How to Choose the Best Internet Service Provider
Posted by Bram P
Why broadbandIn this article I’ll explain some of the differences between different options for methods to get on the Internet.
Initially, I’m going to explain the two main way to connect to the Internet before getting more specific about some of the more specific types within these two larger categories.
When looked at as simply as possible there are two general computer terms which describe ways to connect to the
Internet: dialup and “broadband”
Dialup is, of course, the outdated way to connect to the Internet, using a dialup modem.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 date back to decades before that.
It was a “1200 bps” (bps is a measurement of speed) dialup modem that I paid around $200 for back in the day. Dialup modems capped out at 56K bps back in the late 1990s, and now sell for less than $10 if you go to the right place.
Basically that would make it around forty-six times faster, and 20 times cheaper.
At this point you may think to yourself “Well that must be pretty fast then!”
If that’s what you’re thinking, you’re wrong.
Dialup modem is old technology, and hasn’t been improved in over a decade, which means it’s around 150 years out of date relatively speaking! The simple way to think of it is, dialup = slow.
A lot of computer users are stuck in the stone age of dialup, either because they don’t know any better, or they don’t have any other option where they live.
However, even if you are still on dialup and think “it’s good enough, so why bother upgrading?” — You’re making a mistake.
Before I do, I’m going to discuss the general alternative to dialup. It’s called “broadband”, which simply just means “fast Internet”.
Broadband comes in a variety of flavors, with a range of speeds, even the slowest lots better than dialup.
Beyond lots faster, broadband generally doesn’t tie up your phone line, so your friends or family aren’t annoyed by busy signals when they try calling you, and you can make phone calls even when you’re online.
The two most used different types of broadband are cable and DSL (Digital Subscriber Line). Cable internet comes over the same cable as cable TV, and is offered by a variety of companies using a variety of different brand names — Roadrunner is one example of cable internet.
DSL actually comes in through your phone lines just like dialup, but is much faster and, just like cable Internet, you can make phone calls while you’re connected.
You’ve got less-used options including satellite, which gives you fairly speedy connections to the Internet using a satellite dish in the same way as satellite TV. It’s slow for broadband, but a lot faster than dialup. It’s mostly used by people way out in the country that doesn’t have any better option.
What I recommend to most computer users is to get DSL, if they can get it where you live. In most cases it’s really only a bit more expensive than dialup is, and in a lot of instances it’s the same price or even costs less!
It’s not always 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 agonizingly slow) on dialup, such as watching videos on YouTube or other sites, or downloading large files.
This takes us to one of the biggest reasons I think people should stop using dialup and switch to some kind of broadband — downloading big files.
You might make the mistake of thinking that you never do that, but the thing is… Perhaps you do (or should be) and don’t realize it.
Here’s why, people are sharing big pictures (or several smaller photos), or even videos by email all the time these days. If you’re on dialup and you tried getting your email and it never seemed to be able to get the new messages, or it seemed to take forever to do it, you may have become a victim of this. So there’s that reason.
But there’s an even more important one: computers need things called “security updates” or “patches” which are absolutely important to download. It’s important for either Windows or Macs.
Without these patches, your computer is almost guaranteed to be vulnerable to attacks from viruses, worms, and other threats.
But these security updates (like Windows Update, or Macs’ Software Update) sometimes can be very large files. So gigantic that it can take hours and hours, or even DAYS to receive. And if you skip downloading them, your computer is vulnerable.
Which leaves you up a creek if you’re still using dialup?
So seriously consider about switching if you haven’t already, and forward this to your friends who haven’t. And remember there are a variety good sites out there where you can discover how to Apple and how to Windows lessons, so don’t be embarrassed to look for more help if you need it.
Another article you may be interested in reading: Brother Printer-Snapshot review and Blu ray Drive
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