Almost every home now has internet access in one form or another, be it dial-up connection or broadband. If you have a family, your children may find the internet useful for keeping up with friends or doing their homework; but what else is happening behind the screens?

The vast number of blogs, social networking sites and free website space has led to an increase in a deplorable practice amongst children and teenagers; Cyberbullying. Taking the notion of schoolyard bullying one step further, Cyberbullying is causing distress and, in some cases, suicidal actions among adolescents today.

Cyberbullying takes many forms, all of which are designed to humiliate, upset and otherwise distress a bully's target. Perhaps the most well-known one is the malicious email or text message, the modern-day equivalent of the 'poison-pen' letter; the difference being an email or SMS can usually be traced much easier than a letter sent through the post.

Taking it a little further, ganging up on an individual in a chatroom or instant messenger conversation is a method often used by cyberbullies. Inviting several people into an IM chat to encourage, contribute or even just laugh at the bully 'having a go' at their target can be just as upsetting to the victim as the actual attack itself.

Going further than this, bullies may set up profile pages on network sites like MySpace and Facebook dedicated to slamming or humiliating their victim. These profiles are sometimes written as if from the victim's point of view, revealing embarrassing and often untrue facts about the person. Others may contain embarrassing videos or pictures of the victim, usually edited in a photo editing program.

Some bullies will take their hate campaigns to the lengths of actually setting up an entire website about their victim; the advent of free website and blog services has exacerbated this. The victim often has no idea about the existence of such a website, and is left to wonder why people are laughing behind her/his back or making cryptic comments.

With broadband becoming cheaper, more families are getting internet and leaving their children open to cyberbullies. Some broadband deals may offer monitoring software to allow you to see what your child gets up to online. Compare broadband packages with your child's safety in mind and stop the cyberbullies.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Jay_Tillotson

There are many things which can affect the speed of your broadband service; the type of wires your signal comes through, the distance you live from the exchange, the speed of the package you initially signed up for. But there's one factor which isn't widely known but can adversely affect your speed a great deal; bandwidth hogs.

Each broadband service has a contention rate. This is normally either 20:1 or 50:1 and indicates the amount of people you share your service with. For example, a contention rate of 50:1 means that you and 49 other people are sharing the same bandwidth, resulting in a slower download speed than someone with a contention rate of 20:1. This isn't a problem if everyone goes on at different times and isn't greedy, but bandwidth hogs tend to leave their broadband connected constantly, downloading big files such as music, films or even watching TV over the net. The result? The hogs get more than their fair share of the bandwidth and everyone else has to suffer with abnormally low speeds.

Fortunately, providers recognize that this is a major problem and are setting usage caps to combat it. Usage caps aren't a new idea; most broadband providers will offer cheaper deals with a 2GB, 20GB or 40GB download limit per month, with suspension of service once this limit has been reached. Some providers will allow you to carry on surfing but will charge you for each GB over the limit you go.

When choosing a broadband deal, it's worth remembering that the download limit doesn't just refer to actual downloads of files such as movies and music from the internet. Anything you do which means receiving data from a web page - from looking at text to saving pictures - also constitutes a download. While these are relatively low on the amount of bandwidth they use, regular or constant surfing along with obtaining large files can soon eat into your download limit. This could result in your service being throttled.

You may think that buying a package with an unlimited download amount will solve this problem; it won't. While your transfer threshold may be higher than 40GB, you may still be subject to a 'fair use' policy. This means that if your provider tracks how much bandwidth you use and considers it excessive, you may still have your service suspended.



Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Jay_Tillotson

BPL (Broadband over Power-Lines) or PLC (Power-Line Communications) is a technology that has been on the books for some years now, only recently though has it started to find its footing.

As the name suggests, BPL involves using existing power-lines to transmit broadband data. This revolutionary technology could be used to bridge the digital divide between rural and urban communities with regards to internet access.

Even though internet penetration rates have rocketed over the years, especially with the introduction and uptake of broadband technologies there is still a large portion of the population that have either zero or limited access to the internet. Such customers are often found in rural areas, outside the reach of broadband technologies.

BPL however, works on the premise that nearly every inhabited building throughout the country has electrical outlets, and it is these outlets that BPL services plug into.

As mentioned, the idea behind using existing power grid infrastructure to transmit data signals is not new, and in fact this is something that electricity companies use to monitor power line performance.

The reason that this technology could be so easily incorporated is because current electrical infrastructure uses an alternating current (AC), which vibrates at a different wave length to the radio-frequency (RF) waves that data uses. Therefore, they can both travel down the same wiring.

