The Internet has become the information conduit of choice, whether for your home or your office. As easy as it is to access data from a variety of public, private and government sources, connection speeds can be slow, leaving you staring at a blank screen as one item loads at a time.
But where there is demand for faster connections, someone will come up with a supply. Here’s a brief overview of some of the more popular options:
- ISDN. Integrated Services Digital Network is a high-speed, fully digital telephone service. It can operate at speeds up to 128 kilobits/second, five times faster than today’s analog modems. The ISDN line can handle data and voice over the same line, meaning you can use the Internet while talking on the phone.
Of all the high-speed services, ISDN is probably the most widely available. Costs, as well as hardware requirements, vary widely depending on the phone company. Special wiring, jacks or other hardware may be necessary.
- DSL. Digital Subscriber Line technology works on existing phone lines, which makes it very attractive to phone companies, because they don’t have to rewire their entire network. DSL uses a different frequency spectrum than analog voice signals, so as with ISDN, you can use the phone and your Internet connection at the same time.
There are many versions of DSL service, but the most common is asymmetric, or ADSL. It can support downstream bandwidths of up to 8 Mbps and upstream bandwidths of 1.5 Mbps. DSL service requires the use of a specialized splitter on your phone line, and depending on the provider, may have other hardware requirements as well. DSL service is always on; there is no dial-up as with a traditional modem.
Another form of DSL, known as G.Lite, is rapidly gaining popularity. This version is slower — 1.5 Mbps downstream and 384 kbps upstream — but usually doesn’t require a visit from a phone technician to hook up.
- Cable modems. Cable isn’t just good for getting sports and movie channels — it also provides a high-speed connection to the Internet for not much more than what you pay for your dial-up ISP right now. For an average of about $40 per month, you get an always-on connection with speeds of up to 10 Mbps.
The cable runs into a special modem that connects to your computer via an Ethernet network card in your PC. You usually need a dedicated cable line to your computer, meaning you can’t use the one on your television, and you’ll need an open slot for the network card if you don’t already have one installed.
The biggest drawback is cable Internet access is not as widely available as the other types of services.
Todd Shryock ([email protected]) is SBN’s special reports editor.