Society is becoming ever more dependent on being electronically connected with every other part of the world. Worldwide communication and commerce are just two areas where people benefit from living in an information age. Using the Internet, business can be conducted from anywhere in the world, and you can even talk to get to know other people, anywhere in the world. These online activities became possible only very recently. Applications, that utilize the Internet, are being developed every day. However, because of the nature in which most of us are connected to the Internet, there are limitations to what we can do online.
Nearly everyone connects to the Internet using an analog modem. To get online, we boot up our PC’s, and using our telephone line, dial in to our Internet Service Provider. Because telephone technology is much older than the Internet, there have been limitations to how fast data can travel over existing copper telephone lines. Using an analog modem, data is translated from its digital form to an analog signal, to travel over the telephone lines. Once it gets to its destination, the data is converted back into its digital form. Line noise is a result of data being transmitted as an analog signal.
The FCC imposed limitations, decades ago, to minimize the amount of line noise that was allowed. This law was imposed long before the PC ever existed. However, it directly affects how fast we can access the Internet today, at speeds of only 53kbps. Even that connection speed is theoretical. Depending on the quality of the telephone lines that run into your home, your connection speed may not even come close to 53kbps. Despite having ever-faster computers, we are limited to what we can do online by these relatively low connection rates.
To make online activities, such as ecommerce, virtual meetings, and video conferencing, truly practical we need faster connections to the Internet. Two competing technologies may offer an answer to the bandwidth problem. Cable Modems and Asymmetric Digital Subscriber Line (ADSL) both offer the speed that consumers want. Both technologies are also potentially more user-friendly because with either you do not dial-up to get connected, you are always online. You simply plug-in to the network, like you plug-in your toaster to an electrical outlet.
Using a Cable Modem, you connect to the Internet through the existing Cable-TV lines. And if you sign up for ADSL service you are connected through the existing telephone line. Because data is not transmitted as an analog signal, line noise does not limit the connection speed, as it does with analog modems. Both have the potential to dramatically increase how fast we surf the Internet. The technology that eventually becomes more widely accepted will be determined by availability, in the marketplace, and even in the courtroom.
The idea of getting online through cable or DSL connection is not new. There have been start-up technical problems plaguing both technologies, resulting in their limited initial acceptance. That began to change just last year. At the end of 1998, it has been estimated that of the over 27 million people, worldwide, connected to the Internet, in North America only 513,000 people used cable modems and a mere 38,000 had a DSL connection. Despite these relatively small numbers, cable and ADSL use is expected to grow by over 1000 percent in the next couple years.
What do both of these new technologies offer? Connection speeds previously available only through a costly T1 connection. Both are allow connections approximately 10-20 times faster than existing dial-up analog modems. However, in attaining these high speeds, you have to give up your dedicated connection to the Internet. When you dial in to your Internet Service Provider, through an analog modem, a dedicated connection is established between you and your ISP. If you connect at 34kbps, no one can touch your connection speed. You are connected at 34kbps until you end your online session.
Cable and ADSL connections work in an entirely different manner. Both allow you to connect to the Internet through a broadband connection. This means that many users (a couple hundred to a couple thousand share the same connection and bandwidth. Although you may connect at an average speed of 1500kbps, that rate may fluctuate. During peak hours your connection may be much slower than what you would expect. Security is another potential problem. Sharing a broadband connection, with others, opens up the possibility that someone may gain access to information on your computer.
The good news is that additional capacity can be added to the network, limiting slow connection speeds, and security software is being developed to minimize the chance of having your PC broken into. The concerns over Cable and ADSL standards, security and capacity either have been or are being addressed. Both are being accepted as reasonably priced, high-speed alternatives to analog modem and ISDN Internet connections. As fast connections become the rule, rather than the exception, online content will be further enriched with multimedia content and will be truly interactive.
