How I Overcame the Bandwidth Barrier.(includes web sites)(Brief Article)
Author/s: Shirley Duglin Kennedy
Shirl Kennedy is Webmaster for the city of Clearwater,
Florida, and the Clearwater Public Library System
(http://www.clearwater-fl.com). Her e-mail address is skennedy@reporters.net.
Everyone is struggling for speedier access, so here are some
solutions
"You can never be too rich, too thin, or have too much
bandwidth."
--The High Bandwidth Web Page
(http://www.specialty.com/hiband)
Last month, my online life at home took a radical turn for the
better: I finally broke down and had cable modem access installed.
Stepping Up My Access
I should have done this a long time ago. I live in an area
where the local phone system is one step above Dixie cups and string. You may
have this problem, too. You went out and bought that 56-K modem, hoping to
cruise along the Infobahn with your hair blowing in the wind behind you.
Instead, you can't quite shift out of second gear. I was never able to wring
more than 28.8 Kbps out of my 56-K modem ... and that was on a good day. There
are any number of reasons for this sub-par performance.
First of all, the FCC limits modem speed on the telephone
network to about 53 K, and that's downstream, from the Internet to you.
Upstream, these modems top out at about 33.3 K, and that's under optimum
conditions.
Also, the history of 56-K modem technology is, well, funky.
For a long time, there were two competing standards--X2 (Rockwell Technology)
and K56flex (Lucent Technology). Some Internet providers supported one, some
supported the other. Last year, a new standard called V.90 was approved by the
International Telecommunications Union (http://www.itu.int). Most folks who
bought a 56-K modem prior to V.90 have the capability of upgrading to the new
standard by downloading new software from each vendor's Web site. See the
Official V.90 Web site (http://ww.v90.com), or check out 3Com's 56K Central page
(3Com bought out Rockwell-- http://www.3com/56k) or The Official 56K Modem Web
site (http://www.k56flex.com) for Lucent-based information. You should find
links to applicable V.90 software upgrades for your modem at one of these sites.
Another reason is that noisy or "dirty" phone lines
can really put a damper on your modem speed. If you regularly hear buzzing or
static when you're on the telephone, chances are you won't be able to achieve
optimum modem speed. Things like Caller ID, answering machines, and cordless
phones add even more line noise. You can try disconnecting these devices one by
one to see if the noise diminishes. Alas, this may not help at all if your line
noise is caused by nearby power lines, buildings or other environmental factors
... and/or if you're more than about 3-1/2 miles from the telephone company's
central office ... and/or there is more than one analog-to-digital conversion
point along the path to your Internet provider. You can always call the phone
company and whine, but that tends to be a waste of energy, since they're
basically obliged only to provide you with a dial tone. Bummer.
If you live in the U.S., you can try 3Com's LineTest to see if
your phone line has any hope of supporting anything approaching 56 K. Find the
instructions at http://www.3com.com/56k/need4_56k/linetest.html.
Meanwhile, the mainstream computer press regularly offers any
number of hardware and software tweaks to improve your modem speed. To wit:
* ZDNet's Help Channel
(http://www.zdnet.com/zdhelp/filters/hardware/peripherals/#0)
* CNet's "Internet Speed Tweaks"
(http://www.cnet.com/Contentt/Features/Howto/Netspeedlindex.html? st.c
n.Speedrc.r18.gp)
* PC World's "Unclog Your Net Access: Part One"
(http://www.pcworld.com/current_issue/article/0,1212,3943+1+0,00.html ) and
"Part Two"
(http://www.pcworld.com/heres_how/article/0,1400,7802,00.html)
Is Cable Modem Access for You?
Eventually, however, if you're a heavy home Internet user,
you're bound to start thinking about higher bandwidth alternatives, especially
if you've been spoiled by that fat-pipe connection at work. The good news is,
prices are dropping and geographic availability is climbing. The bad news is,
well, prices may not have dropped low enough where you live, if indeed you are
able to find a higher bandwidth provider at all.
For most home users, cable modem service will be the
lowest-cost, lowest-hassle solution. You may not be as fortunate as I am,
however. In. our area, we actually have a choice between two competing cable TV
providers--both of whom also offer cable modem service: Time-Warner's Roadrunner
(http://www.rr.com/rdrun) and GTE's WorldWind (http://www.gtecablemodem.com).
Before making a choice, I hopped over to DejaNews...er, Deja.com ("To
better reflect all the features that the site now offers, we've changed our name
to the simpler Deja.com ... Building on our traditional base of discussion
forums, we've added new features to extend and enhance the people-driven
elements of the site, and improved the navigation." Yada yada yada--
http://www.deja.com). At any rate, this is still where you go to search the
Usenet newsgroups. In this case, I was interested in comp.dcom.modems.cable,
where the technology and service providers are raked over the coals on a daily
basis.
Ultimately, since Time-Warner's been in the cable modem
business a lot longer around here, and since I was already a Time-Warner cable
TV subscriber, I opted for Roadrunner. Around here, it costs $39.95 a month if
you are also one of the company's cable TV customers. (The GTE service is
comparable.) I'm sure some of you are thinking, "Hoo boy! Forty bucks a
month for Internet access?" Consider, however, that the cable company is
now your ISP, so you can drop your current ISP (average cost: $19.95 per month).
You can also dispense with your second (and third, in our case) phone line. When
you have cable modem access, your computer is always "on the
Internet." The modem stays on all the time; you log in and out as you
please, or you can just leave your PC connected 24/7. Your phone line is always
free and clear (unless a teenager lives with you). So $39.95 all of a sudden
doesn't look so bad.
