Super Highway.

Higher-speed Internet access 

With the Internet taking a larger role in everyday work and life, it's no big surprise that highly graphic and complex Web pages are coming right smack up against slow Internet access.

For some Internet users, slow dialup telephone connections are not a problem. After all, if you spend only a few minutes at a time on the 'Net, your connect or data transfer speed doesn't really matter all that much.

For many users, however, accessing the Internet through a standard 56K modem over the dial-up telephone lines is akin to watching grass grow. The reason for this is something called bandwidth. The POTS, or plain old telephone system, doesn't have much, and is considered a narrow bandwidth access method.

Simply defined, bandwidth is how much data can be transferred during a set period of time over a particular access method. That starts to sound complex when described in terms of bits, bytes and bonded channels.

If you think about a connection to the Internet as a highway, however, and the cars that travel this highway as pieces of information, the process is a lot easier to visualize. Simply put, and assuming that there are no traffic jams or accidents, a four-lane thruway can accommodate a much higher volume of cars per hour than can a twisty and narrow country road. In this analogy, the thruway or superhighway could be considered to have a higher bandwidth.

Coming and going

Figuring out connection speeds, whether through a standard dial-up modem connection or a high-bandwidth access method, is further complicated by the fact that many of these methods are asymmetric -- access takes place at different speeds in different directions.

Part of the reason for this is that there is often a total bandwidth available with a specific access method, which needs to be allocated between the upload or upstream direction (from your computer to the Internet) and the download and downstream direction (from the Internet to your computer). When this is the case, generally you will want the connection to work faster in the downstream direction, as the data you send is usually a much smaller amount than the graphic-intensive Web pages downloaded to your computer.

Depending upon the particular access method, there may or may not be specific standards that define the expected data transfer rates. For example, when you access the Internet using a modem and a POTS dial-up line, the maximum speeds upstream and downstream are determined by the V.90 standard, which defines a maximum upstream speed of 33Kbps (kilobits per second) and a downstream speed of 56Kbps.

These speeds are further constrained by a ruling by the Federal Communications Commission that limits the voltage of signal applied to the telephone line, which slows down the "56K" modem to a maximum of 53Kbps.

Bits, bytes, and other funny words

That speed sounds fast, and it is, compared to the 300bps modems of yesteryear. However, when you start converting "bits," which are either one digital zero or one, into bytes (which corresponds to a specific letter or character) and files, you find out that there are a lot of bits that have to be transmitted to impart even a little information.

To give you some idea of what is involved, one byte of data generally requires between eight and 12 bits, depending on the format used. Strictly speaking a byte is eight bits of data, but when you transmit data, extra bits are added for error-checking and to indicate the start and end of data.

When stories and columns are transmitted by writers to the NPT, the file, in Microsoft Word format, is about 28KB (kilobytes) long. That's roughly 300Kb (kilobits) of data. At 24Kbps, the average connect speed achieved in the dial-up modem connection, it takes less than 15 seconds to transmit a column using email.

That's not too bad. However, things change dramatically when a graphic file needs to be sent. In Photoshop format, some of these files are 10MB (megabytes) long. Multiply that by 10 bits per byte, and you can see why transmitting those files takes hours of connect time.

What's fast enough?

When it comes to data transmission, speed is tied closely to expense. One unsuccessful attempt to provide faster download speed involved using two analog modems, tied together. Without extensive support from Internet Service Providers (ISPs), such as AOL, EarthLink, and MSN, this approach did not sweep the market.

This approach is much more successful in the world of digital data communications. A standard modem is an analog device. It converts the ones and zeros that make up computer data into tones that are put onto a standard dial-up voice line. On the other side of the connection, another modem converts these tones back to computer data.

To directly transmit and receive data, without this time-consuming process that slows things down, a special line that can directly handle digital data is needed. These are called Digital Subscriber Lines (DSL), and come in different forms. All DSLs, however, provide a number of "channels," each of which can handle up to 64Kbps of traffic.

