Internet Connection Methods - Past, Present and Future - Essay Example

Internet connection methods - past, present and future Based on the technological and scientific developments, computers and internet are also undergoing rapid changes. The size of the computer has been reduced to accommodate even in our palm at present from a huge mechanical structure in the past which required a big room to accommodate the whole things related to the computer. Same way the changes are taking place in internet technologies also. The internet connection speeds were very slow in the past, but has increased a lot at present and in future lightning quick internet access is being predicted. Internet connection methods – Past Dial-up connections Dial-up connections are the cheapest and the slowest internet connections used in the past. Dial-up connection allows us to connect to the internet via a local server using a standard 56k modem, your PC, literally dials (hence the name) a phone number (provided by your ISP) and connects to the server and therefore the internet. (Internet Connections explained, 2008) Although through dial up connection we can have all the access of internet services, the slow speed of the connection occasionally create problems to the users. Big sized web pages consisting of lot of high resolution pictures will take long time for downloading using dial up connections because of the slow speed. Sometimes the web pages may not be downloaded also because of the heavy size. A standard 56k modem is used normally for the dial up connection. It can transfer only 56 kilobytes data/ second normally. But even that speed may not be attainable during peak hours in which many users utilizing the internet services. Dial up connections uses analogue lines for the transfer of data and hence the digital data inputs need to be converted to analogue signals before transmission. In order to use the analogue data it needs to be converted to digital data again after reception. All this conversion process is done by the modem are time consuming and hence the connection speed using dial up will always be slow. Internet service providers usually charges by the minute while using dial up services and hence the users need to pay more once the internet takes more time to download the web pages. Normal telephone call charges will be applied for the internet service using dial up modems. If used judiciously this method is the cheapest. Users can download the web page and can go offline while reading the data on the web page in order to save money Internet connection methods – Present Integrated services digital network (ISDN), Broadband ISDN (BISDN), Digital Subscribers Line (DSL)Symmetric digital subscriber line (SDSL), Asymmetric Digital Subscribers Line (ADSL), Very High DSL (VDSL), Cable internet , Wireless Internet Connections, Satellite internet are some of the common internet service technologies used at present. Apart from the above technologies, other technologies specifically made for business such as T-1 Lines (data rates of 1.544Mbps), Bonded T-1 (3Mbps or 46 channels), T-3 Lines (43 to 45 Mbps), are also common nowadays. (Types of Internet Connections, n.d) ADSL Connections Asymmetric Digital Subscribers Line (ADSL) connections are widely used nowadays both at home and offices because of the increased speed and reliability. “The connections work by splitting your phone line into two separate channels, one for data (internet) and one for voice (phone calls) which means you can talk on the phone and be connected to the internet at the same time.” (Internet Connections explained, 2008) This service often has speed ranges from 256 kbps/128 kbps to 8mbps/1024 kbps. The speed 256 kbps/128 kbps means we can download data at a speed of 256 kbps while we can upload data at a speed of 128 kbps. Most of the ISPs fix the charges for ADSL services using the amount of data downloaded monthly. They will introduce fixed plans for monthly usages of ADSL. If the users exceed the monthly limit then they have to pay extra apart from the fixed charges. ADSL does not need to convert data either at the input or at the output and hence the speed of ADSL services will be much more than what dial up can offers. ADSL services are not available everywhere like the dial up because of the expensive networks required for the services. Satellite internet connections “A satellite Internet connection is an arrangement in which the upstream (outgoing) and the downstream (incoming) data are sent from, and arrive at, a computer through a satellite. Each subscribers hardware includes a satellite dish antenna and a transceiver (transmitter/receiver) that operates in the microwave portion of the radio spectrum.” (Satellite Internet connection, 2001) This kind of internet connection is useful for rural and remote areas where other type of internet services such as cable modem and DSL fail. Internet connection methods – Future Power-line Internet Power –line internet is the transmission of internet data trough the existing electric power lines. It has not used extensively so far. Power line internet transmission may be faster than most of the existing transmission methods; but have some serious technical problems also. “The primary one being that power lines are inherently a very noisy environment. Every time a device turns on or off, it introduces a pop or click into the line. Energy-saving devices often introduce noisy harmonics into the line. The system must be designed to deal with these natural signaling disruptions and work around them” (Broadband Internet access, n.d) White spaces (radio) communication “In telecommunications, white spaces refer to frequencies allocated to a broadcasting service but not used locally. In the United States, it has gained prominence after the FCC ruled that unlicensed devices that can guarantee that they will not interfere with assigned broadcasts can use the empty white spaces in spectrum. “(White spaces (radio), n.d) In this type of internet service every ISPs will be assigned a specific frequency for their data transfer just like radio and television signal transmission. High-Speed Downlink Packet Access (HSDPA) “High-Speed Downlink Packet Access (HSDPA) is an enhanced 3G (third generation) mobile telephony communications protocol in the High-Speed Packet Access (HSPA) family, also coined 3.5G or 3G+, which allows networks based on Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS) to have higher data transfer speeds and capacity. Current HSDPA deployments support down-link speeds of 1.8, 3.6, 7.2 and 14.4 Mbit/s. Further speed increases are available with HSPA+, which provides speeds of up to 42 Mbit/s downlink” (High-Speed Downlink Packet Access n.d) References 1. Internet Connections explained, A guide to dial-up, ADSL and Cable connections, Dial- up connections, (2008), Retrieved on April 29, 2009 from http://www.helpwithpcs.com/internet/internet-connections.htm 2. Types of Internet Connections, (n.d), Retrieved on April 29, 2009 from http://www.webopedia.com/quick_ref/internet_connection_types.asp 3. Satellite Internet connection, (2001), Retrieved on April 29, 2009 from http://searchnetworking.techtarget.com/sDefinition/0,,sid7_gci528672,00.html# 4. Broadband Internet access, (n.d) Retrieved on April 29, 2009 from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Broadband_Internet_access 5. White spaces (radio) (n.d) Retrieved on April 29, 2009 from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/White_Spaces_Coalition 6. High-Speed Downlink Packet Access (n.d) Retrieved on April 29, 2009 from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High-Speed_Downlink_Packet_Access Read More