Standard installation charge is a one-time $99, but special
deals abound. I paid $45 (and a month later, saw an ad touting free
installation). My installation was a two-man job. A contract PC tech came to the
house to install and configure a network card and the Roadrunner software. While
he was still here, the cable guy showed up, bringing the modem. Essentially, his
job was to split the cable connection to my house into two parts--one for the TV
and one for the PC. He ran new cable, hooked up the modem, climbed a nearby
utility pole to tweak something, and then (wowie kazowie!) I was online! It
worked great right from the start. I've had it for a couple months now, and I
have yet to see any downtime.
How fast is it? See Figure 1 for a comparison.
Your mileage, of course, may vary. Some caveats:
* Your PC may not be able to keep up with the cable modem,
which sends data to your computer via an Ethernet card. Although the cable modem
may be receiving data at 10 Mbps (megabits per second) or higher, your PC can
only read data at the rate your network interface card can handle.
* The cable network may not always be as fast as the cable
modern. This is no different than with a regular dial-up Internet provider; the
Net is only as fast as the slowest server. Some cable providers cache, or store,
popular Web sites on their own servers for faster delivery to their subscribers.
* The more people tapping into your local cable network node,
the slower your service will be. This is just like the LAN at work, when some
yutz decides to e-mail a 10-MB PowerPoint presentation to a long list of
different people. Cable modem access is still going to be a whole lot faster
than standard dial-up, but if everyone in your neighborhood is a fellow
subscriber, and they all like to hop online at the same time ... well, that's
life.
* "Upstream" speed--from your PC to the cable
operator--is generally much slower than "downstream" speed, inasmuch
as cable networks were originally designed to transmit data one way only: to you
rather than from you. But virtually all home users are sucking megabits down
from the Net rather than pushing megabits the other way (and cable providers
will definitely yank your connection should you try and run a Web server off of
it). Also, larger companies with the bucks to upgrade their networks to fiber
optic, etc. are reducing the impact of this problem in today's competitive
environment.
Can you even get cable modem access where you live? On
Time-Warner's Roadrunner home page (http://www.rr.com/rdrun), you can type your
ZIP code in a little search form and find out if the service is offered in your
area. On the GTE WorldWind page (http://www.gtecablemodem.com), you can click on
an Availability link to see if your town is properly wired.
Keep in mind that this is an industry in constant flux;
ongoing mergers and acquisitions make it very difficult to keep up with who is
offering what where. Most larger cable providers offer Internet access, either
directly or through a partner: @Home Network (http://www.home.net), Cable Vision
(http://www.cablevision.com/cvhome/frame/finet.htm), ComCast
(http://www.comcastonline.com), Cox @Home (http://www. cox.com/CoxatHome),
MediaOne Express (http://www.mediaoneexpress.com), Rogers @Home
(http://rogers.home.com), TCI (http://www.tci.net).
Other Possibilities
Are there alternatives to cable modem service for the home
user? At one time, it was easy to say, "It depends on what your local
telephone company has to offer." But in some locales, competition is
creeping in at the local level, and there's no telling who might be offering
what in your neck of the woods. The two main high-speed Internet technologies of
interest to home users and small businesses are ADSL (Asymmetrical Digital
Subscriber Lines) and ISDN (Integrated Services Digital Network). ADSL works via
your existing phone line, using filters to split it into different channels.
ISDN requires separate, special lines. Since cable modem service is not
generally available to commercial entities, these may be the most reasonable
solutions for the small (non-home-based) business that needs higher bandwidth
but can't afford a T-1 connection, for example. Prices tend to be all over the
map--from competitive with cable modem service to exorbitant. I have no personal
experience with these services, but I do know o f a few good Net resources:
* Dan Kegel's ISDN Page
(http://alumni.caltech.edu/dank/isdn/index.html)
* ISDN InfoCentre (http://www.isdn.ocn.com)
* Dan Kegel's ADSL Page
(http://alumni.caltech.edu/dank/isdn/adsl.html)
* ASDL Forum's FAQ (http://www.adsl.com/faq.html)
Finally, for one woman's "truly bizarre experience with
Comcast@home," you must read "Get a Cable Modem ... Go to Jail"
(http://members.home.net/maycomp/cablemodem.htm).
It's still the Wild, Wild West out there...
Some Interesting Stuff
I've been spring cleaning here at the old PC--tossing out
stale URLs and adding new ones. Here are some intriguing sites that have crossed
my radar screen within the past couple of weeks:
* Daily Diffs (http://www.dailydiffs.com): "Daily Diffs
monitors changes on tens of thousands of pages, all hand-selected for quality
and usefulness. Every day, we publish brand new changes and history for over
4,000 dynamic pages." This service subdivides changes under some useful
subject headings, including computers and programming, environment, etc.
* Euroguide (http://www.euroguide.org): Kind of like an
EU-oriented Yahoo!, Euroguide will help you find your way through the maze of
European information on the Internet.
* Orientation (http://eeu.orientation.com): For Europe and
beyond, this site carries a collection of links to regional search engines and
directories for Asia, Africa, Central & Eastern Europe, Latin American &
the Caribbean, the Middle East, and Oceania.
* Fishsearch (http://fishsearch.com): Fishing is something
most people either like or hate. Even if you're not an enthusiast, you've
probably got friends, relatives, coworkers, or customers who are. Fishsearch
provides a searchable subject index about fishing--fishing tools, fishing trips,
taxidermy, etc.
* Library Juice (http://libr.org/Juice): "Library Juice
is a current awareness service for library and information science students,
librarians, and other interested people. It includes announcements, many web
resources, calls for papers, and news items. Much of the material has a
social-responsibilities or intellectual freedom focus."
