With the increase in Podcasting, music downloads and picture sharing; it seems more people are looking for high speed or broadband internet access. Fortunately, the costs have dropped and more options are available. But are all these services the same?

The biggest gotcha with these services is what they display as their speed which is usually the main selling point. The ads are filled with terms such as "blazing" or "lightening" About the only phrase I didn't see was "blinding speed", but it was probably pulled by the legal department. In looking at advertisements, you need to be aware that what you're seeing is a best or theoretical bandwidth or capacity which is usually preceded by the ubiquitous phrase "up to". Some people like to think of this as the size of the pipe.

The other term that is usually missing from the vendor sites is latency. It's the combination of bandwidth and latency which defines the user's overall experience.

DSL (digital subscriber line) this perhaps the most common high speed internet access option as it's usually provided by your local phone company and uses your copper phone lines. The biggest catch with DSL is your throughput is dependent on how close you are to your phone company's central office. This is referred to as the "CO". Technically, you should be within 18000 feet. As you move further away from the CO, your throughput drops.

Some vendors provide a lookup on their site to find out if you qualify, but we also use a CO lookup tool by ESRI. This service proved more accurate in showing us our closest CO and provided a map.

In recent years, the DSL product offerings have expanded. Some phone companies offer different classes of service with different speeds. For example, you might be able to purchase an economy package for 768k or one for 1.5 mbps. Again, the actual throughput will differ based on your proximity to the CO and your house wiring.

Although the phone companies are the main suppliers of DSL services, there may be other options in your area. In major cities, it's common to find multiple providers who have their equipment residing in the same central office (CO) of your phone company. This means you can have your voice service with your phone company and your DSL internet access through another. Some companies such as SpeakEasy have a plan for people whose only phone line is a cell phone.

Cable - although not as common as DSL, cable has a lot to offer for the price difference. Usually, you can get a faster download times from cable than DSL. In some areas where the cable companies have upgraded their systems, cable can be considerably faster on downloads.

Cable still tends to lag behind DSL though when it comes to uploading information. While cable doesn't suffer from the distance issue, it can be impacted by how many other subscribers are online and their activity.

You have fewer vendors with internet cable. But, you don't necessarily have to have a cable subscription. Some companies such as EarthLink have arrangements with various cable companies. They offer a cable plan that only requires that your home be serviceable by cable. This area may open up based on pending court cases and legislation.

Another issue about cable is connectivity during outages and traveling. If your system has an outage, you may need a dial backup option. This dial up will be painfully slow in comparison to cable, but you can at least pick up your email. The same is true if you frequently travel and can't find wireless access.

Broadband over Fiber this is the new kid on the block that uses fiber optics. As example, Verizon's Fios service boasts download speeds up to 30 mbps and uploads speeds of 5mbps.The problem is that the service isn't offered on too many blocks. The good news is the 15 mbps service is competitively priced.

Questions to Consider

For many people the decision of which service to use comes down to speed and money. As simple as that may sound, there are other items you should think about:

1. Are you planning on doing home networking? Some companies are open to this idea and will offer equipment. Others will want to charge you a fee for each connecting machine.

2. Does the company allow you to use your own equipment? Except for the new fiber networks, the equipment you need is common. You can pick up the needed cable or DSL modems at retails stores or eBay. In rare cases, such as full rate ADSL, you will need a splitter, which the phone company installs.

3. Is there an installation or setup fee?

4. Does the provider offer any type of speed guarantee?

5. Is a contract involved and what's the penalty if you terminate? Also ask what happens if you move?

6. Do you need a static IP address? Some applications and services require a static IP address. Most companies do not provide this feature in their basic package or at all.

7. Find out about all your monthly fees. Depending on how the services are bundled, you may still have other fees.

8. Do your research on the vendor. Since speed varies considerably based on location and vendor, it helps to talk to people using the same service in your neighborhood. You might also want to check some of the customer reviews on Broadband Reports. And don't forget to talk to people who are online gaming fans as they often provide useful commentary. Both these resources are good in finding out thin

9. Check the bundle and promo details. In looking through advertisements, we saw offers that had special prices for a period and then the prices would increase. Other promos have some restrictions in opting out of marketing information. Some of these requirements were covered in the Terms of Service (TOS)

Personally, I'm hooked on broadband. I'm not wasting time transferring files and I no longer need a dedicated phone line. But, I still have to remind myself there are plenty of bottlenecks exists. Just because I have a fatter pipe, doesn't mean all the sites I visit load in the same fast fashion.

Additional Resources

• Central Office Locator Tool
• www.dslreports.com
• FCC Brochure on High Speed Internet