Issue 43.10
We have been discussing how to improve the operating speed of your computers the last couple of weeks. Today we tackle internet connections. You can have a blazingly fast computer, lots of memory and a great video card, but if your internet connection is slow, whatever you do online will seem frustrating and horribly slow.
You can envision your internet connection like a water pipe. If the pipe is large you can receive incredible amounts of water in a short time. If the pipe is extremely small, the water will just dribble out gradually, even if your swimming pool is large and beautiful. Remember too, that, even if your pipe is large, if the water has to go through a small valve it will still come out very slowly.
Using our analogy, dial-up internet is like watering your plants with a drip system. Low speed broadband – 1.5 and 3.0 mbps (megabits per second) systems are like a garden hose. High speed broadband (7, 10, 15 and 20 mbps) can be more like a fire hose. All these speeds are available in our area, but not all of them may be available in your particular location.
As with a water system, any choke point that restricts the flow will set the speed for that flow. This means that if you have a 20 mbps internet service but your network card or modem or wireless adapter can only handle 3 mbps, 3 mbps is the speed you will get from your system.
To take advantage of current internet speeds, I recommend making sure your modem and router can handle the speed your internet supplier sends and also making sure you have a 10/100/1000 network interface card (NIC) to plug wired internet into, or an N series transmitter and receiver for wireless networking. That assures that your equipment won’t slow you down too much from what is available.
As always, faster and better is in development and will be available in the near future. I read recently where they are testing a 1000 mbps system in one city back east. I don’t know what it will cost or what kind of programming it will include, but it sounds very interesting.
In any case, it is a good idea to call and compare what the different internet companies can supply you with and how much they charge. Make sure your equipment can handle what they send you – and, as always, make sure you have a backup of anything important.
Shaun McCausland has been in the computer industry for 29 years (locally with Musicomp & Bits ‘N’ Bytes) and currently does in-home and on-site computer consultation, service, training and repair. If you have questions, you can reach him at 668-7118.