cable and dialup

[dmiddl]

Is it possible to have a functional dialup isp and roadrunner on the same computer? When I called roadrunner they told me I would be able to keep my dialup isp as a backup for roadrunner and use whichever one I preferred. Today they installed roadrunner and wiped out my dialup configuration. Said I could have one or the other but not both. Spent hours on the phone with rr and isp customer service techs and they are not much help. Now at the point where I can make a dialup phone connection but when the browser starts, it is using the cable connection, not the phone line. Hope I have made my problem clear enough so you can understand what I'm trying to do.

[doctorgonzo]

What is your dialup ISP, and more importantly, do they require any connection software? If they don't, and you can just use DUN (Dial-up Networking) to configure your connection, there shouldn't be any problem.

What did they install on your PC for RoadRunner? I have RR as well, and they didn't put anything on my PC. I find it odd that they did for you. I have a dial-up account on my computer along with RR (although it doesn't work because there is no modem), so it is certainly possible.

[dmiddl]

doctorgonzo,

My dialup isp doesn't require connection software. I have always used DUN. I have configured the DUN many times in the past with no problem but when I do the same thing today it won't open a browser so then when I click on Internet Explorer it automatically connects through the cable modem, making the dialup useless.

They installed a NIC inside the box, and an external cable modem and power supply.

[doctorgonzo]

Go to Control Panel, then Internet Options, then Connections. Make sure your Dial-Up connection is listed, and that you have it set to either "Always dial..." or "Dial whenever a network connection is not present" to use it as a backup. Set that connection to be the defaul connection. It should then work.

[morriswindgate]

If I remember correctly you will have to make some choices in the connections tab. Right click on the IE icon and select properties then the connections tab to get the choices.
But then again why do you think that you will need to spend the extra money to maintain a Dial-up? I have had cable since 1999 and have only had an outage of about 30 minutes in that entire time.

[gunrunnerjohn]

Well, one 30 minute outage is not the norm for most cable accounts, count yourself lucky. Mine as been very reliable for the last couple of years, but we had a huge storm that took out the cable, phones, and power for two days. We also had a week of intermittent service due to a heat sensitive gateway, things happen...

FWIW, I keep a dial-up account for backup, but it doesn't cost me anything if I don't use it, it's www.access-4-free.com. The most it costs is $10/mo if I have to use it, but in the last two years, I've paid them their setup charge and $6 one month. I also have a handy external test account for doing server tests on my cable account.

[dmiddl]

Well, I finally got both the dialup and Road Runner working. I have to manually connect and disconnect the dialup but i can live with that while I try out Roadrunner and decide whether to keep it ir not. It's about triple the cost of my dialup and I'm not sure I can justify the increase just to improve web surfing. It's not like I need it for business. But for sure I won't keep both.

Thanks all for comments.

[Hi Ho]

I get my cable from my local phone company and they give me dial up for backup as part of my account. I have never used it though. My cable hasn't went out for over two years. After the first year when I was a guinea pig and they were just learning how to run the equipment.

[doctorgonzo]

Originally posted by dmiddl It's about triple the cost of my dialup and I'm not sure I can justify the increase just to improve web surfing. It's not like I need it for business. But for sure I won't keep both.

To better justify the cost of cable, you might want to check into dropping your telephone service and using VoIP. This is what I am currently doing, and so far it is working out great. For less than the cost of my old phone line + dialup, I have cable + VoIP phone service through Vonage.

[gunrunnerjohn]

I have three phone lines here, and I'm seriously considering www.vonage.com to replace two of them. I believe I'll make the jump after the new year...