Modem Update Cable

Choosing The Right Kind Of Internet Service Provider

In this article I'm going to explain a few of the differences between some of the choices for methods to get on the Internet.

First off, allow me to explain the two primary way to connect to the Internet before I get more in-depth about some of the more specific types inside these two general categories.

When you look at it as basically as possible there are two general computer terms that are about differet Internet connection types: dialup and "broadband".

Dialup is, of course, the outdated way to get on the Internet, where you use a dialup modem. Dialup modems have been around for a lot longer than most people realize: I bought my first one in the mid 1980s and they were first invented decades before that.

It was a "1200 bps" (bps is a way to measure of speed) modem that I bought for about $200 for back then. Dialup modems capped out at 56K bps a good ten years or more ago, and now go for less than $10 if you go to the right place.

In other words that would make it around forty-six times faster, and twenty times less expensive.

Now you may think to yourself "Well that must be pretty fast then!"

If you're thinking that, you're mistaken.

Dialup is obsolete technology, and hasn't been improved on in over a decade, which means it's around one hundred fifty years out of date relatively speaking!

So the bottom line is, dialup is very slow.

Lots of computer users are stuck in the stone age of dialup, either because they don't don't know any better, or they have no choice where they are.

What you may not realize is that even if you are still on dialup and are thinking "it's good enough, so why bother upgrading?" -- you are making a mistake.

I'll get to why in a moment.

First, I'm going to talk about the primary alternative to dialup. I'm talking about "broadband", which basically just means "fast Internet".

Broadband can be found in a variety of different types, with a range of speeds, even the slowest lots faster than dialup.

Aside from lots better, broadband generally doesn't tie up your phone line, so people you know don't get busy signals if they call you, and you're able to place phone calls even when you're connected to the Internet.

The two most used different types of broadband are cable and DSL. Cable internet comes over the same cable as cable TV, and is available from many different companies with a variety of different brand names -- Roadrunner is one example of cable internet.

DSL actually comes in through your phone lines much like dialup, but is quite a bit quicker and, just like cable Internet, you can place phone calls while you're connected.

You also have less-used varieties such as satellite, which gives you fairly speedy connections to the Internet using a satellite dish in the same way as satellite TV. It is kind of slow for broadband, but quite a bit faster than dialup. It's mainly used by people way out in the country who don't have a better option.

What I recommend to most people who ask is to get DSL, if they can get it where you live. In most cases it's only a little bit pricier than dialup is, and in some instances it's the same price or even costs less!

It's not usually as speedy as cable Internet, but it's still fast enough for most people, and lets you do a lot of things that just aren't possible (or are extremely irritatingly sluggish) on dialup, for example, watching videos on YouTube or other sites, or downloading big files.

This brings us to one of the main reasons I think people should stop using dialup and switch to some variety of broadband -- downloading big files.

You might make the mistake of thinking that you never do that, but not so fast... Maybe you do (or should be) and don't realize it.

First off, people are sharing large images (or several smaller images), or even videosvia email all the time now.

Maybe you're using dialup and you've tried getting your email and it never seemed to be able to get the new messages, or it seemed to take forever to do so, you may have become a victim of this.

So there's that reason.

But there's an much more important one: computers require something called "security updates" or "patches" which are critically important to get. It's important for both Windows PCs or Apple Macs.

Without these patches, your computer is almost guaranteed to be vulnerable to invasion from viruses, worms, and other threats.

But these security updates (think Windows Update, or Apple's Software Update) more and more frequently can be very large files.

So gigantic that it can take many hours, or even DAYS to get. And if you don't download them, your computer is left at risk.

Which leaves you up a creek if you're stuck using dialup.

So think about upgrading if you haven't already, and let people know about this who haven't. And remember there are a good selection of good sites out there that offer computer training CDs , so make sure you take advantage of them if it will help.

96 HOURS TO THE STONE AGE: How Our Connected Lives Crumble When The Power Goes Out.

A few points… (instapundit)

96 HOURS TO THE STONE AGE: How Our Connected Lives Crumble When The Power Goes
Out. A few points. First, you don't necessarily lose wi-fi and Internet when
the power goes out -- if you've got a backup source of power for your
cable/dsl modem and router. I use a big honking UPS that's enough [...]

instapundit

Hacking Cable Modem (JtagUtility Video Tutotial)