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LIFE IN THE SLOW LANE
Have you ignored the hyperternet access industry and bole of the broadband Instuck with your good old dial-up modem?

You’re not alone. According to an article published in the August 2001 issue of PC World, about 90 percent of Web surfers in the United States continue to connect to the Internet using dial-up modems.

Dial-up networking, as it’s called, admittedly has its pitfalls. Download speeds generally peak at about 45 kilobits per second, or kbps, while upload speeds average just 33 kbps. Broadband service can better these speeds by up to a factor of 10, although inconsistent connection speeds and service outages are not uncommon.

Logging onto your Internet service provider, or ISP, using dial-up networking also takes anywhere from 30 seconds to two minutes by the time your modem dials the ISP’s number, exchanges protocols and sends your user name and password for authentication. While this isn’t an inordinate amount of time, broadband users enjoy the luxury of an "always-on" connection, meaning they can jump onto the Internet instantly.

But there are some real advantages to sticking with dial-up Internet access.

First of all, it’s cheap and easy. Bare-bones Internet access via analog modem can be had for as little as $15 a month in most parts of the country, and some form of service is available anywhere there are telephone lines. Configuring the connection usually takes only 15 or 20 minutes and is well within the abilities of most users. Compare this with the somewhat limited geographical reach, multiple-visit setup procedure and $40- to $50-per-month price tag of most broadband services.

Security is another issue. As detailed in the January 2001 CyberNews column, the persistent nature of a broadband connection leaves your computer more vulnerable to intrusion by hackers, making fire wall software or hardware a must. Dial-up access largely eliminates this issue, since generally you go online, conduct your business and then go back offline. This makes it much more difficult for hackers to locate and explore your system.

Finally, a new modem standard, called V.92, is beginning to gain wider acceptance. V.92, which is the next generation of the V.90 standard used in most of the 56-kbps modems available today, promises several interesting improvements to dial-up Internet access. Chief among these are improved upload speeds of up to 48 kbps, the ability to take voice calls without losing an established data connection on the same line and a utility to cut log-in times by as much as one-half.

You might not want to jump on the V.92 bandwagon just yet, though. The upgrade will require purchasing a new, more expensive modem. More importantly, the standard is not yet supported by all ISPs. Internet service giants America Online, Earthlink and MSN are still evaluating V.92 and currently offer no support, according to PC World, but some smaller providers do.

Reported by Joe Hoyle, electronic media editor, "hoylej{at}ada.org".

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