There are lots of great things that you can get out of having a high speed Internet connection in your own home, but first you have to figure out what constitutes a high speed connection and then figure out how to get the fastest connection that you possibly can. That's because not all Internet connections that claim to be "broad band" or "high speed" are equal in their abilities to deliver Internet information to your computer's hard drive. There's actually a lot more to high speed Internet than just getting a so called high speed connection!

Comcast provides a great illustration of this. It claims to have a broad band high speed connection and actually backs it up with download speeds that are as high as 12 mbps for short periods of time (to help out with the really big downloads) and 8 mbps the rest of the time. That's plenty of speed to allow you to take advantage of the resources that the Internet has to offer. For example, it's a lot easier to start your own online business when you have a faster Internet connection. You can upload pictures of your products more quickly, download the software that you need to run your business more quickly, and even correspond with clients more quickly.

A high speed Internet connection that's based on cable technology is also a good move for entertainment and recreation as well. That's because high speed Internet is a good way to enjoy amateur videos from YouTube, play online multiplayer computer games, and correspond with people from all over the world. Virtual reality is something that combines those last two. Specifically virtual worlds like Second Life and World of WarCraft will provide this experience for you. World of WarCraft has a kind of fantasy theme, while Second Life is more like an idealized version of the real world. Movies and music are also easy to download when you have a fast Internet connection.

Unfortunately other companies that provide their high speed Internet services using technologies other than cable just don't deliver the same kind of speed. DSL for example, which is one of the more popular Internet access technologies, just doesn't deliver very fast download speeds. It only delivers about 2 mbps at the most for private homes. More often DSL download speeds are more in the realm of well under 1 mbps! That's a really slow download speed. This results from the fact that DSL service is delivered over phone lines instead of high quality coaxial cables. Satellite Internet has similar shortcomings only they're more pronounced, or more annoying, because of the fact that satellite Internet costs so much more than anything else. It's about twice as expensive as cable or the typical DSL service! Satellite Internet also has a time lag built into it that makes enjoying things like virtual reality even tougher.

If you find yourself reading this article online, then odds are you are no stranger to the vast wilderness that is the internet. Uploads, downloads, blogs, videos, podcasts, pictures, forums, games, news, email, animation, flash, webmail, webcams and music can all make for a vast and limitless real-time environment that is constantly changing. It is often the seemingly inexhaustible amount of resources that has many net users tearing out their hair due to strolling performance and extended loading time for content. However, in many cases, the real culprit is not the content or the website itself, but rather the combination of an ill-equipped connection speed and an internet plan that does not adequately address specific user needs.

Before roaming free in the World Wide Web, every internet user must first choose a connection plan and connection speed that will be able to accommodate both their budget and their user needs. The following article seeks to outline some of the basic areas that novice users should address when deciding to connect to the internet. For some, it may seem like commonsense, but for those suffering easily avoidable headaches and long load times it may just make a world of difference.

Connection Speeds

Before beginning it would first be wise to explain the two types of connection speeds and how they fundamentally differ. All methods of internet usage around the globe only use either one or the other of these types of connections.

Kbps: Is the common acronym for 'Kilobits per second'. A Kilobit is one thousand bits of data - a 'bit' being the most fundamental form of binary code that makes up all information available both online and on your home PC. Essentially, a 'bit' is the building block of all computer technology and communication. In layman's terms it is simply the combination of 1s and 0s that form the language of computers.

Mbps: A much larger unit of data, Mbps refers to the term 'Megabits per second'. A Megabit is one million 'bits'. This form of data transference is used by every internet connection above Dial-Up speed.

Types of Connection

Dial-Up: The most basic connection available, a Dial-Up connection uses the existing phone line in a business or household to transfer data at around 56Kbps. This is the slowest connection currently available in Australia and is in the process of steadily being outdated due to faster connections being more widely and readily accessible for a lower cost.

ISDN: Is anIntegrated Services Digital Network and is twice the speed (at 128Kbps) of Dial-up. It can be difficult to obtain due to its reliance on what is fast becoming outdated technology. ISDN was essentially the technological stepping stone between Dial-Up and ADSL.

