSL provider, which is Bellsouth. I can take my laptop anywhere (usually go to relatives) that has a phone line and use my dial-up. I thought that I could do that at PC, but it would charge me to be online....just to make sure that I understand: I can take my laptop, plug the phone line in and ust my dial-up (after I find out the local #) for only 50 cents each time I dial the #...if so, that is not too bad. Anyone elso tried their dial-up? Is is slow? does it work good?

 

[safetymom]

A local call is 75 cents at WDW. You only pay for the phone call when you connect at the resort.

 

[JudicialTyranny]

I used both the high speed and dial-up when I was at the CR in May.

The dial-up connection was usually between 40K and 50K, which is acceptable for dial-up - it doesn't get much faster.

I don't know how true this is, but I remember reading somewhere that not all Orlando exchanges are local calls from WDW.

 

[oogieboogie]

I've used dial-up at POP before. I have dial-up access thru my cable ISP (roadrunner). I find that for checking emails and going on the DIS it was fine and the speeds were around 50K. I used it to upload some pictures and it was quite fast (for dial-up standards).

The speed of the dial-up really depends on the access numbers. I've used Netzero and gotten really slow speeds on some days and fast on other days.

Just make sure you're using local numbers instead of long distance because those charges can add up quite fast. The easiest way to make sure is try to connect with just the area code + numbers - if it connects, then you're local. If it doesn't connect without having to dial a 1 before the area code + numbers, then you're long distance and then you can find another number.