Most people who are doing broadband speed check will find each test they have done will show different results. This is because the internet can run slower at certain times of day than others.

Then, they will ask a common question to me: How many broadband speed check tests we should do?

Before I answer this question, let discuss the following topic at first.

What impact your result

Time

Internet is like a motor way or freeway in the city. You can not expect you can driving to the city within 10 minutes on 8:30am, because it is peak time for traffic. Same as broadband, if you run the test around 6 pm, then you are hitting a peak time, when many other people are also going to be online and downloading stuff. The quiet period is between 1am to 7am which you will get your best speed.

Test Server Location

Test server location will definitely affect your broadband speed check result because of distance. If you live in London and try to check broadband speed from the following two servers: Liverpool and Oxford, then your result from Oxford should always faster than Liverpool in most situations, because Liverpool is more far away than Oxford.

Distance from your exchange

The most crucial factor to affect what speed you are capable of getting is how far your phone line has to stretch to the telephone exchange: the shorter the distance, the faster your broadband can be.

Any other broadband users in your house?

Your broadband speed check result will slow down if several people within your household are online at the same time.

Any other tasks on your computer

How many tasks you are carrying out online at the same time. You can not expect you get a good result while you downloading a movie through BT.

Your equipment

Your Phone, Modem or Router's quality will affect your speed dramatically. My broadband keep on disconnect every 10 minutes for a while until I found it's my filter's problem. So make sure your broadband hardware is healthy.

Recommendation

So, I would like to suggest that a person runs the test more than once. It should be run at a few different times of day to get a good range of speeds. Moreover, it is also important for a user to understand that their broadband speed check result will not likely be the top speed their ISP says they can provide.

Firefox extensions are the pure reason why I choose to use Firefox over Internet Explorer. Over the past couple years of using Firefox, I have came across many new extensions, some that were great, others just the opposite. Here is a list of my favorite Firefox extensions and what they do.

1. StumbleUpon Toolbar, I wouldn't call this extension a useful one, but I love using it. Simply click stumble, and based on your interests, Stumble sends you to random sites, many you probably have never seen before. Stumble also works as a good bookmarker.

2. ReminderFox- If you find yourself on the computer a lot, and you find yourself wasting a couple of hours, when you should be doing something else, ReminderFox is for you. Simply put up a reminder, like in Outlook, and when it is time to do that thing, ReminderFox tells you, you should be doing so and so, making it my favorite online scheduler.

3. ScrapBook- I recently started using it, and it has become very useful to me. If you need to save a whole webpage, or parts of a webpage without paying for an expensive program, just download this, and your problems are solved. You can choose to save it from different levels of links, and choose to save certain types of files in it.

4. Del.icio.us Buttons- Using online bookmarks presents a big advantage over computer saved bookmarks. Not only do you not have to worry about losing your favorite sites, but you can access your bookmarks from anywhere. If you want the best of the online bookmarking toolbars, then Del.icio.us is for you.

5. Gspace- This used to be one of my favorite ways to save and archive files, but with Google's new limit on the size of the file, it gets harder to upload big files unless you compress it into small files. Gspace uses gmail to save files like an FTP kind of service. It sends an email to your gmail with the attachment and everything; if you want to make even more use out of it, create a label and a filter so all of your downloaded files go straight to your label for easy downloading.

6. Adblock- Adblock is a multi featured ad-blocker for Firefox. Truth is, I no longer use it anymore because it wouldn't let me run certain things, and I would have to unblock them, because it thought they were ads. Adblock still works very well, and if you are tired of advertisements simply "block" them. Adblock also supports custom ad blocks, you can block certain ads like Yahoo's, and keep Google's.

7. Restart Firefox (https://addons.mozilla.org/firefox/addon/1249) - This is one of my favorite Firefox tools, and the title says it all: it restarts Firefox, and it comes in handy a lot of the time.

8. FasterFox- FasterFox finely tunes your browser's settings for optimal settings, and if you know how to use it very well, you can fine tune it yourself.

9. iMacros (http://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/3863) - If you have heard of Macros, you should be familiar with what they do. If you don't know, in one short sentence: they are a set of inputted commands that do things for you take save time and energy. If you constantly have log in and go to a website, just record your actions, and whenever you need to go a certain page you want, just click run, and it does all the steps for you. If you know VBA, iMacros provides many many more possibilities.

10. Google Notebook (http://www.google.com/notebook/download) - Last, but not least Google Notebook is a simple notebook where you can write anything you want down, and save for reference. It is much easier than going to a text editor, writing saving a piece of text or something you need, and on top of all that, your notes are available online with your Google account.

If you have any questions or comments please feel free to tell me. Keep in mind these are the top 10 extensions

People always ask me how multimedia fits in with the WWW.

Well, it is the next logical progression in this amazing phenomenon we call the Internet, which didn't actually exist (as we know it) 12 or so years ago. The damn thing wasn't even invented until 1989... here's a crash history.

