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“Can you send me the internet on a floppy disk?”
In the days of modems people used to ring and ask this. It was so funny. Of course what they meant was can we send them a floppy disk with the software they need to connect to the internet. Boy have things changed. And thankfully things are a lot cheaper & a lot better now.
How to connect to the internet - let us count the ways
(as of June 07). Here is a basic summary.
| Method | Pros | Cons | Good for |
|---|---|---|---|
| Modem | Can connect anywhere you have a telephone line. Very cheap. | Extremely slow. Drops out. | Backup. Travelling. |
| Wireless (802.11a/b/g/n) | Fast and works well. | You still need to connect to the internet, so you need to be at coffee shop offering Internet access, the airport club lounge or piggy back off someone else's connection | Backup and occasional use. Travelling. |
Wireless (3G/CDMA) |
Download speed is good if on 3G. Works everywhere CDMA does. | Expensive. 3G has high latency so whilst it is fast enough downloading, the time between asking for it and getting it is a bit painful. Depends on your reception. | If you absolutely need to connect to the internet and your enjoyment is secondary, this is the way to go. Mostly corporate users |
| Wireless (NextG) | Download speeds are good. Works in many areas.Very convenient. Starts at an affordable price. | If you use your internet a lot, can get very expensive, very fast. Have had feedback that it doesn't seem as fast as promised. | If you travel a lot in Australia or live in 2 or more different locations. |
| Wireless (pre Wi-Max - iburst, Unwired) | Easy to setup. Take it anywhere. Reasonably priced. Pleasure to use if your reception is good. iBurst works when you're moving. Can throw away your phone line if it works well. No fuss. | Only available in a few capital cities. If you have poor reception (like you live in a gully or your reception is otherwise interfered with) it can be really annoying. | Portable internet access in the cities covered. No fuss, no hassle, no waiting internet connection. Great for home or for the road. |
| ADSL/ADSL2 | Amazingly fast. If you're paying around the $40/month mark, you actually get reasonable download limits. Reliable. Fantastic solution. Lots of competition and plans so you can taylor a solution just for you. Great for servicing multiple computers. Can take advantage of VOIP technologies to dramatically save on call costs. Video/VPN over internet works properly and reliably. | You need a phone line which costs you about $35 per month. If you have old phone lines or live more than about 2km away from the nearest telephone exchange, your connection may not work very well - and that's very annoying and hard to solve. Only works over the phone line, so not portable. Takes a while to install. | Most everything. Sharing one connection around the home/work and even neighbours (by using wireless 802.11a/b/g/n). Excellent solution for non-portable internet |
| Cable | as per ADSL | can't serve content - but then who wants to. Less coverage than ADSL | Same as ADSL |
| Fibre | Extremely fast | Extremely expensive. Available in extremely limited areas. Fixed location only. Like giving you a superhighway with no speed limits, a Porsche and enough fuel to JUST make it to your destination at 40km/h. To go faster &/or further you need to buy petrol which - if you read the fine print carefully, is only $1000/litre. | Not for home. You need to be a business with very specific needs for this to be viable. |
My favourite? ADSL2. Best value for money. I use and recommend iiNet.
What the? - a brief introduction to terminology.
- Modem: a device that allows connection for a single device (e.g. computer) to connect to an internet provider. If you just say "Modem", people understand the old type modem that works over the phone line in the same way as making a telephone call. Prefix it with the type - e.g. "ADSL modem" for the sort of connection you use.
- Wireless: collectively is simply a method of moving data from one place to another without wires. It has nothing to do with Internet apart from that it can be used to provide or share an internet service.
- Ethernet: carried by yellow, black, gray or blue cables with an overgrown telephone plug (RJ45) plug at either end, this is the physical and traditional way of connecting computers together.
- Router: A device that connects 2 networks together. Your home network is called a "private network" and doesn't really exist on the internet - only the router does.
- LAN: (local area network) is the private network that all your computers sit on.
