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What are the pros and cons for dial-up, satellite, cellular and other high speed connections ?
Find out if you have a choice in your area
 Dial-Up Internet Access (PSTN)Dialing from a computer via a modem and phone line is still today the most common way of connecting to the Internet by using telephone lines to transmit data from the internet over a modem that converts data, while the computer displays the information.
Pro: Available wherever you have phone service - Broadband technologies supply more than double the speed and without disrupting the telephone use.
Con: Requires a telephone line.
Speed: Dial-up modems are limited to a bit-rate of less than 56 kbit/s (kilobits per second)
Cost: from $9 to $25/month
Broadband Technologies
The standard broadband technologies in most areas are DSL and Cable Modems.
Broadband is often called "high-speed" Internet, because it usually has a high rate of data transmission. In general, any connection to the customer of 256 kbit/s (0.256 Mbit/s) or greater is considered broadband internet.
In practice, the advertised bandwidth is not always reliably available to the customer, but users can typically burst to their full bandwidth most of the time; however, peer-to peer file sharing systems, often requiring extended duration of high bandwidth, stress these assumptions, and can cause major problems. (CVB does not allow FILE SHARING!!!!!)
The difference between upload speed and download speed.
Download speed measures how quickly the information on the Internet is sent to you, like e-mail or a web page that appears in your browser. Upload speed indicates how fast the information is sent from your computer. For normal use it's fine for the upload speed to be much lower than the download speed.
 DSL - (Digital Subscriber Line)
DSL is a form of high-speed Internet access over standard telephone lines. Unlike a regular dial-up connection, which requires a modem, DSL provides a dedicated connection to the Internet. The PC is always connected to the ISP.
This choice has become the increasing favorite of small and medium businesses. As long as you are close to the central office, you should get a superior pipeline of information, and steady and reliable service.
Your DSL line is protected for the most part against RF since transmissions move directly through your copper telephone lines. DSL offers opportunities for security breaches, so it's important to update your on anti-spam, anti-worm, and anti-virus software programs.
Pro: DSL can handle telephone calls and internet access at the same time.
Con: Speed to your PC can be lower than advertised. Customers further than 14,000 feet from the central phone office probably can't get the service.
Speed: More than 10 times faster than 56Kbps modem
Cost: Around $50/month
Cable Modems
A cable modem provides bi-directional data communications via radio frequency channels on a cable television (CATV) infrastructure. Cable modems are also used to deliver broadband internet access taking advantage of the high bandwidth of a cable television network.
The data from the net flows over the same cable that carries your TV signal. A modem divides the Internet data from the TV data.
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Pro:
Con: Speed to your PC can be lower than advertised, and security is a big question mark. PCs have to be located near a TV cable in the home, and a cable-repair person is needed to hook the system up. Many high-tech applications of broadband – VoIP and streaming video, for example – do not work well over cable. An installer is needed to set up the system.
Speed: 10 to 20 times faster
Cost: $40 to $50/month
Satellite
Satellite Internet is usually among the most expensive ways of getting broadband Internet access, but in rural areas it may only compete with cellular broadband. However, costs have been coming down in recent years to the point that it is becoming more competitive with other broadband options
Satellite Internet has a high latency problem caused by the signal having to travel 22,000 miles out into space up to the satellite and back down to Earth again. The signal delay can be as much as 500 milliseconds to 900 milliseconds, which makes this service not suitable for real-time user input such as certain multiplayer Internet games. It is still possible to play many games. Live interactive access to a distant computer (VPN) is also difficult caused by high latency. These problems are more than tolerable for just basic e-mail access and web browsing and in most cases are barely noticeable
Pro: True global broadband Internet access availability. Requires clear line of sight to the Southern sky.
Con: High latency compared to other broadband services, especially 2-way satellite service, not usable for Voice over IP and VPN. Threshold Limits! Satellite dishes are very large
Speed: 20 to 40 times faster than dial-up.
Cost: $60 to $70/month
Providers: Hughes Net, Wild Blue
Fixed Wireless - Broadband
 2.4Ghz - Line of Sight
900 Mhz - Non Line of Sight
Broadband, formed from the words broad and bandwidth, pertains to data carriers that have significantly wider bandwidth than the ordinary dial-up access of home-users. A wider bandwidth translates to a faster Internet connection. DSL, ISDN and Cable Internet are considered broadband connections to the Internet.
With broadband, a user will be able to download movies, audio and image archives. Users will be able to maximize video conferencing. They will also be able to make national and international phone calls using the Internet.
The signals are delivered from wireless towers, collected on a wireless receiver attached to the home, and routed to the PC.
Pro: Broadband loads web pages more quickly, including multimedia files.
Con: The service is available in fewer places and requires a clear line of sight between the tower and a customer's home
Speed: 20 to 50 times faster
Cost: $40 to $120/month - Installation $199.95
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