Tim Berners-Lee is the inventor of the Web. In 1989, Tim was working in a computing services section of CERN when he came up with the concept (web); at the time he had no idea that it would be implemented on such an enormous scale. Particle physics research often involves collaboration among institutes from all over the world. Tim had the idea of enabling researchers from remote sites in the world to organize and pool together information. But far from simply making available a large number of research documents as files that could be downloaded to individual computers; he suggested that you could actually link the text in the files themselves.

In other words, there could be cross-references from one research paper to another. This would mean that while reading one research paper, you could quickly display part of another paper that holds directly relevant text or diagrams. Documentation of a scientific and mathematical nature would thus be represented as a ‘web' of information held in electronic form on computers across the world. This, Tim thought, could be done by using some form of hypertext, some way of linking documents together by using buttons on the screen, which you simply clicked on to jump from one paper to another.

Tim's simple but effective idea turned out to be the greatest communication device of humanity even if it was not supported by big companies and manufacturers. For instance, Hewlett-Packard, in common with many other large computer companies, was quite unconvinced that the Internet would be a success; indeed, the need for a global hypertext system simply passed them by. For many large corporations, the question of whether or not any money could be made from the Web was unclear from the outset.

Later, especially after Mosaic, the first web browser was released; the competition between the companies became more obvious. The later version of Mosaic in competition with the Microsoft Internet Explorer added new features to the HTML language like n-compass and active-x controls respectively. Meanwhile, the World Wide Web Consortium was formed to fulfill the potential of the Web through the development of open standards. They had a strong interest in HTML. Just as an orchestra insisting on the best musicians, the consortium recruited many of the best-known names in the Web community headed up by Tim Berners-Lee. During 1995, all kinds of new HTML tags emerged. Some, like the BGCOLOR attribute of the BODY element and FONT FACE, which control stylistic aspects of a document, found themselves in the black books of the academic engineering community. "You're not supposed to be able to do things like that in HTML," they would protest. In the end, the technology of web was for the pure purpose of science and technology. It was not supposed to turn into a multimedia "tool". It was their belief that such things as text color, background texture, font size and font face were definitely outside the scope of a language when their only intent was to specify how a document would be organized.

While the W3 Consortium was working on already the HTML 3, the web design was benefiting the competition between the Netscape and IE. Even for the good intentions of the consortium, the big corporations insisted on creating their own derivatives for HTML. This was creating many compatibility problems. Finally, following the success of the November, 1995 meeting, the World Wide Web Consortium formed the HTML Editorial Review Board to help with the standardization process. This board consisted of representatives from IBM, Microsoft, Netscape, Novell, Softquad and the W3 Consortium, and did its business via telephone conference and email exchanges, meeting approximately once every three months. Its aim was to collaborate and agree upon a common standard for HTML, thus putting an end to the era when browsers each implemented a different subset of the language. The bad fairy of incompatibility was to be banished from the HTML kingdom forever, or one could hope so, perhaps.

The incompatibility was not banished but was at least minimized. However, HTML kept on growing and the last versions like the dynamic HTML, like HTML 4.0 brought new colors and usages for this language. Especially after the edition of style sheets, it became extremely difficult to standardize the view of a web page depending on the browser you use.

As you can see, HTML was written for the pure purpose of information sharing but turned into a mass communication mechanism. It was supposed to be an organizational language, and yet became a multimedia source where you can edit the layout and add images, sound and many other multimedia files. We can blame the evolution process of this language for the non-standardized nature of it.

What with the buzz around the FCC’s auction rules on the upcoming 700 MHz sale few noticed the Commission’s geek squad also flew its Kitty Hawk into white spaces between TV broadcast spectrum bands that same July. The test flight wasn’t spectacular or anything but like the Wright brother’s bird it quietly made history.

While the FCC commissioners were lining up to announce final edicts on managing the 700 MHz auction, their Office of Engineering and Technology made its own announcement on initial testing results for a couple of prototype devices that might be used in television white spaces. Looking beyond the Google – Verizon squabble that took center stage in the auction related media coverage the second announcement was the more important one as it charts a course outside the box to decide where we go once these auctions have played out. The FCC hoped these tests would lead to white spaces (unused by TV broadcasters) being made available for unlicensed use by opportunistic (cognitive radio) devices that would sense when frequencies were in use by television or other signals. Two prototypes were tested one from Microsoft and the other by a consortium lead by Philips Electronics. Things didn’t go too well and the FCC concluded the devices weren’t sensitive enough. But then the Kitty Hawk just flew 12 seconds on its first flight.

To understand the logic behind cognitive radio (CR) lets stay with the airplane analogy a bit. As things stand today we treat radio spectrum like real estate parceling bands off to licensees for their exclusive use as operators. Such allocation was fine in the good old days but now wears thin in the face of an overwhelming demand for radio space by contending applications. However radios keep getting smarter and its time we began treating spectrum like the skies where there’s no technical reason why an airplane can’t fly amidst congested air traffic as long as navigational rules are followed.