However, instead of being able to transmit the data signals at the power source (i.e. power plants), which would have been the easiest option, the data signals have to be dropped onto the lines a little closer to home. This is because at the source of the power, the voltage is so high (or "noisy") that it would cause too much interference with the data signals.

Therefore, BPL drops the data signals off onto the less "noisier" medium-voltage lines. From here the signals pass through various repeaters and couplers to ensure they reach their destination intact.

The internet was originally dubbed the information superhighway. This was because the internet effectively provided a means of communications to millions of people. However, its ability to communicate was generally limited to text and photographs. In time, various audio and video delivery systems expanded the way the internet communicates. This is a direct result of the expansion of broadband internet. It is broadband internet that provides the strength and speed in which audio/video files can be effectively transferred.

Podcasts

Now, many blogs and websites are also adding audio and video podcasts to their website. For those unfamiliar with the term, a podcast is a prerecorded broadcast of an audio or video file. All the visitor has to do is click on the file and it will open in a media player. The quality of these files may vary, but the ease of opening and playing them is generally solid. Because of this, they are becoming quite common and the internet is starting to resemble the early days of television and radio with more amateur programming. Keep in mind, amateur is not a bad word. Many amateurs can produce excellent internet programming. Of course, this would not be possible without broadband. If the files took for ever to load most people would simply not have the patience for them.

Live streaming

With broadband internet, it is also possible to broadcast audio and video in a live streaming mode. A stream is essentially an internet version of a live radio or TV broadcast. Just recently, "webcasts" have grown to include live charitable telethons which have raised millions of dollars. While live stream original programming is in the primitive stages, it is bound to grow by leaps and bounds in the near future.

Radio and Streaming

Actually, a mix of radio broadcasts and internet streaming is presently available. In previous generations, the ability to listen to a radio station was based on proximity to the signal. If you lived in Oregon you were not going to pick up a radio signal from Florida. Today, thanks to broadband, one can listen to internet streams of live radio station broadcasts no matter where the signal is located. This means that virtually every radio station in the world can be listened from anywhere in the world. This allows radio stations to greatly expand their audience and their advertising revenue to a greater degree than what was thought possible.

Broadband has greatly impacted the expansion of internet communications. Because broadband allows these files to be opened easily, a new and innovative communications medium has evolved. And it is continuing to evolve.

If you are a regular internet user, be it at home or at work, chances are you have heard the term a"firewall". When asked what exactly a firewall is though, many people have a limited amount of knowledge, knowing only that it is something that protects computer systems.

Quite simply, this is correct; the basic principle behind a firewall is to act s a barrier between the internet and a local computer. This local computer can either be a standalone system, part of a home network or a larger office network.

Regardless, a firewall works the same way by keeping out unwanted hackers and/or preventing users from performing certain actions (e.g. viewing offensive websites or downloading programmes).

A firewall can either be located on a computer system, (known as a software firewall), within a network router, (known as a hardware firewall), or both.

Nearly all of today's network routers have built in firewalls which can be configured via the computers internet browser to which they are connected. Most home computer systems are pre-installed with a software firewall; there is also a great deal of free firewalls available on the internet.

Both hardware and software firewalls work in similar ways to keep your system secure and for maximum security a combination of the two is recommended. In order to protect your system a firewall uses one or both of the following methods:

* Packet Filtering is used to compare data (or packets) that reach the firewall to predefined filters, if the data complies with the filters then it is allowed through, otherwise it is dropped.
* Stateful inspection is a newer technology which unlike packet filtering does not analyse the whole packet, but just key parts. Specific characteristics of outbound packets are compared to inbound packets and if the comparison is acceptable the data is allowed into the network, otherwise it is dropped.

By using the above technologies users are able to allow or deny traffic into and out of their network based upon IP addresses, domain names, protocols and ports.

When you open your e-mail inbox, what do you usually find? Your inbox might very well be full of messages from work, family, friends, as well as those notifications from your RSS feeds and whichever social networking sites you belong to.

However, in amongst all those nice little messages are usually those annoying little spam messages - usually offering some way to increase the size of certain body parts, promising large sums of money in foreign currency (all in exchange for your bank account details - yeah right!) and a plethora of other rubbish that is usually confined to a junk mail folder of your e-mail client.

Yes, spam e-mails have become the bane of every computer user over the years. Many will simply delete the offending messages before opening them, but there are still many who will open curious e-mails and be met with malicious software being installed on their machine without them knowing about it.

