Has Broadband Internet Access Taken The Big Leap?

Whither Broadband Vision?   If you think back several years, you can easily remember how broadband internet access was touted. The basic idea was that with the increasing rate of transmission offered by broadband access connections, people would become far more productive creatures than they ever had before.

They would make massive leaps in research, telecommuting would become an everyday occurence, and the home and workplace would merge forever.

Well we've had some time to review. Has this broadband vision become our reality?

While broadband has clearly emerged as the leading product for both home and business users, much of the promise of high speed internet has not yet been realized by the average consumer.

Yes, people use broadband access more than ever, but it's arguable that productivity has been increased. Certainly people are surfing the internet at speeds unheard of a mere decade ago, but are they actually getting more done in the final analysis?

This question can be answered with a simple "not yet".

More people telecommute than ever before, but you'd be kidding yourself if you didn't notice the huge traffic jams that occur in the "Real world" more often than they do in CyberSpace. Most of humanity is still in a 9 to 5 mindset because old habits die hard and people still like to do business in person. Telecommuting remains more of a dream than a reality for most people.

When businesses originally pictured a popular internet, they expected applications such as video-conferencing to be the big winners. In reality, no one could have expected the true bandwith hogging applications such as music downloading and file sharing would become as millions of people found the power of peer-to-peer networking.

As the advent of broadband spread, more and more users became increasingly affected with virii and spyware. With broadband and always-on connections, the security risks are truly enormous.

More resources than ever are now spent policing the internet of the many foul actions that can only occur because of relatively cheap broadband connections. All forms of spam have been able to proliferate over the relatively generous broadband connections, as tightly monitored bandwith became less of an issue than ever in the past.

Broadband access has delivered on many of its promises. People can now download music and video faster than ever before. Tasks that used to be laborious on a dialup connection are now almost instantaneous on a fast internet connection.

Those of us who've been using broadband for awhile should remember what the days of the 2400bps were like. And we should never forget just how slow and frustrating life in the slow lane could be.

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Cisco-Linksys WRT54GL Wireless-G Broadband Router (Compatible with Linux)

A Beginners Guide To Broadband

    

originally uploaded by Andrew Currie 

Broadband for newbies  So you are thinking of getting a broadband connection to speed up your Internet experience, but do not know that much about broadband and how it works and would like to know more, then please read on.  


What Is Broadband Exactly?

Broadband is a much faster way of sending and receiving computer data, information,email, music, software, video and other kinds of downloads than your existing slow dial up connection. You can get broadband through your telephone connection, a cable connection or a satellite dish and once you get broadband you will never go back as it is so much better than dial up for a variety of reasons. 

Firstly you will be able to surf the net much more quickly, download files and email extremely quickly and be able to do things you simply could not realistically do with your dial up connection such as watch broadband TV channels, play online games in real time against other people, watch streaming videos and film trailers smoothly. 

Another big advantage of broadband is that you can access the internet 24 hours a day, 7 days a week and are only paying a monthly flat fee which is convenient and can save you money if you are a heavy user. Also your telephone line is not tied up (even if you get your internet through your telephone line) so you can always use your phone and the internet at the same time which is very handy.

    Originally uploaded by Kofoed 

What Is A Broadband Modem For?

A broadband modem is a device which converts analog data into digital data so that it can be transmitted through your internet connection, so you need a broadband modem for your broadband connection to work. When you go to sign up for a broadband service, your broadband service provider will usually provide you with one either for free or for a small one off charge.

    Originally uploaded by DeclanTM 


What Is A Broadband Router For?

A broadband router is for those of you that wish to use their internet connection around their house and garden on their laptop computer in addition to their main computer. If you only want to use the internet on your main computer, then you do not need a broadband router. 

What it does is send a broadband signal around your house and garden so that you can use the internet on your laptop or second desktop without the need for any physical wires. This is a great innovation which means you can use the internet anywhere in your home and even move from room to room whilst connected to the internet which is really cool.

About the Author: Miguel Poza runs a website about broadband & broadband service providers with reviews of 70 broadband packages, a beginners guide to broadband technology & links to cool broadband content. You can check it out at http://www.broadbandassistant.com