The funny thing is that the perceived spectral congestion is more a function of our inefficient method of parsing bandwidth to licensees than due to any real irresolvable contention. Measurements carried out by the IEEE on frequency bands below 3 GHZ conducted from January 2004 to August 2005 showed that only about 5.2% of the spectrum was actually in use in the US in any given location and at any given time. Even more interesting was the revelation that heavy spectrum utilization often takes place in unlicensed bands while licensed bands often experience low (e.g. TV bands) or medium (e.g. some cellular bands) utilization. It’s safe to say these American studies on spectrum utilization may also hold true in other countries. The results should resonate especially so in countries like India where the whole matter of allocating spectrum is increasingly fraught with a liberalizing Regulator, a truculent cellular lobby and nonplussed government officials drawing battle lines.

These alarming measurements suggesting spectrum under-utilization in the midst of a perceived scarcity coupled with recent advances in radio technology prompted the FCC to test CR and see whether base stations and Customer Equipment (CPEs) could competently connect and stay within unused white bands in spectrum allocated to TV broadcast.

There was some patronizing smugness at the cellular establishment with the sub-par performance but it’s a nascent technology and can only improve. Let’s pray it does ‘because selling off chunks of spectrum doesn’t work anymore for anyone other than the cellular operators. Today’s artificial scarcity impacts a more universal telecommunications service deployment, especially broadband. Education, health care, communications, public safety and leisure are all casualties.

For those not blinkered there appears little choice but to gradually do away with reserving spectrum and instead have service providers deploy equipment with radio characteristics adaptive to the real-time conditions of the environment, which is what cognitive or adaptive radio is all about.

When mastered, CR technology would utilize the large amount of spectrum lying unused in reserved lots while not interfering with other incumbent devices in these frequency bands already licensed for specific uses. Folks, this is huge. Globally. In its September 2007 recommendations on spectrum allocation & pricing the Indian regulator (TRAI) mentions eventually doing away with licensed spectrum management in favor of well defined rules of interaction once cognitive radio becomes real. The TRAI uses ocean lanes to make the point I made earlier with air traffic but I won’t quibble because the message clearly comes across. CR is happening.

More so because IEEE, the folks who brought you WiFi and WiMax, has announced work on CR type air interface under the 802.22 group of standards. It beats cellular & WiMax on range because this specific air interface standard works in – or rather in between - the VHF & UHF portions of the radio spectrum allotted to TV broadcast. This end of the spectrum has better propagation characteristics than the upper bands allotted to cellular, WiMax or WiFi and hence the impressive range.

The reason for focus at the lower end of the spectrum is primarily because the broadcasters are about to release these bands (the reason for the auction) as they go digital. The FCC can therefore play around here far easier than anywhere close to the cellular establishment’s spectral property. But unless you fervently believe in the tooth fairy, know that for CR technology to worm its way and eventually squat on unused cellular real estate is only a matter of time.

When signing up for broadband internet service, you’ll usually have to choose one of 2 options. Cable or DSL. To the uninformed consumer they may seem like the exact same thing, but in fact they are two very different services. Each has its own pros and cons. So, before you decide on which one to go with, you should inform yourself of their benefits.

DSL is internet service that is routed through existing phone lines. However, unlike dial-up connections, it allows you to use your phone and get on the internet at the same time. This is because it transfers the data at a different frequency than the phone uses, so the two data streams don’t interfere with each other. This is a huge benefit, because you need minimal additional equipment to set it up. DSL is cheaper than cable, and also is available in more areas.

Cable, on the other hand, means that your internet connection is provided to you through a devoted cable. The cable can carry internet exclusively, or it may also have TV channels. The downside of cable is that you have to pay the price to have a cable run directly to your house. This is usually not cheap. However, once you have it, your internet connection will be much faster than the average DSL connection. For example, if you watch an internet video on a cable connection, you can watch it straight through. On a DSL connection, you may have to pause it and let it load all the way.

So, if you place a lot of importance on the speed of your internet connection, it may be worth the extra money to pay for cable. But, if you prefer a simple installation and you don’t mind a slower connection (not nearly as slow as dial-up, though), then DSL is a great option.

In 1999, the European countries kicked off plans to auction spectrum for 3G. A ballpark US$200B down the road and 3G still seeks validation. But the establishment is on its side allowing the 3G bus to careen from country to country leaving a trail of red ink. However, just one ISP blunders with WiFi deployment in American cities and the Inquisition is back.

To understand better the brouhaha hark back to 2004 when Verizon launched a political broadside against Wireless Philadelphia. Demonstrating just what clout means Verizon got Pennsylvania Governor Ed Randell to sign a law barring MuniWireless initiatives unless the municipality or local body first offered the incumbent service provider an opportunity to deploy its own network. That the incumbent had all these past years to deploy a broadband network and didn’t simply means irony does not trump political muscle.

Then a funny thing happens. There was a groundswell of protest from the citizenry making the good Governor rapidly backtrack resulting in a last-minute deal allowing Wireless Philadelphia to proceed and with EarthLink subsequently winning the contract to deploy. MuniWireless was now officially in the telecom establishment’s cross-hairs. Taking on City Hall is one thing. But to take on the corporate telecoms establishment, groundswells and big cojones aren’t enough. Especially when the ISP depends on the same incumbent to provide fixed line connectivity to WiFi base stations.