Lots of us now have access to broadband connections and utilise e-mail in our daily lives. In order to filter out the junk we make use of filters, options on our e-mails that will divert suspicious looking messages into a separate folder, ensuring a safer and less cluttered inbox.

Recently, an internet security company recruited 50 people around the world to turn off their junk mail filters in an attempt to find out the scale of the spam problem, and the results were rather shocking.

Participants were encouraged to reply to those e-mails they received and to investigate the websites that were advertised, with a whopping 104,000 spam messages received during the trial.

Many of these e-mails will attempt to encourage you to open them and then install malware, spyware and a host of viruses onto your machine - ultimately slowing down broadband internet connections and the performance of your PC as a whole.

Many broadband providers will have some form of junk mail filter on their in-house e-mail clients, which can be activated through their browser and ensures safety while browsing.

Protection is key to ensuring that your machine does not become infected with nasties. Choose your virus checker and spyware protection software carefully. If you suspect that your computer has been infected, seek assistance from a professional computer technician.

And remember, don't open e-mails from sources you don't trust.

Let's face it, junk e-mails are extremely annoying. Promising us everything from medication for larger body parts to free software, these irritating little messages are usually just deleted and cast back into cyberspace.

However, some spam messages contain malicious software or viruses, which pose a great threat to any data you might have.

Broadband providers are now coming under increasing pressure to take action and do more to stop these spam messages getting through in the first place.

Anti-spam groups are calling for tougher regulations on providers in order to prevent malicious messages getting through. One suggestion is to close the port through which spam has to travel in order to have an effect.

Some companies utilise this method already, but there are many who argue that more should be done. There are many who will also argue that the spam will just adapt to get through the new methods employed by anti-spam software or techniques.

With more of us now owning a broadband line and relying on the Internet to conduct our business and personal lives, spam is still viewed by many as a major threat to the safety of our computers.

One of the most malicious aspects of spamming is the use of 'botnets' - networks of machines that have been accessed from outside by hackers, which are then used to send junk e-mails containing malicious software that can take a computer down in seconds.

If you've an inkling that your computer is affected by some aspect that is causing it to run slowly, run a broadband speed test to check if there is a problem with your phone line.

Be sure to seek help from a computer specialist if you suspect there might be malicious material on your machine - but the main piece of advice for avoiding such situations is to not open any suspicious e-mails and the attachments that come with them.

Back when the household PC was something of a social status marker and internet connection on top of that was very classy indeed, there were not many suppliers and therefore not much in competition within the internet provider market. However nowadays with our streaming TV, downloadable music and movies and online gaming there are more than a hundred broadband and dial up internet providers in the United Kingdom alone.

BT reports that 99.6% of people in the United Kingdom can receive broadband in their area, but there are a surprisingly large amount of people who are still using dial up internet. There seems to a misconception that it is cheaper to use a dial up modem, but nowadays it is actually more likely to be cheaper if you decide to use a broadband supplier. Unless you only use the internet for less than an hour a week you should probably look into a "light use" broadband that is designed for just browsing the web a few times a week and emailing.

You can find a typically light broadband package for around fifteen pounds a month, and it is an impressive ten times faster than dial up internet. What's more is that you no longer block the phone lines for the whole house hold when you connect to go online and the speed of pages loading and downloads are so much faster that it is possible you will want to use the internet more than you do at the moment.

With the internet currently being the most widely used medium in the world there have been many advancements over the past few years, but they only show their true benefits when used via a broadband internet line. For example there are several broadcasting companies offering free re runs of Television programs but they are only available to stream. This means that a small part of the program is downloaded just before the computer plays it. It then removes the information it has already played to make up space for what is yet to be downloaded. This requires a steady internet connection if you don't want to be paused to wait for five minute blocks to play out.

Other than downloads being much quicker, and the speed of browsing usually instant, there is also the ability to use wireless networks for broadband, so that everybody in the household can access the internet at one time. If you get a decent connection you shouldn't notice them using it at the same time either.

If you are still using dial up internet, it will most likely be worth looking into what offers are currently available from broadband providers. With the demand for internet connection you should be able to find something suitable for your needs.

Broadband is now the most common type of internet in households. It's is now actually pretty hard to find somebody using a dial up modem for their connection. Most broadband providers also supply a wireless router either for free of for a very cheap price, and with most laptops having an integrated router inside them as standard, broadband just keeps getting easier and easier.

Wireless broadband sends signals from your router through your house and beyond. Most household routers have a dependency range of around 45 meters, so the signal can be easily picked up by surrounding households if it is not protected.