- ADSL filter: Your voice uses a small frequency range of what your telephone cable can carry. Your ADSL/2 modem uses the rest. So you don't hear the rest, the ADSL filter filters out the modem for your phone lines and hence goes in between your phone and the wall plug.
- Wikipedia for further reading: Modem, Wireless, Ethernet, Router, LAN
Often equipment you buy to connect to the internet have multiple functions built in. Such as the "ADSL2+ Modem Router Ethernet /USB/ Wireless" made by Netcomm Australia (an Aussie company!). As you can see it has a built in ADSL2+ modem, router and can connect to your computers via Ethernet, USB AND wirelessly - all at the same time! All functions in one box. Otherwise you'd need at least 3 different pieces of hardware.
In the USA and some other countries they call a router a "rooter" instead of this. That always makes me involuntarily laugh like a teenager. But it means the same thing.
"Just plug it in"
One customer of mine called their major Australian internet supplier for support and was told by the support person "Just plug it in!". Wonderful. If she could have just done that, why would she wait in a cue, navigate a the support automated navigation system (you know - "dial 1 if your call is important to us. dial 2 if we have a machine that can do the job of a human to help you. dial 3 if you're already a customer and we don't care and (growl) you couldn't dial 2 - then we'll put you through to an person speaking with a heavy foreign accent who can't help you anyway and you can barely understand. dial 4 if we really don't want to speak with you (or just hang up). dial 5 if you're going to make our operator cry, dial 6 if you want to be juggled around different departments for an hour, dial 7 if you want to leave and we'll beg you to stay by offering you the prices we should have in the first place. And finally (are you STILL on the line?) dial 8 if you want to hear all this stuff again")?
What the support person should have said is that it is already configured and it isn't complicated to plug in, would she like some help. Now, plug the black box into the power using the transformer. Next, plug in a telephone double adaptor at the wall jack. Next, use a telephone wire to plug one port on the telephone double adaptor to the black box. Next, use the other port on the telephone double adaptor to plug in to the ADSL filter using another telephone wire. Next, use the last bit of telephone wire to plug your phone into the other side of the ADSL filter. Make sure the filter is the right way around if it needs to be (your filter will be labelled). Finally, connect your computer to the black box using an ethernet or USB cable. Test and let me know if you have a problem. On the black box at least the power, line/adsl, LAN lights should be lit.
But for some reason the support person chose "Just plug it in" instead. It isn't hard,but not everyone gets it and not everyone does it a lot like they or I do.
The point is that it can be hard to setup the internet and to do it properly for the uninitiated. We can do this for you if you like, do it well, and make sure it is all secure.
What's around the corner?
The future is exciting. The main reason things are expensive is (a) if it needs investment, then some company is going to want a big return on that investment to supply it to you (b) economies of scale. You know the drill - whenever something new and exciting is released they charge a premium for it to wring as much money out of rich people as they can before supplying the masses.
But eventually competition and boredom drive the prices down and ordinary people like you and I can have some technology too without blowing our credit cards away.
So here are some technologies around the corner. Most have been around for a while but nobody can come up with viable business plan to supply them, whilst others are still experimental and have some problems.
- Ethernet over Power lines. As opposed to just Ethernet over Power (Netcomm has these), ethernet over power lines deals with the main electricity grid. High promise. Alternative to ADSL/cable
- Fibre. (see wikipedia) Currently only Singapore, Norway and Internet supplier backbones use fibre optic cable for high speed delivery. Has been around for a while but is very expensive. There is considerable pressure on the Australian government to help supply infrastructure capable of fibre like speeds so that we can open up the market for TV over internet etc.
- WiMAX. Wireless. Sounds really cool, huh? (see wikipedia). This has been used in areas in the USA to my knowledge and may be employed to supply long haul backbones to regional centers in Australia. It is only a matter of time until this technology services metropolitan areas too. That'll boost competition eventually and drive prices through the floor. Yay!
The thing about technologies around the corner is price and when they will appear. So in my opinion if you have access to ADSL/ADSL2, then for now you can just relax and yawn and get excited when these things become real and affordable.