What are Your Internet Connection Solutions?

Of primary concern to all internet users is their actual connection to the internet.A user needs to look at all the factors and weigh the benefits and costs

• Reliability - is the connection available 24/7, or do you get a busy signal?
• Speed - at what speeds can a user upload and download files?
• Costs - what are the setup and monthly costs for the internet connection service?
• Support - is support available 24/7 and is it free or is there a cost associated with it?
• Availability - is the desired service available at your location?

Available options with good and bad features include:Local dial up with phone company (local isp) - While this many times is the simplest, often times, they are the most costly and support can be an issue. Speeds are typically the slowest at 26k to 56k connection speeds.

Software file compression- If you only have 26k dialup isp connections available to you or you want to speed up your DSL connections, this is an important option you should take a look at. With this type of software you can increase your internet connection speeds by as much as five times for very little money. Popular software products that accomplish this are ActiveSpeed, PropelAccelerator, Dr. Speed, and SuperSpeeder, Highly recommended solution to increasing your browsing experience.

Local dial up with national firm - This is by far the most popular with companies like AOL, People PC, Juno, EarthLink, and Netzero providing this service to millions of users. These certainly are the most cost effective and provide excellent 24/7 support. With the high speed upgrade options you can approach 112 k speeds. If the company has a local or toll free number available in your area, then this alternative provides the lowest cost isp internet connection.

Cable connection - If cable TV is available in your area, many firms also provide an internet connection for an additional fee. Requires special cable modem. Speeds are anywhere from 512k to 10Mps.

DSL or digital service line - Many local phone companies are providing this service to selected areas. Requires installation of DSL modem on your computer and speeds typically are from 512k to 9Mps. The distance from the local hub also affects your speed. You will pay 2 to 3 times the costs of basic dial up.

Broadband - Is a term loosely thrown around that is applied to a DSL, cable, wireless, or satellite internet connections. Technically broadband is a minimum of 1.5Mbs but is used to market products with bandwidth as low as 512k. When you hear the term broadband used, think like "health food", an undefined marketing catch word.

Wireless internet connection - This option is available in limited area's and requires a wireless modem on your computer. Speeds typically are 2Mbps and this is a flexible approach as you do not need to be hardwired or plugged in. Available in many metro area's.

Satellite internet connection - This is the perfect solution for remote area's if you require a high speed internet connection. Upload and download speeds are different and in some cases you can only download via satellite and are required to upload via dial up. This is the most expensive alternative, but you can get service basically anywhere in the world. Speeds starting at 500k are available. Contact Directway for dependable and fast satellite internet connections.

About The Author
Ray LaFoy has been providing professional web and software development services since 1999. Living in Montana, he has made a career of excelling in marketing.

What is Broadband Phone?

A broadband phone is one that makes phone calls over the Internet using the IP protocol. Several large broadband phone companies have come to the forefront in recent months offering the ability to make phone calls with a regular phone, that are routed over Internet Protocol using broadband Internet access. The most popular method of using voice over IP among the household users of this technology is connection to IP telephony via a digital adapter. This is the device that is connected between a broadband modem and a normal house phone to gain access to the broadband phone line. The digital adapter unscrambles the digital voice data that is received via the Internet and converts it to an analogue signal that can be heard and understood with regular non-digital phones.

Without a doubt, voice over IP is the future in telecommunications and long distance communication. Making phone calls over IP is much cheaper than either conventional phones or cellular communication. The technology is extremely efficient and it is very easy to implement due to the fact that it uses the infrastructure of the Internet, a communications structure that already exists.

As internet telephony and its surrounding technology become more and more refined over the coming years, so will the technology that gives us access to it. Even over the coming twelve months, we will see a change from the use of a digital adapter to convert digital data from the web into analogue. Instead, we will see an increase in the availability of digital telephones and USB phones that plug directly into a USB port and that can make and receive phone calls digitally. You will also notice other mediums produce products that will attempt to bridge the gap between old technology and new. While other companies will keep their eye on the digital future and come up with more advanced variations of voice over IP to take us into the future.