ALL THE INTERNET DATA YOU CAN DRINK; BROADBAND PROMISES TO UP ONLINE STAKES.

Byline: David Bloom Staff Writer

Think of computer data - text, music, voices, still pictures, moving pictures, anything you can view or listen to, get, store or send - as water, a sloshing ocean of bits of information washing around the Internet.

Now, think of that water flowing through pipes, wires actually, into your computer.

At home, that flow of water/data is probably pretty slow, dribbling in actually. Most home PCs sold these days come with a modem, which serves as the spigot on that water flow, encoding and decoding a computer's information so it can be sent reliably across the information ocean to its destination.

Odds are, your computer has a modem that lets data flow at either 28,800 bits per second, or the increasingly widely used 56,600 bits per second.

The slow drip, drip, drip of Web pages loading through a 56Kbps or 28.8Kbps modem onto your home computer can become a kind of Chinese data torture test that will drive an impatient Internet user mad.

The torture may finally end. The big pipe known as broadband is coming, and it will let the bits flow as much as 350 times faster than a 28.8Kbps modem. And at reasonable prices, too.

But what is broadband exactly?

Generally, it's a high-speed Internet connection provided through one of a group of competing technologies offered by phone companies, satellite providers and cable-TV firms.

The speed of these connections, and the fact that they are ``always on,'' mean they're likely to change how we use our computers, the Internet and entertainment in the relatively near future, experts say.

Less than 2 million Americans have some kind of broadband connection in their home (perhaps 14 million more have a fast connection at work or school), but that's expected to change radically in the next 18 months.

Both phone and cable companies have finished hammering out technical questions and are trying to upgrade their wires to compete for what is expected to be a large market: speeding interactive information and entertainment of all kinds to the home over the Internet.

Despite the crescendo of hype about broadband, you may still have a hard time getting it in many parts of the country.

Phone-based digital subscriber lines, or DSL, only work if your home is within 3.5 miles of the ``central office,'' where the high-speed switches are located. Cable TV modems require the cable company to wire a neighborhood, a multibillion-dollar outlay that means some areas won't get wired for months or years to come. And satellite systems can be expensive to install for something that isn't nearly as fast as the competition.

``I'm the classic example: I live in a new development, where there's $500,000 and up houses and most people work in high tech, but we can't get DSL no matter what we pay, because we're more than 3.5 miles from a central office,'' said Clay Ryder, chief analyst and vice president of Zone Research Inc. in Redwood City.``I'm living in the prototypical neighborhood that would want this service. And yet, I'm unattainable.''

But sooner than you think, this will change, and it'll change the way you live.

``Different kinds of Web sites will emerge, with all kinds of content that you just can't use with a (slower connection),'' said Bruce Kasrel, a senior analyst at Forrester Research in Cambridge, Mass. ``It's richer, more entertainment oriented, assuming the person is more at home. It's a fuller experience of the content.''

It's not just the speed, either, that will change things.

Unlike current connections, where you have to dial up a service provider and wait for a connection, broadband systems let you swim all the time in the Internet's ocean of data.

``Consumers will have this `always on' connection, a big difference from the dial-up world,'' Kasrel said.

That means people use the Net differently, to check phone numbers, get map directions, buy theater tickets, get reservations and do a thousand brief chores.

``In that minute of time that used to be spent dialing up the Internet, they're already done,'' Kasrel said. ``There's a lot of potential quick hits of information that can be done.''

Cable giant MediaOne sponsored an anthropological study of how people use broadband services and found that its ``always on'' nature meant it was used far more heavily - and by everyone in the family, said the company's Kelly Ruebel, a vice president for marketing and sales.

``They use it everywhere - in the kitchen, in the bedroom, in the family room,'' Ruebel said. ``It's becoming more of an appliance. It changes the way you use media, because it's faster and it's packaged for you.''

Some of the differences were obvious at a recent conference for broadband content developers at Sony Pictures Entertainment's Culver City studios.

``We're trying to create a brand-new medium for people,'' said Michael Sepso of Gotham Interactive, a broadband developer. ``It's not just a fast Internet. You can make video interactive and maybe tie it into things we're already used to, like e-commerce.''

Hawaii-based Pixelworld is putting together tourism-oriented sites connected to specific geographic locales and viewable only on a high-speed connection.

``We're only interested in broadband, that's it,'' said Stephen Szabo, Pixelworld's production director. ``It gives people a more compelling experience.''

Pixelworld's Hawaii site, which should launch within a couple of weeks, will automatically check a visitor's connection speed. If it's not at least 100 kilobits per second, the site shunts the visitor to a message that tells where to get a faster connection, Szabo said.

The site showed excellent-quality live video (about three-fourths of the normal TV speed of 30 frames per second) shot from a Hawaii beach as the sun rose. And that was with a temporary connection cobbled together for the conference.

But a lot of what will come isn't yet clear, because developers have only just started playing with the medium.

``In 1994, we bet heavily on broadband: The more you give them, the more they consume,'' said Carl Rogers of cable giant MediaOne. ``But five years ago, nary a word was said about the Internet. Everyone was enamored with interactive TV. Will we be able to predict with precision where it will be in the future? I can't.''

Online gaming should blossom, for one, Rogers and others said.

Thriving subcultures already exist for the online components of many computer games; all three next-generation gaming consoles will have a modem and Internet gaming abilities; and online-only games such as Ultima Online and Everquest draw thousands of players back for month after month of play.

With higher-speed connections, all those gaming experiences should be even more involving, with richer graphics, more compelling worlds and room for even more competitors to duke it out in the same world.

