In the world of high speed internet services consumers have many choices. Consumers can choose from wireless, DSL, cable, satellite, and fiber optic. In most cases your location dictates which services will be available to you. Each service offers pros and cons but overall most work quite well in comparison to one and other.

Wireless internet service is transmitted via cellular towers in your area similar to that of cell phone service. Wireless internet speeds vary from 128Kbps up to 3Mbps. Wireless internet service is popular with business travelers and those who require internet access with their laptop while traveling. Like cell phones there are still dead areas will you will be unable to receive service.

DSL is one of the most popular ways to connect to the internet in the U.S. and abroad. DSL runs through phone lines and is usually administered by phone companies. DSL offers speeds of 128Kbps up to 9Mbps. DSL does require a phone line to be present at the site. This may be a drawback to some consumers who would rather only have a cell phone with no landline.

Cable internet service continues to grow in popularity as more and more cable companies offer service. Cable service can offer speeds of up to 30Mbps though most service providers employ some form of bandwidth cap. Normally limiting speeds from 3Mbps to 15Mbps. One drawback to cable is that if many users in your area use the internet at the same time speed can be significantly reduced. Cable though does not require any phone service and can even support VOIP services.

Satellite internet service is an alternative for those customers who find themselves in an area with only dialup service available to them. Satellite internet plans offer speeds of up to 2Mbps. Satellite internet service providers also employ bandwidth caps in the form of limiting the amount of downloading you can do per day. If you exceed this limit in most cases you are slowed down to 56Kbps.

Fiber optic internet service is a relatively new player in the high speed internet game offering speeds of up to 30Mbps similar to cable. The drawbacks to Fiber optic is simply that it is not available in most areas and the high costs due to the cost of running the fiber optic cables.

When selecting an internet service or provider it is important to know what you are getting make sure to take the time and learn about the product. After all many of the providers do require you to sign a contract for a set time period. So learn all you can and the jump on the web!

There are several different types of internet service providers out there currently. You may think that the major variation amongst the service providers is just the speed of the connection. In truth, that is only one factor that can affect the overall service from the service provider. Some of the characteristics that make one provider different from another are speed of connection, availability of service, ability to connect, cost, technical knowledge, service hours and quality of the equipment. When you have an internet home based business you should consider all the factors in order to determine the best possible selection.

Dial Up

The oldest and probably most common internet service provider is still the dial up service. This is accomplished by dialing through your computer modem into the server computer with a telephone access. This is a more common solution for an internet home based business because telephone lines are still available in most areas of the country. Using dial up involves either purchasing a second telephone line or transferring the cord from the telephone jack to the computer. The difficulty with dial up is the limited number of access points at the service provider's location. If all the lines are busy, the internet cannot be accessed until someone else quits using the internet.

Cable

In more populated areas, where there is already cable television available. Those with an internet home based business can use the cable company in order to access the internet. The speeds for the cable hookup is certainly faster than the dial up service and more dependable since there is a higher usage factor and the service is often better maintained. The equipment tends to be more up to date. If you already have cable television, cable internet service is probably a good option for you. It's fast, convenient and the price is reasonable.

Wireless

A wireless connection for your internet home based business is even faster than the other two. The problem is the availability and access issues. You have to be in a wireless hot spot and have the proper equipment in order to use the service. Because of the line of sight requirements for the internet connection to work properly, finding a good location to operate your internet connection may prove to be difficult or impossible. Use of wireless service is totally dependent upon location and availability of nearby receiving and transmitting stations.

Satellite

A satellite access for your internet home based business is certainly an excellent way to get service even to a fairly remote location. Any place in the United States that has an unobstructed view of the southern sky can get internet access. Other than the expected satellite lag time which occurs, upload speeds and download speeds are very fast. One difficulty with a satellite internet system is that the equipment can be quite expensive, depending on whether you purchase or lease it. Some issues have arisen with the volume of usage by some clients. Some internet service providers limit the amount of bandwidth that can be used in any particular time period.

