Ask HN: Do you still use dial-up? If so, why?

Not me personally but I have relatives in Northern Michigan that do not even have dial-up. Because of where they live their choices for internet are dial-up or cell phone providers hotspot. This normally isn't a problem for them though as they have cell phones with a few gigs of data a month so they can check emails and do some shopping.

However they've pretty much had to go back to playing older video game systems because of this. Video games used to be the perfect answer when it came to entertainment for them living out in a rural area. An Xbox One for example requires an internet connection for initial setup and with the size of day one patches for games they would eat through over a months worth of data on one patch if they tethered. I'm actually in the process of helping them price out and then build a modest mid tier computer because at least then they buy a DRM free game from a site like Gog then drive into town to the local library to download the installers on a flash drive. It's a shame neither Sony or Microsoft have come up with an offline patching system for games yet.

I'm not on dial-up right now, but I have almost been in situation where I would be. Most of rural america relies on dialup, satellite internet, or maybe microwave based connections with speeds comparable to 2002 DSL. If you don't live within some kind of city limits, you're almost guaranteed not to have broadband access.

I got really lucky and ended up living in the vicinity of a midwest fiber hub.

Still have a dial up failover at home, it gets used for testing that it still works (i am a little amazed each time) more than any actual use. I am back to an oldschool external now, as it is still compatible with a dongle.

I have a few university friends that are on dial up, thanks to me.

A provider in the area supplies dial up @ $1/month.

Compared to the $45/month for ADSL.

Great for people who can't afford 'net, but need it.

It's enough for email and downloading references.