Understanding Broadband Internet

Even the best dial-up connection to the Internet can be maddeningly slow. This gets to be a real problem as more and more Web sites add more and larger graphics and multimedia files. Because every single item on a Web page must be downloaded to your computer before you can view it, the typical 56.6Kbps dial-up pipeline just isn't big enough to download everything instantaneously.

This is why it takes such a long time to access some Web pages. And even longer to download large files, or receive e-mails with large attachments.

Fortunately, there's a way you can speed up your connection to the Internet. All you have to do is dump your dial-up connection and subscribe to a broadband Internet service.

A broadband connection is an end-to-end digital connection, at least 10 times faster than a typical analog dial-up connection. Although DSL and cable modems are the most popular methods of Internet broadband, there are actually three main types of broadband connections that are popular today: DSL, digital cable, and digital satellite access.

Whichever type of broadband you choose, Windows XP can handle it. In the case of DSL and cable, XP handles the Internet connection as it would a network connection. Then you run the Internet Connection Wizard and tell it that you're connecting via a local area network. It's easy, and it's fast.

DSL

DSL (Digital Subscriber Line) is the fastest-growing broadband technology worldwide. (It's slightly less popular than cable broadband in the U.S., but leads cable by a wide margin elsewhere in the world.) DSL piggybacks on your existing telephone lines, and is relatively easy to install and configure.

DSL Internet connections provide speeds of at least 384Kbps and more typically in the 500Kbps 1Mbps range. For just $30 $50 per month (which includes the cost of an ISP), it's easy to see why DSL is so popular.

Digital Cable

Cable modems are also very popular, because they connect to the same digital cable lines that are working their way into homes across the country. That makes for a very easy and a very fast connection.

Digital cable delivers an even faster connection than that which you typically get with home DSL. Even the slowest connections will hit somewhere around 500Kbps, and it's not unusual to clock downstream rates of 2Mbps or more. Cable internet service is priced competitively with DSL, and is typically much easier to install and set up.

Digital Satellite

The same company that offers DIRECTV digital satellite service also offers DIRECWAY satellite-based Internet access. With DIRECWAY (www.direcway.com) you get the latest two-way service, where you use your satellite dish to receive fast signals from the satellite and send fast signals from your dish into outer space.

As a plus, you can use the same dish for both your digital Internet and your digital television services. Downstream connection speeds average around 500Kbps. DIRECWAY service is priced around $60 a month (plus the cost of the dish) a bit more than either DSL or cable broadband.