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If you have been
browsing for some time now and had been using a desktop, you will remember your
first Internet Access Device: it was probably an External Modem that dialed into
your ISP's Internet Gateway Server. You had to enter your Username and Password,
to get connected to the Internet. Your telephone line was used to connect your
Computer to the Internet.
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External Dial-up Modem
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Your internet
access speed theoretically was a maximum
of 56 kbps, though your actual speed
depended on your modem, quality of the
copper wires that comprised your
telephone line, etc. Top speeds of 33.6 Kbps alone were achievable with external
dial-up modems
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Soon, you had
Internal Modems that could be fixed into
your desktop. These weren't faster, though they did save your desktop space.
Their cost was about half that of external modems and they cluttered your
workspace a lot less. Hence, they were quite
popular for a while, until ISDN became popular.
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Internal Dial-up Modem
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ISDN Modem
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ISDN or Integrated Services Digital Network
allowed you to access the Internet at speeds quite close to 128 Kbps. It also
allowed two-way voice, data and images by means of two independent channels,
each of 64 Kbps.
Around this time, Asynchronous Digital Subscriber Line (ADSL) too emerged as an Internet Access Technology.
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ADSL Modems overtook ISDN modems in terms of popularity
amongst internet access devices, even before ISDN could dislodge dial-up
external Modems. With ADSL, you could have speeds beginning 128 kbps and going
on to 256 kbps, 512 kbps, 1 Mbps and 2 Mbps! Your telephone line was required
for ADSL, but you could hold a voice conversation while surfing the internet.
Also, the process of upgrading to higher speeds did NOT require
you to change your ADSL Modem: your Telephone (and Internet) service provider
could do it immediately on your instructions!
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ADSL Modem
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With speeds in excess of 256 Kbps, the birth of 'Broadband' finally happened. The 2006
Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) report defines Broadband as
typically having download
data transfer rates of at least 256 Kbps, while the United
States Federal Communications Commission (FCC) defines basic broadband (as
of 2009) as data transmission speeds exceeding 768 Kbps in at least one
direction: downstream (from the Internet to the user’s computer) or upstream
(from the user’s computer to the Internet). The trend is to raise the threshold
of the broadband definition as the marketplace continues to roll out faster services.
Wireless Internet Access
Riding the ADSL wave were wireless technologies such as
Wi-Fi and Wi-Max, with the former already extremely popular in homes and
offices worldwide and Wi-Max picking up at a pace much slower than expected.
Wireless technologies such as this let you use your Broadband connection on
multiple computers, without the need for your Computers to be physically
connected to the ADSL Modem. For these reasons, today, the ADSL Modem is the
preferred internet access device for most homes, home offices and small offices.
Read more about
Wi-Fi by clicking the blue, underlined link.
Read more about
USB Modems by clicking the blue,
underlined link.
USB Modems:
Today, you have extremely fast internet access devices that
may be connected to your Computer's USB Port as well. The first generation of
such devices had a theoretical maximum speed of 144 Kbps, but today's USB Modems
have a theoretical maximum speed of up to 3 Mbps. To read more about
USB Modems,
click on the blue, underlined link.
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Cable Modem
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It is also important
to mention yet another internet access
device at this point - Cable Modems.
While Dial-up and ADSL Modems used your
telephone line, the Cable Modem used
your Cable TV connection to provide you
access to the Internet. With a Cable
Modem, internet access speeds may be
extremely high (over 2 Mbps even) or
very poor, depending on the number of
Cable TV subscribers using their Cable
Modems for internet access, at a given
point of time. It is this reason that stunted the adoption of Cable Modems as
the preferred internet access device, the world over.
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Although ADSL was more than sufficient for homes, home offices and small
offices, large organizations employing hundreds or thousands of staff located in
a large building had need for speeds that were tens and hundreds of times that available
by means of ADSL or Cable Modem technology. Leased Line Modems were the access
devices they preferred, with speeds going as high as T4, or 275 Mbps, entirely
for the use of the subscriber!
| For large offices with hundreds and thousands of employees
working out of the same building, for organizations where data needs to be sent
out and received in real time (like Credit Card and other banking/ financial
transactions), Leased Line Modems offer the best solution. |
Leased Line Modem
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| Leased lines are permanently-connected, dedicated
circuits provided by Basic Service Providers (BSPs), to the Internet. They form
what is called the 'last mile access' from the user premises to the ISP.
Connection quality is far superior to that available through dialup, thanks to
digital signaling, less noise, fewer exchanges and a permanent connection to the
BSP's servers. As a result, they are also more expensive in comparison with
other modes of internet access. With Leased Lines, you can get a maximum of up
to T4, i.e., 275 Mbps. Since this is completely available to the subscriber
without any sharing, it is a whopping-big pipe! |
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NOTE: Where Bandwidth speeds are concerned,
the conversion factor from kilo to mega to giga to tera is 1000. It is for
storage, that the conversion factor of 1024 is applicable. Thus; 1000 Kilo Bytes/ Second (Kbps) = 1 Mega
Bytes/ Second (Mbps).
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