In 2005 Diana Neff – the lady behind Wireless Philadelphia – explained its economics to me:
- In lieu of Capex related payments, the city government becomes the anchor tenant.
- Power, locations for base stations provided for free.
- ISP free to offer internet access into homes , offices at commercial rates.
- Free Internet access in open parks.
- Subsidized Internet access to weaker sections.

That’s the economic gist. Is its net wherewithal enough to rumble with fully amortized copper running voice and owned by an incumbent able to cherry picks where to put its DSLAMs? I’d say, barely. Just about. If all goes well. Now, if the municipalities were to ante up to also mitigate the Capex burden in addition to becoming anchor tenants, we could have a robust stand-off.

Here is the core argument on the economics.
- Nothing is free.
- Recurring revenues are a bitch to kick-off. To generate a stream that makes sense is usually a three year wait. This is the incumbent’s huge advantage. His three year wait occurred in the Triassic era.
- If the municipalities pay for equipment and become anchor tenants, MuniWireless has money then to wait out the gestation period required for monthly recurring revenues to stack up.
- If the municipalities are not going to pay for equipment, they need to ante up properly as anchor tenants. If neither, the MuniWireless operation goes bust.
- Again, the same economics do not apply to a cellular player because the 2G networks are comfortably amortized and the service ubiquitous.
- Unbundled services from the incumbent are a bedrock for MuniWireless economics. Without it the whole enterprise remains fraught.
- Lastly, look at the blood around 3G to understand what it takes to launch a new service, even when the service is allowed to rest on 2G crutches. In comparison, WiFi’s burn is peanuts and all it takes for the economics to work is at a minimum, strict & wholehearted adherence to the Neff model.

It’s safe to say that besides a continued reliance on incumbent backhaul, the basics of the Neff formula weren’t adhered to as ISPs like EarthLink sought to light up America’s urban landscapes. In a rush to move away from a dying dial-up business deals were signed up at the same velocity they are currently unwinding. We watched from the sidelines as each new deal resulted in one more concession and then another and another thrusting a precedence on the rest of the industry. By 2007, cities were refusing anchor tenancies and delivering a double whammy instead by demanding free services if the ISP were to be allowed to address the city population.

MuniWireless’ teething problems then have more to do with possible economic mismanagement and incumbent hostility than with WiFi technology. The same WiFi for example, is working wonderfully for T-Mobile in their WiFi@home service linking your home WiFi and the thousands of T-Mobile WiFi hotspots to their cellular network. This service is WiFi's wedge into the telecom establishment's door.

So someone may have screwed with MuniWireless but WiFi isn’t the perp.

Seeing T-Mobile’s intent there’s more to WiFi than WiFi. I wrote in 2005 about patching WiFi to cellular networks suggesting UMA (Unlicensed Mobile Access) as a method for cellular companies to co-opt WiFi and bring true broadband into the realm without investing in a questionable 3G. Kudos to T-Mobile for doing it two years later.

But WiFi-cellular links are already passé. If the cellular companies have been too slow/reluctant/hostile to the technology doesn’t mean the technology wasn’t there. WiFi is the tip of an OFDMA iceberg and the WiFi-WiMax nexus is what’s going to shake up the networks next. One doesn’t expect to see a WiMax operator mulling too much on the pros & cons of connecting to WiFi at the edges over a common IP back end. The first casualty of such ubiquitous footprints with high speed mobile wireless broadband access to the internet is going to be band-aid applications like Blackberry. Whether you sit at Starbucks, walk up to your car with your Frappuchino or drive off home, you can directly access your email server/service at a minimum 2-5mbps.

There are some very dedicated people working hard at IEEE under the IEEE P802.21 working group to develop standards for these vertical (cellular – WiFi) and horizontal (WiFi-WiMax) nexuses. The standard is slated for finalization by 2008 at which point WiFi begins its real role as the owner of the edge. As we old telecom hands have learnt at great expense, that’s where the winning lottery ticket is hidden.

For a non-incumbent, to make sense of a WiFi-centric business one needs to adhere to the economic arguments made in these article. That keeps the business afloat while you spread your network one home after another, one café after another. Your intent is to have as large a footprint as possible before you make that call to T-Mobile.

This is first article from two part series looking at the seemingly easy task of setting up Internet connection to security DVR. While this article will focus on general steps involved in proper connection forwarding to CCTV DVR, the part two is all about dynamic DNS support and workarounds. Before we step into the main subject, I like to explain very briefly a few key aspects of Internet connection for those of us not familiar with term like IP address, DDNS, port forwarding or IP mapping.

Terminology:

Every computer or other network device, in our case CCTV recorder has its own address called IP address, much like your home address it allows the information to find its way in enormous world of internet. IP address has four groups of numbers separated by dots; the number range is between 0 and 255. There are two separate networks that we need to take into consideration, LAN for Local Area Network and WAN for Wide Area Network. LAN has its own IP addresses and handles connection on local network devices (computers or devices located in your home or office network), if WAN IP is your home address than LAN IP would be your apartment number.

WAN IP is an external address visible to every user on the Internet. We will explain rest of the terminology as we go along.