ADSL: Stands for Asymmetric Digital Subscriber Line, also most commonly referred to when the term 'broadband' is used, and is a one-way connection where the download speed is much faster than the upload speed. This is a common trap for the average consumer because the speed of the connection is always referenced in terms of the maximum download speed (i.e how fast a page loads up / time it takes to save a file), rather than the much slower upload speed (i.e how long it takes to send an email / send a file to another computer)

Cable: The fastest connection available for both business and residential use (Fibre Optic connections, which are the next level up, are currently exclusive to business due to the high cost of installing and maintaining). Cable internet uses a similar system of connections to most pay television providers. It is completely separate to the household phone line and connection speed is substantially faster for both uploads and downloads. However, speed can be compromised by the number of separate households located in close proximity that use the same cable as only one cable is generally provided for a whole neighborhood. Generally cable runs at around 1.5 - 6 Megabits of bandwidth which is substantially faster than ADSL.

Connection Plans and Common Traps

To maintain a steady and consistently fast connection you need to take care in the selection of your plan. Having selected the telecommunications company with which you wish to subscribe for the service you then need to select a plan based on the cost of installing and maintaining your connection, the type of connection you wish to have installed, the speed of the connection, the download limit, if any, and the consequences if that download limit is exceeded.

The download limit or 'shaping' of your plan dictates how much information you can access from the internet within a month before being subjected to either additional costs (which can be significant) or slower connections (usually Dial-up).

According to Miles Humphrys, IT Manager for Corporate Executive Offices, one of the largest international chains of serviced offices throughout the Asia Pacific Region, a common pitfall when deciding on your internet plan is, "not knowing what it is that you, or your business, wish to use the connection for". According to Mr Humphrys, "Before connecting the business or user must first decide what their primary methods of usage will be. Will they be sending a substantial amount of emails? Downloading live videos or music? Or simply surfing for information? All these factors must be weighed up before signing up to a limited connection or one with a capped amount of usage. Nothing is more frustrating for a business, or home office, than being crippled by an incredibly slow connection because they have gone over their download limit during the day-to-day requirements of the business or user."

If you are unsure of the amount of data which you are likely to download in a month make sure you select a plan that gives you sufficient download capacity to enable you to then monitor your usage without fear of exceeding your limit. Make sure that your plan is flexible enough to then change if your download requirements are either substantially less or more than you expected.

"The one piece of advice that I would give for anyone looking to connect to the internet either now or in the future, above all, is to - read the fine print! The things to look out for are capped plans, download limits, shaping and especially 'extra charges'. If you see anything that looks a little odd, always ask questions or consult an IT Professional", concluded Mr Humphrys.

It seems like these days every major telecommunications company is offering some sort of bundled service package. Typically this is a way of marketing telecommunications services to private consumers in such a way that two or more services are invoiced on the same bill and the consumer is often given a major discount in exchange for entrusting that particular company with extra business. Generally, bundling services like this is a good idea for both you as a consumer and the company that's providing the services for you. You get great convenience and savings and the company gets more business.

Despite the apparent benefits of bundled services, there are some pitfalls that you could experience if you don't shop around carefully. On the other hand, you can avoid many of the pitfalls completely by choosing a higher quality company to provide you with your telecommunications needs.

One of the major pitfalls that you could encounter is the possibility of getting a bundled service package from a company that outsources one or more of the services that you've signed up for to another company. This is extremely common among satellite TV companies and traditional phone companies. That's because phone companies are decidedly ill equipped to provide TV and satellite TV companies are similarly ill equipped to handle phone services. Neither are particularly good at providing Internet service either. For example, when you sign up for a satellite TV service that can theoretically be bundled with a home phone calling plan and a high speed Internet connection, you're probably getting the phone service from a traditional telephone company (with all of the expense and frustration that goes with it).

The high speed Internet service will either come from the same phone company in the form of DSL or through a satellite Internet company. Neither of these options is particularly good because DSL tends to be relatively slow and satellite Internet service is both slow and expensive. Plus, as if to add insult to injury, the satellite Internet service also comes with a built in time lag which makes it impossible to use with real time applications like multi player video games, VoIP, and video conferencing!

The difference between this type of bundled package and the one that's provided by cable is that cable company uses digital cable technology instead of the pie in the sky technology of satellites and the archaic technology of phone lines. Digital cable technology is able to do at least as good of a job of providing TV service as satellite TV and with the implementation of new technology, it will likely be significantly better than satellite in the near future. Digital cable technology also does a better job of providing Internet access in terms of speed, response time, and value. Broad band high speed cable Internet access has about four times the speed that DSL or satellite are capable of and doesn't have the time lag of satellite. A cable based Internet connection is also a much better value than either of the others because, despite its greater speed, it doesn't cost any more than the typical DSL service and only costs about half of the monthly rate for satellite.