Archive for the ‘DSL Speeds’ Category

Crime and Punishment With Internet Speed: Part 1

Friday, March 20th, 2009

The New York Times reported that police agencies are now using the same Web 2.0 tools as everyone else — sites like Facebook, YouTube, Twitter and MySpace.

Last month, police in Auburn, Maine, posted images from a surveillance video on Facebook. Facebook members soon provided tips, and suspects were arrested and charged with burglary and criminal mischief.

Now Web services are being developed specifically to allow public and private investigative agencies to share information, and these tools are increasingly popular within law enforcement.

One service, called CrimeDex, is billed by its creators as a “Facebook for law enforcement.” A former police officer started the service in 2002 after growing frustrated with the wasted time investigators spent trying to determine whether other agencies were chasing the same suspects. CrimeDex is used by more than 1,000 law enforcement agencies and private businesses like banks and retail chains. For a monthly fee, members can submit information, photographs and videos related to possible crimes and make comparisons with data from agencies that may be seeing similar patterns or suspects. “It’s the digital equivalent of the old-fashioned Western sheriffs nailing a wanted poster to a tree,” the site’s developer said.

Another Law Enforcement 2.0 service, CrimeReports.com, is intended to increase the transparency of law enforcement agencies and strengthen their interaction with the public. They allow police agencies around the country to record instances of crime on a single nationwide map powered by Google. Citizens can visit the site too, and see a map of crimes in their neighborhood, peer across city lines to see crimes elsewhere, and sign up to receive regular e-mail alerts of all recorded criminal activity in their area. CrimeReports plans to add a neighborhood watch feature, so citizens can form groups on the service and send alerts and tips to participating police agencies.

And nationwide broadband would increase the speed of justice! But as we’ll find out in Part 2, sharing information with real-time internet speed can cause problems too.

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DSL Connection Speed

Thursday, March 19th, 2009

With DSL, or Digital Subscriber Line, online activities are simply a few keystrokes away. DSL is getting increasing popular because it has a unique set of advantages over conventional internet connections such as cable internet and dial-up. Firstly, its lower latency makes it ideal for online gaming. Secondly, DSL makes common online activities such as banking, shopping and downloading video faster than cable internet. Most importantly, DSL eliminates the need of an additional phone, thus, saving time and money.

Since DSL facilitates internet surfing and phone calls simultaneously, it is important that you check your DSL speed, because a dip in the data transfer rate will equate to a sluggish internet connection and poor call quality. Basically, the two factors which will determine your DSL speed are the download rate and the upload rate, both of which are measured in bits per second.

In essence, a bit is the smallest piece of data that a computer can store. On the other hand, a byte is equal to 8 bits. In addition, a single character takes roughly 1 byte to get stored in a computer. Hence, if the data rate is 10 byte/sec, it means 10 characters are being transferred each second. On the other hand, a kilobyte is equal to 1024 bytes, and it is generally used to measure the amount of storage. One kilobit is equal to 1000 bytes, and kilobits (Kbps) are used to measure data transfer.

In a standard DSL connection, you should expect a DSL speed ranging from 144Kbps to 1500Kbps. When you take a DSL connection, your ISP will definitely provide you a data transfer rate that is specific to your plan. However, to be on the safe side, you should run a DSL connection speed test to find out the exact speed of your DSL connection.

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Internet Speed Envy, Globally

Friday, March 13th, 2009

A recent article from The New York Times tech blog compared high-speed Internet use around the world to see if it’s true that many other countries get faster, cheaper and more widely available broadband service than the U.S..

They found that in Japan, broadband service of 150 megabits per second (Mbps) costs $60 a month. The fastest service available now in the United States is 50 Mbps at a price of $90 to $150 a month. So they get three times the speed at about a third of the price.

In London, $9 a month buys 8 Mbps service. In New York, broadband starts at $20 per month, for 1 Mbps. That’s quite a difference.