Setup:

The best way to explain and clarify surveillance DVR connection setup is to use an example. In our example, we will setup DVR model VDV-074 from DVRExperts thru Netopia Router/Modem combo currently used by AT&T DSL provider with static IP service, I will also use Linksys WRT54G Router for Cable DSL connection. Security DVR recorder needs to be connected to the Internet through Router and Modem, in some cases Router and Modem are all in one devices, for example Netopia Routers.

For standalone Modems please connect the Internet out to WAN port, on your Router. Connect CCTV DVR and computers to available ports on the Router as well. Your Router will need to be setup now to log in to the Internet service provider and establish connection.

Netopia Router users:

Open up browser on your computer and type into the address bar your routers default IP http://192.168.1.254. User name and password window should appear; the default user name and password for Netopia Routers are admin for user and serial number of your Router for the password.

Select Configure followed by Quick start link, type your Internet service providers user name (email address) and your ISP password. Click submit and alert icon located in upper right corner (I know it is strange), finally select save and restart. Your connection should be up in minute or so, click home link to see your connection status.

Linksys Router users:

Open up browser on your computer and type into the address bar your routers default IP http://192.168.1.1. User name and password window should appear; the default user name and password for Linksys routers are admin for user and admin for the password.

The home page of the router has ISP settings, type in your email address as a user name and ISP password for the password, select save or submit. The Router will restart after minute or so, log in again and go to status page to see if your connection status is UP.

If everything is ok and your connection is UP, we can now proceed to fun part of the setup process

There is great number of different security Digital Video Recorders on the market, so please follow your DVR's manual for details; I will only provide the proper settings. In the DVR menu, setup static LAN (Internal) IP for the DVR, in our example we have 3 computers and DVR. Each device has assigned LAN IP address as follows:

Computer 1 - 192.168.1.100

Computer 2 - 192.168.1.101

Computer 3 - 192.168.1.102

DVR - 192.168.1.103

The surveillance DVR will now be accessible within our network by typing its assigned internal IP (192.168.1.103) into browser or connection software. What we need now is to forward the connection from external IP (WAN) which is accessible from outside of our network to the LAN IP of the DVR (192.168.1.103).

Netopia Router users:

Select Configure followed by Advanced and finally IP Maps. IP map table should be empty, click on add and type into IP Map Entry Name text box the name of your DVR connection, in our example I just typed in DVR so I know what this IP map is for. In Internal IP address box type in 192.168.1.103, for external IP address refer to you ISP work sheet and find out what is your IP. In some cases ISP will provide more than one static IP, you can choose one of them.

Click submit and alert icon located in upper right corner, finally select save and restart.

From now on anyone requesting external IP will be forwarded to the internal IP of the DVR (192.168.1.103), therefore the connection should be established successfully.

Linksys Router users:

When setting up your DVR for access from the Internet, you will need to configure Port Forwarding on your Linksys Router. This can be accomplished in one of two ways, Specific Port Forwarding or the DMZ host. The DMZ host automatically forwards all incoming connection requests to a given IP address on your local network. Open the Applications & Gaming section of the router and choose DMZ. DMZ is not secure and should only be used with embedded, non-PC based CCTV recorders.

To expose the DVR to the Internet, enter the DVR local IP address (192.168.1.103) in the DMZ Host IP address box. In some cases you may just want to forward specific ports to your security DVR. If you are running any other device/server that hosts services available to the internet, you will want to use specific port forwarding instead of the DMZ Host, also if your DVR is PC based it is strongly recommended for security reasons, to only forward ports used by DVR connection. Open the applications & Gaming section of the router and choose Port Range Forwarding. Type in the name for the connection, starting port number, ending port number and internal IP of the DVR (192.168.1.103 in our example). Save and exit.

Your connection is now setup properly.

You probably noticed the term static IP in this article, and are wondering what that is.

Well, static IP is what the name suggests an IP that never changes. While there is no problem with internal IP selection; we can use whatever we want or prefer - the external IP, usually is dynamic. The static IP has to be requested from the ISP and is more expensive than dynamic IP. In our case we do want static IP so we have address for CCTV DVR connection that will never change.

Throughout this tutorial I have assumed that the external static IP is available.

Unfortunately in many areas it is not, or the cost is prohibitive. Don't panic yet, there is at least couple of different ways around this problem and I will try to go over each approach in my next article "How to use free dynamic DNS services for DVR connection."

There is no single way to do this. The methods are generally dictated by the level of service you offer or your SLAs (Service Level Agreements).

Most ISPs work with an over subscription model. The assumption is similar to the way phone networks operate - you assume that only a portion of your customer base uses the network at any one time. If everyone starts to use the phone, the network will generally crash. Famous examples of this include the Bay Area in California during the Loma Prieta earthquake in 1989.

The key for you is to craft a model that reflects a) the service you desire to offer, b) the legal constraints of your agreements and state policies, and c) practical operating circumstances.

These are interactive. For example, you might include limitations in your service-restore-on-failure policy to reflect the difficulty of debugging a network at 2.00 am on Sunday morning. Most businesses will not care. Few private individuals will be using the net. Those that do, will probably accept such a limit if the other aspects of the service are good value.

