The Net at Full Speed: Faster (and Fatter) Than Ever!

by Joe McCleskey
Winter 1999/Spring 2000

Is that the World Wide Web you're surfing, or the World Wide Wait? Do you frequently find yourself pursuing other activities (like washing the car or vacuuming the living room) while waiting for a Web site to show up in your browser window? Do you roll your eyes back in your head in frustration every time it takes an hour or more to download a software demo?

Well, what if I told you that for just a little bit more than the price of cable television service, you could have that same hour-long download reduced to five minutes or less? How about Web pages that pop into your browser, images and all, in just a second or two?

As this article and accompanying buyer's guide will show, there are currently a growing number of inexpensive ways for people to bring high-speed Internet access into their homes and offices. Cable modems, xDSL modems and direct broadcast satellite (DBS) dishes are currently the three most common methods to do this, so let's look at each of these technologies in a little more detail.

Cable Modems
Though cable modems have been providing high-speed Internet downloads for a couple of years now, they've been hampered by the inability to provide data movement in the upstream direction and by the fact that each cable service provider uses a different proprietary standard.

Now, the cable industry has agreed upon a set of standards called MCNS DOCSIS (multimedia cable network system, data over cable service interface specification). The MCNS DOCSIS standards allow two-way high-speed cable modem access into the home. What's more, any cable modem that complies with the MCNS DOCSIS specification will work on any cable network that's also DOCSIS compliant. Typical speeds achievable by DOCSIS modems range up to 40Mbps (megabits per second) or more, but actual speeds achievable in the home usually top out at around 750Kbps (kilobits per second).

There are currently two drawbacks with MCNS DOCSIS service: its limited deployment and its tendency to slow down dramatically during peak hours, due to the way nodes on cable networks divide its capacity between them. Before you get too excited about MCNS DOCSIS service, however, check to see whether your cable provider offers it or plans to offer it in the near future.

xDSL Modems
DSL (digital subscriber line) service makes use of another analog data connection to the home: the pair of copper wires that connects to your telephone. DSL service comes in many flavors, including ADSL, HDSL and MSDSL; the generic term xDSL refers to all forms of the technology as a group. The most common form of DSL service in the United States is ADSL (Asymmetric Digital Subscriber Line), so that's where we will focus our discussion.

ADSL service is usually not quite as fast as cable modem service, with typical speeds reaching 300-400 Kbps. Theoretical speeds of 1.5Mbps or more are possible, but not achievable in most scenarios.

Like DOCSIS cable service, ADSL has only limited deployment at present and even when and where it's available, ADSL service stretches only about three miles from the telephone company's central office in any given location. This means that if you live out in the boondocks, you might have to stick with your plain-old-telephone-service modem--or consider a satellite-based Internet connection.

Satellite Connections
Currently, the only widely available satellite-based Internet service is Hughes Network Systems' DirecPC. For $899, you can purchase the DirecPC Personal Edition, which includes a 21-inch dish, 100-feet of cable, a DirecPC card which installs in your computer and software to run the system. On top of that, there is a one-time activation fee of $50 and additional per-month charges of $25 to $130, depending on the plan for which you sign up. There's also an additional charge of between $0.60 and $0.80 per megabyte downloaded, depending on the plan chosen. The speed of DirecPC service is a fairly consistent 400Kbps.

Obviously, the biggest disadvantage of the satellite-based service provider is cost; those per-megabyte download charges can start to add up really fast. Also, like one-way cable modem service, it's necessary to use an ordinary phone modem to send any upstream data, like mouse clicks and e-mails. On the plus side, it's the only high-speed Internet access available in many parts of the country.

The Bottom Line
Probably the most important question for potential users of high-speed Internet access (besides the question of availability) is this: how badly do you need the speed? If you plan to watch a lot of streaming video, play tons of MP3s and download software demos, then a high-speed connection is probably worth the price of admission. It's also a good idea to note that while your Internet connection may be fast, the connection speed of the Web sites you visit may not be quite so zippy, and changes in speed due to heavy traffic at Internet bottlenecks are still a very real possibility.

Of course, high-speed Internet access will get only cheaper and more available as time goes by. But it's good to know that lightning-fast Internet speeds are no longer a pie-in-the-sky dream.