What probably won't happen is access to an endless shelf of old TV episodes, said Rob Tercek, Columbia TriStar's vice president of online services and an adjunct professor at USC's film school.

``Non-interactive content sucks on the Net,'' Tercek said. ``We're trying to incorporate Web features such as feedback and customization for this medium. The idea that you can talk back to your TV is very compelling.''

That means more gaming, more auctions, more chatting and more ``metacontent'' - data about data, so you can find your way to the good stuff, Tercek said.

It also means personal TV stations, where some 14-year-old with a digital video camera is creating his own shows and ``broadcasting'' them. And more reality: weather and traffic. And lots of selling, with episodic stories worked into commercials and catalogs, to draw in customers.

MediaOne's Rogers predicted broadband will really blossom between 2000 to 2002, when enough homes are connected to create the mass markets that make a new medium possible.

``We're not going to boil the ocean tomorrow,'' Rogers said. ``This thing is going to take a couple of years.''

Broadband choices

Telephone

What technology: Various flavors of what's generically known as Digital Subscriber Lines, or DSL. The most common DSL technology for home use is called asymmetric, or ADSL, because the speed of your downloads is much faster than speed sending information out.

Strengths: Uses regular phone line. Always on, for easy access. Also, you can ``split'' your line, getting a phone call while surfing the Net and sending a fax.

Weaknesses: Only available within 3.5 miles of the phone company's ``central office,'' where the DSL switches are housed. More and more central offices are getting hooked up, including many in the Valley and surrounding areas, but you could still be too far away. DSL has lower top speeds than cable modems, and costs more. You still have to get an Internet service provider for an extra $20 a month.

Speed vs. price: Up to 6 megabits per second, though typical guaranteed service level priced for home use is more like 384 kilobits (384,000 bits) per second, for a price of around $40 to $60 a month.

What to look for: Shop around. You have a variety of choices besides your local Baby Bell for DSL service, and what they charge for equipment, establishing service and monthly charges can vary quite a bit. Lots of smaller companies looking to build a business are offering good deals and specialized expertise. Not every Internet service provider has a deal with every DSL provider, so you may have to move e-mail addresses to get faster speeds.

Where to look: The number of companies offering DSL is expanding rapidly, but start with places such as Pacific Bell (www.pacbell.com/products/fastrak/dsl), GTE (www.gte.com), Sprint (www.sprint.com and has a partnership with Pasadena ISP Earthlink) and Covad (www.covad.com ).

Cable television

What technology: Cable TV modems

Strengths: Superfast, when no one else is on your local loop. Always on. Cheaper for the speed.

Weaknesses: It's a shared network, so when everyone in the neighborhood gets on at once, your access speed plummets. And shared network means potential security vulnerabilities. Not available until cable company wires your neighborhood. And no choice of provider (now, at least, in most of the country); it's whatever broadband provider your cable company has designated and only that one.

Speed vs. price: Up to 10 megabits (10 million) per second, for $30 to $40 a month. Real speed depends on who else is using your connection at the same time. Hope for a bunch of clueless neighbors.

What to look for: Ask about their security measures to prevent easy snooping by others in your computer. Because you're on a shared network that's always on and very fast, your computer can be a terrific place for a cracker to poke through.

Where to look: Home (www.home.com or Roadrunner (www.MediaOneRR.com), the two main broadband providers in the cable world.

Satellite services

What technology: Satellite service.

Strengths: Available just about anywhere, as long as you have a clear spot to erect a satellite dish. Only one satellite company providing the big pipe, but you can pick whomever you want to provide Internet services on that pipe.

Weaknesses: Good speed, but top end is far below competitors, and that speed is available only one way, for downloading. Sending stuff back up to the Net still requires a pokey old telephone line. You still have to dial in each time you want to get online, too.

Speed vs. price: 400 kilobits per second top speed; as little as $19.99 a month for 25 hours of use.

What to look for: Current price structures are cheap on the front end but come with a lot of fine print, such as an hourly charge after as little as 25 hours of use a month. They bill a minimum five minutes for every connect, too. That can add up fast if you're a serious Web head.

Where to look: Only one place, DirecPC (www.direcpc.com)

- Compiled by David Bloom

Online world at war

Forget Department of Justice vs. Microsoft.

One of the most interesting legal battles being fought in the technology world is pitting phone companies and Internet service providers such as America Online against cable companies.

Major Internet companies such as AOL have been lobbying hard, at every governmental level from the Federal Communications Commission to the Los Angeles City Council, to force cable companies to act more like phone companies and face competition.

If you want to hook your PC to cable right now, you'll only have one choice in your Internet service provider, probably either Roadrunner or ExciteHome.

AOL and its allies won a potentially pivotal Oregon court decision requiring open access there this spring. Just this week, their side won a similar battle in the Florida county where Fort Lauderdale is located.

Two bills to force open competition nationally are currently floating in the U.S. House of Representatives. State Sen. Richard Alarcon, D-Van Nuys, has also introduced a bill in the California Legislature to do the same thing.

Cable companies and AT&T, which recently spent $114 billion to buy two of the nation's largest cable companies (which in turn own large portions of Roadrunner and ExciteHome), have fought that effort strenuously, with support from the FCC's chairman, Los Angeles Mayor Richard Riordan and others.

They argue that if they have to open their cable modem systems to competitors, it will slow their construction process by years.

- David Bloom

CAPTION(S):

2 Boxes

Box: (1) Broadband choices (See text)

(2) Online world at war (See text)