Most ISPs run a ratio of signed members to backbone capability. Simple example: We want to offer a 1 Mbps service to users. We are provisioning an OC-3 connection (155 MBps). If we provision at 7:1, we can offer service to 1,085 customers before we have to upgrade our backbone with more capability.

Generally, this ration and consequences will be covered in our servce contract. Disclosing it is necessary to avoid complaints or legal action by customers during period of high traffic in the ISP network.

Customers usually fall into multiple categories, residential and business being the two most obvious. It is common for an ISP with a mix to create customer expectations in line with practical traffic. If you have a set of business customers who work 8-6 on five days a week, it is to your advantage to have lower residential traffic during this time. This may be reflected in lower service contract terms for residential customers during business hours. This is usually acceptable as most customers will also be at work. By contrast, the business user may get a lower service performance during non-business hours.

These variations show that any model must take each of the tiers into account. You can play all kinds of what-if scenarios to get a feel for the "right" mix for you.

Remember to allow for the common customer (e.g. the 5-day 8-6 office) and the more rigorous customer (7 x 24 operation or doing intense backups in the middle of the night). Having multiple pricing tiers and contracts usually cover these circumstances.

An older book that covers the general field and will give you food for thought would be "ISP Survival Guide - Strategies for Running a Competitive ISP" by Geoff Huston (Wiley).

If you find you do need more bandwidth to meet your planned/expected usage .... I suggest taking advantage of the free assistance available to find the right bandwidth solution for your specific application from DS3-Bandwidth.com.

There are many benefits to be gained from having a wireless network. Certainly one of the biggest benefits to those business people on the move all the time is that they can easily gain access to their emails whilst they are waiting for a flight or a train. But it is also great for those who work from home as no longer do they need to restrict themselves to be sat at a desk instead if they want they can go and sit outside in the sunshine and do their work. However there are going to be times when a problem occurs with the network and this can be extremely infuriating. So what can one do to fix a wireless network problem?

Below we provide you with a few steps which should hopefully help to fix your wireless network problem without having to resort to getting a professional in. Often the problem can be quite easily resolved by just going into the network settings on your laptop or PC and simply following the instructions provided to you reconnecting to the network should be easy.

However it is important that before you actually try to rectify the problem that has occurred you should only arrange to make one change at a time. In most cases if you choose to change several settings at once and then reboot the laptop in all likelihood the changes you have made will have no effect and the problem will still be there. But by doing the changes one at a time you will be able to work out what is actually working for you and what isn't.

The first thing that you should be doing before you actually try to reconnect to the wireless network at any time when you lose connection is to check to make sure that your laptop has a wireless adapter. Luckily in most cases today many of the latest laptops and notebooks will have their adapter internally installed. But if it isn't then you will often find it has an external adapter instead.

In order to carry out any repair the first thing that you should do is check to see if you are actually receiving a signal. With a large number of laptops, PC's and notebooks today you can get a software programs which not only tell you when connectivity has been lost but will also help you to re-establish it. All you need to do is click on the button which says reconnect to the wireless network and it will either connect you to the one you are currently on or it will connect you to one which actually has a much better signal.

However if you find that when you use the method above in order to fix a wireless network problem and it does not achieve your desired goal. Then you may find that the only way to regain connection is by actually rebooting your PC, laptop or notebook altogether.

Many people who now run their own online businesses understand the importance of having a good internet service provider. Today there are numerous different ways in which a person is able to connect to the internet and certainly the fastest way of connecting is through the use of a DSL service. Although this service runs through the phone line it is up to 5 times quicker than a more traditional dial up service. But of all the different companies offering such a service which is the best DSL service provider?

Below we take a look at some of the features you should be looking for in order to decide which is the best DSL service provider for you to use?

The first thing that you should be doing is carrying out as much research as you possibly can as this will help you get the best price as well as the best service you want. However in order to find the best DSL service for you it is important that you know exactly what you are going to be using it for. Although one service may be great for your mate if it doesn’t provide you with everything that you need to run your online business effectively not only are you wasting money but you are also wasting your time as well.

Therefore before you start your search for the right DSL service for you it is important that you sit down and work out exactly what it is you need from the DSL provider. So are you someone who is looking just to be able to connect to the internet or are you someone who wants a phone line as well. There are plenty of such companies who advertise online today and so why not carry out a search using search engines such as Google to see what companies are and the different kinds of services that they can offer you.

Also by knowing exactly the kind of service you are looking for and what you will be using it for will help you to look for those service providers that meet your own particular requirements. This will also help to prevent you from paying into a service which not only does not meet your requirements but will also be a complete waste of money.

Once you know what you need the service for you can now start to talk to the various companies offering such facilities that you need and obtain a price list from them. After getting the price lists it would be a great idea if you speak to others who are already using the DSL services that you are interested in. But don’t just rely on the testimonials that the service provider offers you and which appear on their websites.