If somebody is able to access your broadband connection you risk several things. There is of course the risk that by connecting to the network they can access your files and place viruses on your PC and therefore damage your machine. This is a practice that is on the rise in the united kingdom, with many people getting a kick out of being able to crack peoples passwords just for fun.

However, they can also affect you negatively in less malicious, but still harmful ways.

For example, if somebody logs onto your network and begins to download a large video file, they will slow down your internet's speed and performance by a huge amount. The longer they can get away with this, the worse off you are. Many broadband companies have a "bandwidth" or "download limit", and if somebody else is using it up for their own means, you lose out entirely.

Apart from direct attacks on your machine, there is also the risk of them looking at your history and possibly getting hold of your passwords and usernames meaning they could access highly personal information. Never store your banking details, credit card numbers or contact information on your PC.

If they take part in illegal activity such as phishing schemes, downloading music and movies illegally, or worse dealing in highly illegal products such as drugs and pornography, using your internet is a perfect way for them to shift the blame, as all of the connections are under your name. It is also very hard to prove who has accessed your network if you are in a densely populated area.

So for these reasons it is really very important that you limit who can access your broadband. It is usually a simple process to protect yourself, and nowadays broadband providers often supply you with the correct tools and software.

Make sure you have a good look at what you have been supplied with and use it to the best benefit that you can.

So, now you've got your broadband package and you are raring to go! But first, make sure you are secure and safe to do so without being prayed upon by the evils of the online world.
If you bought a "package" with a broadband company there is most likely a CD-ROM in the box your other pieces arrived in. You should check it to see if it includes a "firewall".

Installing firewall software stops people online and in your area accessing your files, removing and adding to them. There is usually a free trail period on these before you need to begin paying, but be aware that there are plenty of free virus protection programs available online, such as Avast!, which is just as good.

Once you set up your router and broadband, you will be able to access the settings via software on your PC. Do this right away so as not to allow people to access your computer files before you finalise your settings.

The first thing to do is to check if there is an option for the network to be public. This is often on "allow". Change this immediately, and then remove the default passwords and usernames and change them to something completely different.
Try to use a password that is at least 8 characters long, with numbers, letters AND symbols if your program allows it. You must remember that hackers enjoy a challenge, so you need to make the passwords as personal and private as you can - so no birth dates or street names!

When you are on your router set up menu, there should be an option for you to enter an IP code that you can enter onto all the machines you wish to be able to access the network. Change this from the default as soon as possible. It may be advisable to update this every couple of months, just so you can ensure nobody is going to come close to working out what it is.

There will be express instructions with your router on how to secure it, and you should try to implement as many of them as you can.

Unfortunately, every time the broadband and internet businesses bring out more ways to help keep customers safe and secure, the internet criminals are developing more ways to barge through the barriers. Hacking is becoming more popular than ever due to more people being online. Try to keep as hidden and protected as possible.

With Ofcom revealing that over half of all households in Britain have Broadband, compared to just 39 per cent a couple of years ago and then a seven-fold increase over the last five years, it is no wonder that there is now a more widely spread concern that people are not getting the broadband speed that they have been promised.

This is one of the reasons why communications regulator, Ofcom, have decided to take action.

The organisation has said that they will launch a voluntary code which will mean that internet providers will have to publish their broadband speeds accurately.

This code is being put in practice in an attempt to make all broadband speeds clear to customers. There are a total of 32 providers who have agreed to reveal their accurate broadband speeds to enable customers to spot which offers who be best for them.

Ofcom have said that this idea has been put in place to make sure that people are clear between the speeds that they think they will be getting and the speeds that they will actually get.

With this new code in place there will be 90 percent of UK broadband customers catered for. This code will also mean that service providers will have to resolve any technical issues that people may experience and also allow their customers to change to a cheaper deal if the one they were on was not completely accurate.

O2 have said that they completely approve this code and have commented that it could help reduce any frustration that their broadband customers may feel if they do not have the full information.

If people aren't sure what speed their broadband is then it is possible to find out by conducting a broadband speed test that is available from many websites.

If plans considered by ministers go through, people who download illegal music or films could be cut off from their internet.

This comes after talk that internet service providers (ISPs) could be legally obliged to crack down on their customers who are accessing illegal, pirated material.

This action would take the form of a "three strikes and you're out" policy, whereby they would first receive an email warning them to stop, then a suspension and if the illegal downloading continued their contract with the broadband company would be terminated.

Those broadband firms who do not take action and don't enforce the rules could end up being prosecuted and then the details of the suspected customers made accessible to the courts.

There are around 6 million people in the UK who are expected of downloading pirated files and this is costing the film and music industry billions as a result of lost takings.