If you are looking to share your home internet connection between several people and control their bandwidth, you are reading the right article. Be it your roommate who is making your games lag by downloading movies all the time, or your sister who's watching YouTube and making your web browsing slow, there is a great and cheap solution: getting a router with proper QoS (Quality of Service) capabilities.

Usually, home routers have very limited options when it comes to controlling bandwidth by using QoS. It usually involves something like checking an option to prioritize games, and that's it. However, you can buy a cheap ($60) router and turn it into a powerful device that can perform nearly all functions of expensive, commercial routers. I'll take WRT54GL model from Linksys as an example, since I'm most familiar with it, but there really are more options to choose (like several cheaper ASUS models). For the sake of simplicity, I'll keep to this model, since it's really a great choice.

After buying your cheap router, how do you turn it into something much more powerful? That's pretty simple really, you have to 'flash' the firmware, that is, install a third party firmware package onto the router. It may sound complicated, but it merely involves uploading the package using a very simple web interface - just like you would upload a picture to ImageShack, for instance. You will be able to use many advanced features then, such as unlimited port forwarding, very good QoS control, custom firewall scripts and so on (features will differ between different firmware projects).

Which firmware to choose then? There are plenty, but I'd highly recommend Tomato. It's very stable, it actually might make your router faster, and it has tons of features, such as: wireless signal boost, bandwidth monitoring and all kinds of graphs you can view, connection details, and my favorite: a cool QoS control. You can basically prioritize traffic in any way you want: give more priority to your PC, web browsing, voice chats, games, or whatever; and give less priority to large downloads and such. You can even block whatever traffic you want, by port, mac adress or l7 filter.

You might have already bought a WRT54G(L) box, or a similar router which is capable of running Linux-based firmware, and you might still be using the default firmware, and wondering why would one want to flash it? There are a number of reasons, really, but if the default firmware works for you and you don't notice any problems or miss any features, you should probably just keep using it. One of the main problems I encountered immediately was that p2p programs used up a lot of connections, and there were not enough left for the regular web browsing (and the router forces a global 512 connections limit). You can't change that in the default firmware, but most custom firmware, like Tomato, lets you change the maximum connections limit; in fact, as soon as you install it, it sets a 2048 limit by default. The other problem with default firmware I encountered is very limited QoS control, and third party firmware fixes that like I explained in the paragraph above.

To wrap it up: buy a WRT54GL box; flash the third party firmare; enjoy! If you find that Tomato isn't for you, then there are a number of alternative third party firmware, such as DD-WRT, OpenWRT and Thibor. You can find more info about those on the Linksys forums.

With the present time wherein everything can be found on the internet, the value of internet connection has greatly increased among the people. In this modern time, having an internet access became a sort of a need to all of us. It is used in almost all establishments such as workplaces, schools, shopping malls, restaurants and the list goes on. Thus, it is really helpful if we can have an internet access that is faster, more efficient and cheaper as much as possible.

Dial up internet connection has been available and used right from the introduction of internet particularly in 1990s. Though it provides a so-so internet connection, this has not greatly satisfied its users. But with the constant innovation of technology, a quicker and more convenient internet access technology is now available and became an instant hit among the internet users all over the world.

Broadband internet access continues to grow its popularity worldwide. Since broadband internet has a bandwidth of at least 256 kilobit per second (Kbps), it is without a doubt much faster than a dial up connection. Web browsing is smoother without any interruptions unlike with the use of traditional dial-up.

A broadband internet connection is very accessible making it more convenient and simpler for the users. A telephone line, radio signals, satellites or cable line can be used to access broadband internet connection.

With broadband internet connection, downloading is way quicker than the normal. This means that web pages can load almost instantly without delay. Downloading large files such as movie clips and sound files is easier and does not require longer time. Attaching larger files on e-mails can also be done. Furthermore, uploading files such as documents, pictures, sounds or clips will be possible because of its uninterrupted connection.