A great way of finding out which is the best DSL service provider to use is by talking to those close to you like, friends, family and neighbors and see what services they are currently using. By doing this you will be able to eliminate those services which do not meet your requirements even if they do offer the best deals possible.

If you followed along with the first article, then you are ready to set-up your PC to access the secure wireless connection.

This article does not go into hardening your PC against other threats, you should always make sure you are using a firewall, virus scanner and/or spam blocking software.

Now that you have successfully configured your LinkSys WRT54GC the next step is to configure your PC so that you can access the secured connection.

This is easy to do, and only requires a few additional steps.

First you should have an icon on your status bar that looks like a computer - it shows the wireless network connection. When you move your mouse over top of it, you should see the wireless information for the connection.

Since your connection will not be established, there may be an X or SLASH through the icon. Not to worry, setting up this connection is very easy.

First step is to double-click on the icon. This will bring up the WIRELESS NETWORK CONNECTION STATUS window.

Next on this window, click on the PROPERTIES button. This will display another window that reads WIRELESS NETWORK CONNECTION PROPERTIES on the window bar.

Click on the tab that reads WIRELESS NETWORKS.

Since your network should already be set-up, you can highlight the entry and click on the PROPERTIES button - it will light-up once you select your network.

On this screen and this tab (marked ASSOCIATION) there will be several fields, one of which is called Network name (SSID). This field is not accessible, but will list the name of your network.

Then there is another block of options under WIRELESS NETWORK KEY. This is what you need to update in order to access your secured wireless network.

The first item is the NETWORK AUTHENTICATION. Provided you’ve kept your PC updated and have all the latest updates and patches, when you click on this list box you will have several options available to you: OPEN, SHARED, WPA and WPA-PSK.

Select the one that you used on your LinkSys WRT54GC wireless access point. Chances are if you followed part 1 of this article then you should select WPA-PSK.

Next you will select the DATA ENCRYPTION method. Choices available to you will be: TKIP or AES.

Once again you will select the one which you selected on your LinkSys WRT54GC wireless access point. TKIP and AES are both as strong, however AES may slow down your internet connection from your PC to the access point since it goes through more encryption methods.

In my experiences I have noticed that when I use TKIP I retain a 108 Mbps speed to the access point, whereas with AES it drops in half to 54 Mbps. However I’ve decided to stay with AES.

Once you have selected the appropriate DATE ENCRYPTION method the next step is to select the NETWORK KEY and enter this into two spots: NETWORK KEY and CONFIRM NETWORK KEY.

The network key is the SAME key you entered into your wireless access point (the LinkSys WRT54GC). If this is a long string and you’ve saved the string (not recommended for long-term, only during your initial set-up and configuration) then you can simply CUT the string from the document and PASTE it into the required fields! Otherwise you will need to manually type in the 63 character string - which may not be an easy task to complete.

Enter the string into the required fields - NETWORK KEY and CONFIRM NETWORK KEY then click on the OK button.

When the previous window opens up (WIRELESS NETWORK CONNECTION PROPERTIES) click the OK button again.

Finally click CLOSE on the WIRELESS NETWORK CONNECTION STATUS.

It may take a few seconds to a few minutes for your PC to synchronize to the access point, however once it does you will be able to surf the web securely between your PC and your access point. As well, it will be very difficult for the average individual to hack into your wireless connection and steal your broadband access!

It really is that simple, that everyone should be protecting their wireless connection. Not only are you ensuring nobody can use your broadband access, but data that is sent between your PC an the access point is secured as well - you won’t be sending out your account details un-encrypted anymore just waiting for someone with the smarts to capture that data and use it for their own means.

Before we finish, would you like to see how many secured or unsecured connections are in your area? Yes, you can see this easily with Windows own tools. Double-click on the icon we mentioned earlier in this article. This will bring up the WIRELESS NETWORK CONNECTION STATUS window.

Click on the VIEW WIRELESS NETWORKS button.

If you’ve done everything correctly you will not see your connection in the list but you will see all the other connections around you (for those individuals that did not disable the broadcast of their SSID) plus you’ll be able to see who has encrypted their connection fully and who is using basic encryption.

Those that are using WPA or stronger - those will be tough to crack or hack into. Those that are not - with the right tools (all available freely over the Internet) you could access their wireless connection with a bit of work and steal their broadband access (though I highly recommend that you do not).

Setting the appropriate security measures is very easy, and just common sense. Like you would not leave your bank statement in a public place - you should ensure that your computer(s) are secured to prevent your private information being given to the public.

Securing your wireless access point is imperative. There have been several cases where people drive up and down residential neighborhoods “stealing” WiFi access – what are they using it for? They could be downloading child pornography, using the open access point for terrorist activities, or perhaps they’re downloading copyrighted material like movies and songs. Regardless of what they are using it for, you want to ensure that your access point is secure.

Securing your access point is very simple, at a very high level you need to ensure that your computer contains the latest patches and updates to ensure it has access to the latest security services. You also want to make sure that your wireless access point has the latest updates as well.

You can visit the wireless access point manufacturer’s site to see if there are any updates available. They will also provide step-by-step directions for updating the firmware in the device.

