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What is
broadband?
Broadband is a method of
connecting to the Internet. It is called broadband as it provides a
high-speed Internet connection when compared with older methods of
connecting which were generally termed narrowband.
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Why
is broadband better than a dial up connection (phone line)
The benefits of broadband
are
mainly related to the speed of the connection. If you're used to using
dial-up Internet access, you will know that webpages generally take 10
seconds or more to load and downloading e-mails can take a few minutes
and large files might well take days to download.
With
a broadband internet connection all these things happen much more
quickly! You will be able to do many things at once with broadband. It
is even fast enough to allow several people to use the same Internet
connection at once if you have more than one computer and they are
networked together.
The
faster speed allows you to enjoy many of the more feature rich areas of
the Internet such as streaming media including live TV, radio and
Online gaming.
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How
fast is broadband?
The speed of the connection
varies based on many different things including where you live and what
broadband provider you use. Generally the speed will be in the region
of between 512k (512 Kbps) and 10 meg (meg is an abbreviation used to
mean Mbps - Megabits per second), although faster connections are
possible in some areas.
If
you have used a dial-up connection, You will have connected to the
internet at about 56k, obviously 512k is nearly 10 times faster. 10 meg
is about 180 times faster! You might like to think of it as driving to
the shops in a Mclaren F1, rather than crawling there on your
belly!!!
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Click
on the icon below to test your broadband speed
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How
do I get broadband?
The first step to getting
broadband is to see what is available to you. The most common
technology used for a broadband connection in the UK is ADSL
(Asymmetric Digital Subscriber Line, a form of DSL, digital subscriber
line) which is provided using the BT telephone network. This is
available to 99.9% of premises in the UK, so you'll more than likely be
able to get it. You do not have to sign up with BT to get broadband
using ADSL though, Cable modems are also very popular and an
alternative in areas where Virgin Media have rolled out their TV
network. Many ISP’s are now breaking into the market which
means better
choice and lower prices for us consumers.
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Other
benefits of having a broadband connection
Having
more bandwidth gives you the opportunity to utilise the other devices
in your household or office. Using a router be it wired or wireless
enables you to connect more than one PC to your existing broadband
connection and why stop at PC's? The Sony PSP, Microsoft XBOX and
handheld devices can all be configured to use the same connection
through the router.
You
can share files and folders, play music and other media as well as
share devices that are connected to your PC, such as your printer.
View
our page on Networking here or contact us here and let us network your
home or office for you!
Read our other top tips on broadband and the internet here
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