Dial Up is not the first choice when connecting to the Internet, but it has its uses. When would it be needed? What is backup dial up used for? It turns out business broadband ASDL is useful for a myriad of situations, not least for backup. Although Dial Up is more expensive and slower, it is worth having. While older than most college graduates, it is still used today, and for good reasons.

Cable is fast and efficient. It's usually unlimited, so there is almost never a bandwidth limit. The ISP is not immune to downtime, however. What if a user must connect and everything is offline. This would be a problem. Backup Dial Up provides a solution lasting at least until the primary ISP is back up. This could be useful if the Internet must be accessed right away and a user cannot simply wait for the Internet to come back up.

A user may be leaving the house. Are there any hotspots to which he or she would have access? What if the Internet is needed right away? If the user has a cellphone plan that allows tethering, Dial Up is now available. Simply plug the phone in and Internet is available wherever there is reception.

Getting banned from an ISP can be a hassle. First comes the lack of Internet access, then comes the realization that the Internet is required to sign up for an ISP. Dial-Up can solve this. Connect to the Internet using Dial-Up, which a user can sign up for on the phone to dsl providers. Then navigate to the ISP needed and sign up for that. Repeat until an acceptable Internet Service Provider is found.

Unlike with Cable, it is possible to dial directly when using a dial-up modem. This means no more logs, which means no more traces of any access to computers other than the computers themselves. This is useful if the user has paranoid tendencies or would like some privacy. This is not a way to perform an illegal act, however, as the computer the user connected to has a record of the connection.

Services are still available even with Dial Up. Telnet is available and surprisingly fast. FTP works with small files. Image compression will allow acceptable upload and download speeds. When using a text-only browser, a user can browse faster due to bandwidth being used to load text instead.

Hackers take a longer time to access a slow connection. This means that a would-be victim actually has more time to react when it has a slow connection. This is because it takes more time for the user's computer to accept incoming data, meaning the one being attacked is given a bigger grace time between the beginning of the hacking attempt and any damage being done. A few more seconds to load a page is a small price to pay for a safer computer.

A second ISP is handy if users need to do something that may not want to be linked to the first. This could range from accessing a site form which the user is IP banned to performing suspicious acts (though this is never recommended). One must remember that an Internet Service Provider will still track all use of the Internet, more in some countries than others. Do not perform illegal actions, especially if there is an obvious log, which there is.