Do not underestimate the web either – do a search on the hardware you are using and you will find a lot of information on securing that particular hardware.

So how do you secure your wireless access point and what technologies do you use?

The WRT54GC features all the latest wireless security settings such as WEP, WPA Personal, WPA2 Personal and WPA2 Mixed Mode. You can also choose between AES and TKIP encryption.

WEP – or Wired Equivalent Privacy is a method to secure wireless networks. WEP is not very secure, and has been cracked easily with readily available software within minutes.

WPA – or Wi-Fi Protected Access (and all flavors) is much more secure than WEP. WPA is highly recommended to be used, along with a pass phrase that is longer than a typical 6 to 8 character password. For installations that I have performed, typically we have chosen pass phrases that are between 8 and 63 characters long and that are dynamically (randomly) generated (most pass phrases that I select are 63 characters in length).

WPA2 – is more secure than WPA and fully implements the mandatory elements of IEEEE 802.11i standards.

AES – also known as the Advanced Encryption Standard is one of the options available to you to secure your wireless connection.

TKIP – known as Temporal Key Integration Protocol, is another security method to protect wireless access points. TKIP may be more secure than AES, but it may slow down the connection between your computer and the access point.

So how do you secure your LinkSys WRT54GC wireless device?

Assuming that you have already have access to the device and have set it up, adding security is simple.

Consider changing your starting IP address – the default 192.168.x.x is pretty common and is used as a default installation. You need to alter the LOCAL IP ADDRESS. This is found under Setup > Basic Setup. You can also set the Maximum Number of DHCP Users.

Next under the Wireless option name your SSID – make it original! Too many people use the default “LINKSYS” or “DEFAULT”. Use something that will not identify you or your location – I’ve seen some of my neighbors use their hobbies, not wise. You should also consider DISABLING the Wireless SSID Broadcast.

Under the same option, click on Wireless MAC Filter. Find out the MAC address for the devices that will connect to your access point, and enter them here. This provides an additional layer of security, even though MAC addresses can be spoofed. Remember to ENABLE the option and PERMIT PCs LISTED BELOW TO ACCESS THE WIRELESS NETWORK.

On the LinkSys WRT54GC there is also a button that reads “WIRELESS CLIENT LIST” clicking this will show you who is currently connected to your access point.

Finally clicking on WIRELESS SECURITY option, select the SECURITY MODE (recommended WPA PERSONAL or WPA2). Choose the ENCRYPTION (AES or TKIP) and enter the PASSPHRASE – you have up to 63 characters in length, use them all up! Finally set the KEY RENEWAL. I use 3600 seconds.

And there you have it – your wireless access point is now secure! The next step is to have your computer access the wireless device, for this you need to take some additional steps. The next part of this article entitled “Connecting Your Secured LinkSys WRT54GC to your Windows XP Laptop or Desktop” walks you through connecting your Windows XP laptop or desktop to the LinkSys WRT54GC that you have just secured.

Bundled cable TV services and a new high definition television is a very cool combination. When I watch football every detail is so clear I think I could almost catch the passes. It's like I'm there, but in the comfort of my recliner, with lots cheaper food! When I watch baseball I could be the umpire. Hockey gets almost scary, it's like the puck is coming right through the screen! When friends come over the excitement gets very intense. They all talk about the clarity is like being at the game. And my friends love to come over because there are always sports on with great high def.

The channel selection from the latest cable TV companies seems endless. There is so much to watch all the time. No matter who comes over, from my parents to my kids, they always find something they really want to watch. It's just a good thing there are three TVs to make everyone happy. When they're all going at once, my kids are always yelling saying, "Come in here, you have to see this!" They learn so much from the animal channels, and all the educational channels that they actually like to watch. I even enjoy watching it with them. The animals seem to be running through the room! And their friends love to come over to watch all their favorite programs. Then they go back home and try to talk their parents into getting a new cable television package.

Now if that's not enough, most cable companies also offer fantastic speeds on the Internet. It's always on when I turn on the computer, and it's so fast the sites come up in an instant. And downloads are a dream. I don't even think about how long it takes because it's like lightning! Multitasking is a breeze because the speed of the connection doesn't slow one thing down while you work on another one or more. Work or play, cable broadband makes it easier. And when I pay the one bill, instead of three, that's another time-saving advantage.

And there's more! The unlimited phone service my provider offers is something that makes calling worry free. My kids can call their cousins that live across the country and talk for hours. If they need help with their homework they can always find a cousin or friend somewhere who can help them. They even call their grandparents, who can't get over long-distance charges. They are finally getting used to the fact that can talk for as long as they want. My wife calls her mom and dad everyday. One of her cousins lives in Canada. No problem! It's unlimited to there too. Our family likes to stay in touch, and we're able to do that with so much ease. My nephews think it's so cool when their uncle calls to talk about a game, or to see how school is going.

So bundled TV service is three ways the best! All those channels with lots of high definition programming have spoiled us for anything else. We could never go back to another Internet provider because our cable provider has everything we need. And the telephone stays hot! We keep up with everyone across the country and in Canada. And putting all three services together saves us money with only one bill to pay. Life is good!