From: adam@address.invalid   
      
   Jim Beard wrote:   
   > On 10/16/2012 11:27 PM, Adam wrote:   
   >> My conclusion: mediocre phone lines for a dialup connection.   
   >   
   > Years ago, Verizon pretty much quit maintaining quality on residential   
   > voice land lines.  If you had a problem, they simply rerouted your   
   > number to a different set of physical circuit wires, which might or   
   > might not be any better.   
      
   Thanks for that info, Jim!  Obviously Verizon didn't publicize that. :-)   
     It sounds like a case of "choose your battles" (or "leave well enough   
   alone").  In my case, voice quality is consistently good, DSL speed is   
   generally at the maximum I'm paying for, and faxes get through.  I'd   
   rather not risk any of those getting worse just for the sake of dialup   
   connections which I'll only be using when I'm desperate. (And even then,   
   45333 kbps isn't that much worse than 53333 kbps, especially as both   
   will feel glacial anyway.)   
      
   > VoIP took care of that problem for me, first with AT&T over the line I   
   > had the dial-up modem on and some years later with Verizon (ADSL briefly   
   > and then FIOS) when AT&T dropped VoIP service in my area.   
      
   How reliable is VoIP?  My DSL connection is ~99% reliable but POTS voice   
   is practically 100%, and due to medical issues I'd rather have the 100%   
   (in addition to my Verizon cell phone, probably the only local cell   
   provider whose coverage reaches my apartment).   
      
   Adam   
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