In computer news this week, 04/03/2001

Looking at how you connect to the internet today, and looking for better alternatives...

The Internet has been around since the 1960's, and started basically as a government university network to share data, predating the modern pc world by several years. . Early pc's were used 300 baud modems to dial into the first information service - The Source - and these were the old fashioned modems where you would actually stick the telephone hand receiver into the modem cradle.

For several years nothing much happened in terms of online services, but the modem speed increased up to 1200 baud. Compuserve started in the mid 1980's and quickly became the leading online service. You paid by the hour, so having a fast modem was important. Aol started in the late 1980's. Modems kept getting faster, 2400 baud, 9600 , 19200, 28K. And then in 1992 the World Wide Web was created, opening up the internet to the entire world. If you can believe it, in 1992 there were 2 websites. Now there's something like 22 million or more.

Information services switched to flat rate charges, and the dam broke in terms of people wanting to access the Internet, now with modems as fast as 56K. All the local phone companies tried to get you to buy a 2nd phone lines for your computer. Phones lines were not designed for data transfer, but once the Web exploded, the phone companies made a lot of money selling additional phone lines.

But now they've changed their - party line - again, because now they offer much faster services, like DSL, with speeds up to 256K, 5 times faster than a modem line. So now the phone companies say that you should order DSL, if it's available in your area. With most ISP's charging around $ 20 a month, you can get DSL for around $ 50 a month, not a bad deal for 5 times the speed.

But even better is cable modem, which offers speeds up to 1 Mb, and it's probably coming into your house already if you have cable tv. And if it's available in your area, it's probably the best deal, at around $ 20 a month initially on special offers, and then going to around $ 30 monthly after 6 months. I've seen it, and at its best, it's almost like watching tv on your computer - that fast. Things you would never dream of downloading because of their size now come down in seconds. Even DSL is really good, although more expensive. And of course there are even much faster alternatives.

The problem lies in that still the majority of Internet users are using dialup phone and modem connections, and the Internet this way virtually comes to a halt in evening hours and on weekends. But the majority of websites now assume you have DSL or cable access, and everything is geared towards those high speed connections for music and video broadcasts. Here you're coming in at 39K trying to watch the latest CNN online video coverage of the American plane downed in China. Forget it - just read the text version and hope that faster technology comes into your neighborhood soon. And on new computers now, you have to decide if you really need that old fashioned modem.

For Raw Bytes, This is Frank Delaney

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