Connecting with loved-ones like families and friends can now be more enjoyed with the advent of broadband internet. Continuous calling via pc without disturbance can also be made possible. Broadband internet has indeed given a significant contribution in terms of communication.
Broadband internet does not only give faster connection, but it also allows unlimited, non-stop access to the internet. The computer is always on connection, thus one can truly enjoy its use.

Though it is considered to be more expensive than dial up internet connection, when you analyze the services it offers, it actually somewhat saves you money. Dial up connection may be cheaper but in a way it becomes more costly since it requires a longer time just to access the internet and complete whatever tasks.

Moreover, since broadband use is becoming popular across the globe, there have been many money-saving package plans that are offered for the consumers to choose at. Also, with broadband internet, the access can be shared by many users within the area without slowing its connection and more importantly, the amount being paid is still the same.

Thus, it is economical in a sense that the amount of services offered by the use of broadband internet is way greater and better than those of the traditional dial up connection. Broadband internet connection is indeed a faster, better and cheaper way to access and connect to the cyber world.

As the communications superhighway speeds up, high speed internet has revved up in performance and quality and gone down substantially in cost. While some consider broadband satellite internet to be one of the more expensive means for internet access, it has gained in popularity and demand.

Business satellite internet communications are helpful when dealing with business continuity, especially in situations where terrestrial communications may be disabled or nonexistent. In addition to maintaining status quo, broadband satellite internet is a viable solution with businesses where several offices are spread over various geographic locations. Being able to streamline communications via satellite connectivity, reduces many costs associated with operations and infrastructure.

In addition to reducing costs and streamlining operational resources, broadband internet access for corporations is more reliable and better quality than ever before. Business moves faster, and increasingly more people keep in touch more with e-mail, instant messaging, text messaging and cell phones. In addition with the onset of social media and technological advances, groundbreaking events as well as everyday activities are broadcast live to the world in a matter of seconds and archived for later viewing. For business satellite internet, many organizations can reduce travel costs by relying on web conferencing services.

High speed broadband satellite internet has increased in popularity among large enterprises as quality voice, video and data connectivity solutions have become more affordable and reliable. For businesses, government entities, humanitarian groups and public service departments, broadband satellite internet can increase productivity, reduce unnecessary expenses. Ideal for backup, emergency or occasional use, broadband satellite internet services provide the flexibility and reliability that traditional terrestrial communications can't compete with, especially as the cost of business for satellite decreases.

Utilizing T1 or T3 broadband connections, organizations can leverage the fastest available Internet connection, greatly increasing productivity and efficiency, resulting in better profitability margins. Reliable automatic satellite, modem and networking services with the bandwidth to support commercial satellite services worldwide is available with only a few providers. Many companies have struggled finding quality connections, reliable and available technical support and friendly and helpful customer service. These companies, while rare do exist and stand by their solutions and service, touting a list of satisfied customers.

With broadband satellite internet, there are many options in fixed and mobile satellite services. Organizations can deploy high performance multi-network communications through a single source, thereby ensuring the quality and operability of mission critical procedures.

There are many ways for businesses to get connected. Growing businesses need cost-effective Internet and telephone service plans to survive in today's competitive economical market.

Luckily, there have been ongoing innovations in the telecommunications industry and businesses have their choice of connections for office phone and Internet lines.

There are many confusing terms for the different types of connection lines. The acronyms OC3, OC12, OC48, OC192, T1, and T3, are much more "techy" than the true names for connection lines: digital cable or fiber optic lines.

This article will focus on the OC3 connection. OC3 means Optical Carrier-3. OC3 is a 155 mbps fiber optic line used for large businesses. Mpbs stands for megabits per second and is a measure of bandwidth, or the total amount of data that can flow through within the OC3 connection specified amount of time.

OC3 connections are useful for businesses that have spread to different cities or even globally. These connections allow a large amount of information to be shared at high speed. Smaller businesses normally lease T1 or T3 lines which are adequate at serving 5-100 employees at one or more locations. An OC3 connection makes it possible for larger businesses to expand their digital network beyond a set geographic area.

