help required

[dtr44]

hi my mate has just bought a computer [his first [well he's only 50] but it has no dial up modem [seems this is standard practice with dell] anyhoo i have an old bt voyager 105 modem [used it for aol bb]can he use this ? he wants to try dial up for free for a month with aol to see if "i can get to grips with this technology lark as he puts it .the cheapest usb modem i can see is £10 from amazon but after paying 600 quid he's a bit reluctant to spend a 10ner

[NewsreadeR]

Not on dial up he will need either a USB dial up one or a cheap 56k PCI modem - both around a tenner max

[dtr44]

i thought so , i just cant believe that a dial up modem is an optional extra now [dell were wanting £24 to fit it b4 delivery [i found this out for him by going onto their website and found it on the 3rd page of the buy your pc screen [not very obvious] will phone him let him know
thanks

[Johnny7]

"He wants to try dial up for free for a month with aol to see if "i can get to grips with this technology lark"

I would have thought the likelyhood is he would be 'put-off' by using dial-up whereas broadband, (i.e. always-on with no need to dial-up or log-off), would be much easier and more likely to satisfy.

Not all BB ISPs require a 12 month commitment, however if he already has Sky Digital then he could try Base for just the 40 quid connection and if he likes it and uses it a lot upgrade to Mid.

Personaly, I would avoid dial-up!

[dtr44]

he is a complete newbie [thought bt had to put a line from his master socket to where his pc is [in his sons room ]if he only has dial up he cant break it too quick and it gets him used to the idea of going online [have shown him my set up and how internet works [rocket science was mentioned a few times ]as in it's like rocket science and that was setting up a hotmail account so its slow as we go [his sons 28 and as bad as his father [so no help there]and he doesnt have sky so its bt ,aol ,pipex etc

[iannufc]

You can get an internal 56K modem on ebay for 3 quid. I suspect you may pick up an external one cheaper than that.

[dtr44]

will try ebay [i had an old usb one [but i put it in a special place and i cant find it ]i dont want to strip the pc down as its brand new [and i imagine its warranty would be void if i started messing about with the gubbins ]