Yes, you can now download movie videos. Entire albums of your favourite songs are waiting to be played on your computer. Your photos are waiting to be uploaded, sharer and blogged. There are high definitions wallpapers showing underwater sea life with amazing clarity that you want to download. You want to have a little chit- chat with your grandma sitting by the beach in Australia. Fortunately, technology makes all of this possible- but without a solid, uninterrupted broadband connection, trying all these tech- savvy things end up in a very frustrating experience. This explains why the Office of National Statistics (ONS) revealed over 88% of internet users in the UK opting for broadband connection rather than dial up.

Choosing the right broadband service for your needs is a matter of much importance. There are several factors to consider while making this decision. Does the speed offered by your broadband service provide apt for your needs? If you use the net to surf the web and read news websites, a lower speed might suffice. On the other hand, if the 5 second 'Buffering...' interruptions in video clippings bother you to no end and you still want to watch the video briefing on BBC or CNN, or download songs from iTunes, you might have to look for a connection with high speed data transfer. For loading chat applets, voice or video calling, and using VOIP technology for Internet Phones also requires high speed connectivity. Of course, the price charged by the provider plays a crucial role in your decision. There are limited and unlimited data transfer options available in the market at competitive prices.

There are many broadband service providers in the UK market. While they are competing with each other for market share, some charge a small one-time set up and others do it for free. A connectivity contract has to be signed, which is usually of a one-year duration; some plans require a 1.5 year contract and the usage is usually divided into a few plans: low capacity limit (around 2-5 GB), mid capacity limit (usually 10- 40 GB) and Unlimited download. BT, AOL broadband, UK Online, sky, pipex and plusnet are only some of the broadband services offering great deals. So if your dial up has been driving you crazy, you know you are in the remaining 12% of net users in UK and its time to make your move fast and your internet connection even faster.

Most everyone has heard about Bluetooth wireless networking. It is a popular technology that is found in just about every corner of the globe and in numerous types of electronic equipment. The specifications for the powerful Bluetooth technology was invented during the 1990s and started to be introduced into the marketplace near the end of the century.

Ericsson (now Sony Ericsson) developed Bluetooth in an attempt to standardize wireless technology networking so that it would be cheaper and easier to integrate several devices. The ideal situation for the consumer would be for electronic companies to produce a single, shared standard, allowing customers to collaborate their wireless devices regardless of who made the products.

One of the factors that has helped Bluetooth become so popular, and the standard in short-range wireless communication, was the decision that Ericsson made to keep the Bluetooth specifications royalty free. Companies interested in implementing the technology were invited to join a consortium of developers and were then allowed to use the technology free-of-charge in any of their products.

This standard makes technology extremely affordable for manufacturers to continue creating groundbreaking equipment that incorporates the desired technology. Because of this, these devices have also become cheaper to the end user, and it has allowed Bluetooth networking to be the mobile wireless technology standard.

These electronic gadgets and tools can seamlessly connect and communicate with each other, transferring both voice and data simultaneously, thanks to the marvels of wireless networking technology. Bluetooth technology is designed for three types of wireless defined communication ranges.

Of these, the Class 2 wireless devices are the most powerful, having a range of up to 300 feet. Effective ranges of 50-100 feet are provided by lesser powered class 2 devices. Class 3 devices use less power, and their range is more limited to only about 15 to 30 feet.

Many people do not realize that Bluetooth technology was only designed for short-range connectivity and communications. When it was designed, the short-range limitation was actually an intentional feature.

This short-range design limits the possibility of interference from nearby electrical devices. This form of security prevents others from connecting with your devices, and protects the device along with your data.

Using less power, a necessary requirement for short distance transmission, is another benefit of limiting the range of networking devices. Less power required means an increased battery life, a key component required by most users, as a good many of their Bluetooth devices are powered by batteries.

There are a multitude of electronic devices that use Bluetooth wireless networking standards, such as: many wireless PDAs, wireless phones and wireless headsets that work in conjunction with each other and the Bluetooth wireless printer and wireless stereo headset, just to mention a few. Bluetooth technology is increasingly in demand in a wider range of products and manufacturers are working hard to satisfy this demand with more compatible electronic devices.

Dialup the slow but yet annoying connection speed some of us had to experience and some of us still do

Dialup is when a modem is used to connect to the wall socket via a cable using a 66-45 cable to connect to the internet.

You require an internal modem for this connection or an external modem, most PC’s still come with internal modems and some business’s still use dialup connections for when users go home and use VPN to connect to the company’s servers.

What is fibre optic?

This has also been known as the speed of light, up to the gigabytes. This fibre optic cable has a bundle of glass threads, which have the ability of sending messages modulated onto light wave.

Fibre optic cables have a much greater bandwidth than metal cables. They have less interference, are much thinner and lighter than metal wires. The data is transmitted digitally not analogically.

Fibre optic is very expensive to install as well as being fragile.

What is ISDN?

Meaning integrated services digital network, a standard to send video, voice and data over a digital telephone line. IDSN connection speeds are from 64Kbps

There are two types of ISDN are basic rate interface and primary rate interface.

Basic Rate: Has two B channels consisting of 6Kbps and one D channel for transmitting

Primary Rate: Has 23 B channels and a single D channel.