But if you take into consideration that Japan, Korea and Sweden have made significant investment in their fiber optic networks, the United States may not be too far behind. Japan’s average speed is about 16.7 Mbps. Sweden was 8.8 Mbps. And Korea averaged 7.2 Mbps.

In countries that haven’t made the investment in infrastructure we see average download speeds ranging from 3.2 Mbps in Italy to 6.4 Mbps in Germany, according to a study by the Saïd Business School at Oxford. The United States has an average download speed of 5.2 Mbps.

But Internet speeds in the United States are getting faster. Verizon’s fiber optic service, FiOS, offers 50 Mbps service with the capacity to offer much faster speeds. AT&T is building up their U-Verse service, offering data speeds of up to 25 Mbps with Internet video as well. Cable systems are starting to deploy the next generation of Internet technology called Docsis 3.0, offering speeds of 50 Mbps (compared to a maximum of about 16 Mbps available with today’s cable systems) and eventually much more.

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What exactly is FiOS?

Friday, February 27th, 2009

FiOS is a combination of the words “Fiber”, “Optic” and “Service.” It is a service that offers Internet, telephone, and TV, in a variety of combinations, and it’s only being offered in some areas of the United States by the telecom company Verizon.

Verizon is the first major U.S. carrier to offer ‘fiber to the home/premises’, or FTTP, and so far seems to be the only one offering it.  Other service providers limit the use of fiber optics, so the majority of distance is covered by a copper or coaxial cable.

FiOS has to be installed by extending their fiber optic network to your house.  This is why it’s not available in all areas.  And though it promises speeds far and above the existing providers, it seems that the speeds are highly variable depending on the area, and are affected by the location, cost, and the offerings of the competing broadband providers. Offered speeds in various areas have been changed with little notice—which is why it’s a good idea to regularly measure your internet connection speed. 

They offer a variety of packages so you can choose to pay for only what you really need. The lowest bandwidth tier was 5 Megabit per second for downloads and 2 Mbit/s for uploads, but now its 10 Mbit/s and 2 Mbit/s in most areas, which is considerably faster than Verizon’s fastest DSL plans.

Most customers can double or triple their download speed for a small additional fee. Their highest service, when it’s available in the area, offers nearly commercial bandwidth, including substantial upload speed, in some territories reaching 30/15 or 50/20 Mbit/s download and upload.

If FiOS is available in your area, be sure to keep track of your internet connection speed regularly. Pay attention to the ease and time involved in the download of videos, music and any large files. Then when you check the prices, you’ll know if it’s worth it to switch to FiOS.

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Internet Speed - DSL versus Cable

Wednesday, February 25th, 2009

DSL stands for Digital Subscriber Line, and it comes through the phone line. Therefore you are connected through your personal line all the way to the source where the line originates.  As a result the DSL Bandwidth speed is stable.

Internet Cable is fed to the system by nodes, which are sort of halfway points between you and the source.  The Internet Service Provider (ISP) provides a bandwidth to an area that includes many customers, and they share the bandwidth. As a result, during peak usage the speed can be significantly degraded.

Which is better and/or faster is hotly debated, and ultimately it depends on what is available in your area. While DSL offers users a choice of speeds ranging from 144 Kbps to 1.5Mbps, cable modem download speeds are typically up to 2 times faster than that, BUT because cable technology is based on shared bandwidth, the speed fluctuates.

In more rural areas with fewer subscribers, you’re bound to have faster download speeds  than a subscriber in a metropolitan center.

On the upload stream, however, cable and DSL are closely matched for speed. Both DSL and cable Internet speeds are largely dependent upon the service provider and either the distance away from the switching station you are or how many subscribers are in your immediate area.

If you’re thinking of switching from one to the other, testing your current connection’s internet speed over a period of time can help you decide, especially if you can compare them to others in your area.  If you haven’t decided which service is best for you, ask your neighbors which service they use, what speeds they are getting, and if they’re having any problems. Then break down the speed versus the cost, and decide which works best for you.

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