OC3 Connection versus Other Connection

OC3 connections have a feature called point to point access. This means that there are multiple wireless access points that can exchange data. Up to 255 people can send audio, video, voice, and multimedia files from access point to access point.

This is a viable solution for businesses that have found their T1 and T3 connections clogged with data which slows down or even crashes databases. T1 and T3 connections have been around since the 1960s and were used originally to transmit date by basic telephone.

A T1 connection is A 1.544 Mbps fiber optic line. The T3 is quicker at 44.736 Mbps. Both have been upgraded since their inception and are still popular connections for small businesses. However, T1 and T3 lines do not have the bandwidth to serve larger businesses. Many are finding this out the hard way and upgrading to higher bandwidth connections.

An OC3 connection has many benefits and these benefits come at a high price. Service can be between $15,000 and $100,000 monthly depending on the size of the business, number of access points, and amount of data shared. The price is right for many growing businesses.

Over the years broadband has become increasingly flexible, with 2008 set to be a very interesting year. This is because of the expected widespread adoption of mobile broadband.

Although mobile broadband technology has been around for a few years, there have been a few factors holding it back, mainly cost and download speeds. Technological improvements however, have meant that mobile broadband is now a viable and cost efficient option.

The technology in question is known as High-Speed Downlink Packet Access or HSDPA and currently allows for download rates of up to 7.2Mbps, very close to rivalling the advertised rate of most fixed line connections. HSDPA speeds are likely to improve considerably as the technology becomes more widespread and network advancements are made.

Unlike other wireless technologies, notably WiFi, mobile broadband does not require a hotspot for operation, it is truly mobile. Making use of the 3G network, which covers around 90% of the UK you are able to get on the internet, wherever you can find a signal - similar to finding a signal on your phone. Moreover, this network is planned to cover 98% of the country by 2009.

All that is required to get online is a subscription and a USB dongle, often provided by the network operator.

There are a growing number of packages on the market, with the UKs main operators offering some very cost effective options. The majority of packages have a fixed limit on the amount you are able to download in a month, just like the caps imposed on fixed-line packages.

The difference with mobile broadband though is that the caps are generally much lower than that of fixed lines, making them an unsuitable option for users who wish to download large amounts and have access to a fixed line.

On the other hand, mobile broadband is likely to be the perfect option for business users who are on the move or students that are unable to afford costly line rental charges. It may be the only option for some users, such as residences too far away from their local exchange to get broadband, but who are within reach of the 3G network.

As the popularity of broadband has soared, so has the desire for faster download speeds, with consumer expectations ever increasing.

Although the speed of your connection is limited by your chosen broadband package and the distance from your home to your local telephone exchange, there are a number of measures you can take if you feel your broadband is underperforming.

Firstly, if it is simply your connections browsing speed you are unhappy with, then chances are you would see the benefit of using an alternative browser. If for instance, you are using Microsoft's default IE, then consider switching to Mozilla's Firefox.

Along the same lines, nearly all of the major browsers have settings that can be altered, which should help to speed up page loading times.

Background applications can have a dramatic effect on your connections speed. Such applications you may only use once, but from then on in open every time you start up your computer, adding to your bandwidth overhead. Not only do such applications slow down your connection, but they are likely to add to your monthly usage.

As well as keeping out unwanted traffic, firewalls are an excellent way to monitor which applications are using your connection. It's important to note though, that an improperly configured firewall can actually add to your download delays.

Moving away from the software side of things and onto the more physical aspects of your connection and you will find there are a few things you can do here that should make a positive difference.

To begin with simply reducing the distance between your main socket (where the broadband enters your home) and your broadband router can dramatically increase your connection's speed, with increases of up to 3Mbps possible.

Although a more costly option, upgrading your router may prove useful, especially if you are currently using out of date hardware, which may be faulty.

If you connect to the internet through a wireless connection, then the closer you are to the router the better. If there is no way to get closer then purchasing a larger antenna will boost the signal's strength.