As a result of many people file-sharing it becomes clear why our internet has to work hard to keep up with the demands put on it. When a 30 minute TV programme is downloaded, it is equivalent of receiving 200 e-mails every day for a year. This is why when you compare broadband speeds, they are all relatively low. However, with broadband speeds from some European countries being much faster, there seems no reason why the UK speeds can't improve.

Some of the major ISPs have discussed a voluntary scheme for policing pirate downloads. However, some difficulties could include how to prove who was using the internet for file-sharing.

The Internet Service Providers Association has said that the best cure for this problem is self-regulation.

Wireless broadband is becoming more and more of a commodity than a rarity these days, in the past households tended to have one computer usually stashed away in a box room or a corner somewhere and home internet was set up by your Internet provider to come in through the wall into one machine. Well over the past five years wireless internet has quickly brought internet access to everyone in the household not just one machine.

It's not surprising really, considering most typical households will have a main computer, then there will be the laptop that the eldest takes away to university to do work on and chances are another child will have their first computer in their room for talking to their friends online. Queuing up to use the internet used to be like queuing for the bathroom in the morning.

Wireless broadband came about when people bought Wireless routers, equipment that allows one internet connection to be shared amongst many computers in a small area, whilst it was computer enthusiasts that initially used these you can now get wireless broadband from your internet service provider as a product. An engineer will come out and fit the router and add all your devices to the internet connection.

The technology initially worked to certain strength, dubbed 802.11b it didn't have fantastic range and the strength of your connection depended on how thick the walls were between your PC and the router, invariably like most early technologies it wasn't that impressive with poor data speeds being reported, not only that but other wireless transmitting devices in the home such as TV remotes and even microwave ovens interfered with the signal.

This all changed with the next generation of wireless standards 802.11g chances are if you have any wireless devices they are probably wireless G enabled. Most home video game consoles and mobile phones will connect to a wireless G standard, it provides much faster speeds over the wireless airwaves as well as being strong enough to penetrate the thickest of house walls.

The thing is that Wireless G too is getting old and the craving for quicker speeds brought about the next generation, Wireless N. Wireless N is much more powerful and allows most remote computers to achieve speeds much more like being connected via an Ethernet cable. Whilst most people will typically choose the latest and greatest technology for some reason Wireless N routers and their equipment has not taken off and remains sat on computer store shelves.

Why is this happening especially in the ever changing nature of gadgets and electronics? Well most people put it down to being simply happy enough with wireless G, as well as this most routers for the G standard are cheap enough to be provided by home broadband suppliers for free, (being subsidised by the suppliers monthly charges). Couple that with that most devices that people use such as the Sony Playstation 3, iPhone and Apple TV all use Wireless G it makes for not much need to go faster since the speed boost wouldn't affect these devices.

Most wireless N equipment is obviously more expensive and if you have many computers and other devices sharing your broadband connection then you don't want to be spending money on unnecessarily excessive technology.

For now Wireless N seems to be on the verge of being the new standard as far as consumers are concerned and so there are some people who are buying now in anticipation but until Wireless G becomes obsolete or overburdened then for the typical broadband user, G will do just fine.

When most of us think of an internet connection, many a tangled wire springs to mind. Cable upon cable at the back of our machines, linked to socket after socket in an attempt to connect ourselves to the World Wide Web.

However, over recent years the use of cables has been pretty much eradicated through use of wireless routers - allowing us to establish broadband internet connections without tangling the back of our machines up.

Most of us now make use of dongles in order to connect. Dongles are portable modems, which over the years have been scaled down to smaller sizes in order to save space.

These handy little units plug into USB sockets on your computer, and give users the chance to connect to a broadband connection through use of wireless technology, with a large number of providers now making use of these devices in order to offer internet services of their own.

Indeed, many mobile phone companies are now offering their own services for people on the move - with deals on dongles driving sales as consumers strive for fast and cheap broadband connections.

However, the system itself is still relatively new, and with talk of upgrading phone networks to cope with the influx of ultra-fast broadband connections, many are choosing to go wireless when it comes to connections.
When searching for an internet package that provides connection through a dongle - whether you're looking to have a net connection or to replace your phone with VoIP technology - there are a few aspects you should bear in mind when searching for a deal:


* Connection speeds and what can be achieved on the deal you're interested in

* Bandwidth limits - what is the allowance and is there a charge for exceeding your limit?

* Contract length - this varies with each plan, so it's best to determine how long you're likely to need wireless service for before committing to any contracts

* Additional costs - these can include the price of the dongle itself