Dial-Up Changes

For the past several years, the University has provided internet dial-up service to students, faculty and staff to access the internet. Many of us used this service when other alternatives for access were limited and expensive.

During the last several years, technological advances have put a greater demand on connectivity speeds that can only be met by commercial carriers. High-speed broadband (DSL, wireless and cable) services provide consumers with highly reliable and much faster Internet connectivity. Prices for these services have dropped significantly as well -- a standard DSL connection today is half of the 1998 cost for dial-up service. As a result, many former users of the dial-up service are migrating to high-speed broadband because the old service does not meet their connectivity needs.

Unfortunately, supporting the old dial-up technology for the remaining users gets more expensive each year. With a significant decrease in usage and surging equipment maintenance charges, the per user cost to provide dial-up service is very high and increasing.

Because of decreased prices of alternatives, increased costs to maintain the old technology and decreased dial-up usage, University Computing Services has developed a two-phase plan to discontinue NEIU dial-up service:

Phase 1 (effective July 16, 2007) -- The number of available concurrent dial-up connections will be decreased by 40%. Based on current metrics, users should not see an impact, as this change will remove unused capacity within the system.

Phase 2 (effective July 1, 2008) -- University Computing Services will discontinue the dial-up service. This one year advance notice will allow dial-up users sufficient time to investigate available high speed internet providers and transition their service.

Multiple resources are available to help find commercial carriers available in your area. While we do not recommend one carrier over another, you may find websites such as www.dsl.com, www.broadbandinfo.com, www.cable-modem.net or, www.buytelco.net useful.

Dial-up access via Northeastern Illinois University is available for student use until July 1, 2008. Click on the links for instructions on how to install on a Mac or a PC.