Are you planning to get a new internet connection? It is important for you to know these things. Which type of connection would be suited for you, what connection speed will be required, how to identify the best provider etc..
What is the internet?
The internet, often wrongly called as the web or the world wide web, is a system of computer networks that extend all over the world. These systems, if they have the requisite permissions, can exchange data with each other and so a computer network in India can communicate with another in as far of places as the USA. These networks use the Internet protocol suite (TCP/IP) to communicate between networks and devices. The web can be considered as a software running on the internet. It doesn’t have any physical existence of its own. However, it provides access to all the websites and services with the help of various protocols.
How to select the best Internet for you?
For most homes and businesses, internet access is as important as the other utilities. In some businesses, the internet is the most important. Here we try to discuss what are some of the important factors to consider when looking for an internet service provider (ISP) for your needs.
Availability
This factor is very important when considering the outskirts of towns and rural areas. No matter what, unless a provider can provide you with continuous high speed internet at your location, there is no use having that provider. You will have to do your research and check with all the ISPs in your area to know who delivers the best internet in your location.
Speed
Speed is of major importance for everyone. Based on the usage, a homeowner would not have the same requirement as a business owner. Ideally, one should go for the best speed you can get in your budget. The catchword here is “Bandwidth”. Bandwidth is the volume of information transfer that the ISP can sustain.
Cost
The ideal ISP for you should properly balance speed and price. If you are working from home or have a small business from out of your home, having a dedicated fibre connection would not make much sense for you. It would just be an unnecessary expense. On the other hand, for an IT company with around 25 employees logging on to the net daily, a dedicated connection would be a basic necessity. A proper weightage of the pros and cons need to be done before deciding the provider and the data plan.
Types of Internet Connection
Wired Internet
DSL: Digital Subscriber Line uses telephone lines to transfer digital data. This is the most common technology used today. There is a limit to the speeds available and this is usually deployed to homes.
Dial-Up: Dial-up internet access uses the public switched telephone network (PSTN) to establish a connection to an ISP by dialling a telephone number on a conventional telephone line. This provides for a slower internet connection.
Ethernet/LAN: Ethernet is a group of computer networking technologies commonly used in local area networks (LAN). The ethernet is widely used today and improvements in technology have increased the speed of the internet many-fold.
Cable Modem: Cable modems are primarily used to deliver broadband internet access in the form of cable internet.
Fibre: Here fast-fibre optic cables are provided to homes and offices, enabling a more stable, efficient and reliable connection than the hybrid copper and fibre systems currently being used.
Leased Line: Dedicated Internet Access means that the specified amount of bandwidth sold has been dedicated for your use. Leased lines are usually provided to a company for its sole use.
Wireless Internet
Wireless broadband connects a home or business to the Internet using a radio link between a small receiver on your home or business. They do not need wires to provide the internet.
Satellite: Just as satellites orbiting the earth provide necessary links for telephone and television service, they can also provide links for broadband.
Mobile internet: Mobile technology provides wireless Internet access through mobile phones. The speeds vary depending on the provider, but the most common are 4G and now 5G. 3G is becoming increasingly obsolete. A 3G is a term that describes a 3rd generation mobile network obtaining mobile speeds of around 2.0 Mbps.
Reliability
For a business, internet reliability is the most important factor. Having an unreliable internet can affect a business negatively. You have to make sure that you plan for every contingency. Regardless of how good the connection is, something will one day go wrong. Whether it’s dying hardware or a physically damaged line, there will likely be issues one day. You should plan and have backups and contingency plans in place against this.
Why is fibre optic internet the best
What is fibre optic internet?
Fiber-Optic internet has taken over the telecommunications industry by storm. The fibre-optic network has come forth as the fastest way to transfer and retrieve data. It is faster, more stable and less liable to get damaged than regular wired internet.
Fibre optic internet is the future of broadband. It has the fastest speeds available for the internet today. This is made possible by the fibre optic technology that is used. compared to the copper wires used in regular broadband this technology enables broadband speeds up to mind boggling levels. We all know that high-speed broadband is essential for the world as we know it today. Fibre internet is proving to be the fastest and the best internet available today.
How does fibre optic technology work?
Fibre optics work by transferring information via a beam of light being passed through fibre optic glass cables. These cables are made up of many smaller optic fibres. These fibres are made up of two components. The innermost part of the fibre is the core which is of glass and this is where the light passes through. Around this core is the cladding which is usually plastic/glass and wraps around the core. These two parts combine to create a phenomenon called total internal reflection. Total internal reflection is how light can move down the fibres without escaping. The light then travels down the fibres as ‘LED’ pulses. The LED pulse travels at an extremely fast rate and carries binary data that eventually leads to the display of information that we see on the internet.
Fibre-Optic cables provide unprecedented data transmittance. Unlike a typical electrical internet cable that can get damaged with time due to oxidation, fiber cables only get damaged due to mishandling. Fibre-Optic cables provide a constant and easily boostable signal irrespective of the distances.