The first of these, originally called ISDN (Individual Subscriber Digital Network), and now called IDSL, provides two 64K data channels, a 16K signaling channel, and a maximum data transmission speed of 144Kbps. These lines were hard to configure, and very expensive, so ISDN was not as popular as it might have been. Still, many companies spent the money for ISDN lines.

The hot broadband offering at the moment is aDSL, or asymmetric digital subscriber line. Depending upon which service you order, downstream/download speed ranges between about 400Kbps to almost 7.5Mbps.

DSL service is really easy to get installed, because it uses the telephone lines you already have, and just overlays the data on top of voice use of the line. There are a number of flies in the ointment, however. The first is that your central telephone switching office must have special equipment to be able to accommodate DSL service, and many central offices (COs) do not yet have this capability.

Even if your CO is wired for DSL service, you may not be able to get it. To receive DSL, your office must be within a specific distance of the CO. This absolute distance varies by the supplier, but Verizon's DSL service is not available beyond 15,000. feet of the CO.

That distance from the CO also determines the maximum speed or bandwidth you will receive. The closer to the CO, the faster speed you can order. As the distance increases, the speed falls off. At the limit of DSL service, most telephone companies will only offer their slowest service, between 384Kbps and 640Kbps in the downstream directions, and even slower in the upstream direction.

Where you can get it, DSL service provides one of the best ways to gain broadband access. Prices vary from about $30 a month for personal or home service at the slowest speed to as much as several hundred dollars per month for highest speed business service. That's not a lot considering how much time you can save with a broadband connection. A good source for both information on DSL, and finding out what, if any service might be offered in your area, is available at www.dslreports.com.

T1 and counting

Even if you can't get DSL service, you might be able to get high-speed broadband. More expensive T1 and T3 lines aren't subject to many of the constraints, including distance, that affect DSL.

A T1 is also a digital line, and may be a standard copper line or a fiber-optic line pulled by the telephone company from an ISP's telephone switch to your office. This line is "conditioned," that is, specifically configured so that it can carry the amount of data required. If there is excessive distance, the provider adds amplifiers to boost and clean up the signal, so a T1 line can be run substantially further from a CO or ISP telephone switch than a DSL line.

This also translates into substantially greater costs for both installing and maintain T1 service. Currently, T1 service is being advertised in some markets for as little as $695 a month. Generally, however, it can run up to several thousand dollars a month, depending upon the distance from the CO or ISP's switch, and the vendor providing the service.

AT1 line provides 24 channels, or a maximum speed of 1.544 Mbps. If that's not fast enough, or if you'll have a lot of users in your organization who require high-speed access, consider a T3 line. These cost thousands of dollars a month but provide the equivalent of 28T1 lines, or a total capacity of 43.232Mbps.

With broadband access in such demand, other vendors are getting into the fray. Many cable companies have found a ready customer base for "cable modem" Internet access. This is really for home use, and most cable companies specifically eschew business users, but if you can get cable Internet access, you can get speeds up to 7Mbps or more, depending upon how many users in your area are also using the same lines at any particular moment.

Cable access is a lot like the old party telephone lines, everyone in a specific neighborhood has to share the total access capability. So when there are few users vying for Internet access, speeds are very high, but they slow down quite a bit as other users come on line.

Another alternative, if you can't get either DSL or cable modem access, is satellite access. The vendor that's been around the longest is Hughes, which sells DirectPC service through the DISH Network (www.directpc.com.) This service provides up to 400Kbps download speed but requires a standard telephone connection in the upstream direction. The equipment is inexpensive (less than $200), and monthly charges vary on different pricing plans from about $40 a month (for personal use.)

A new satellite service, which will be just launching about the time you read this, is the result of a partnership between Gilat, Microsoft and EchoStar. The StarBand Network (www.starband.com is aimed at nonbusiness users, and offers up to 400Kbps speed upstream and a bit slower service downstream. It will be sold through both EchoStar dealers and Radio Shack, and it costs $60 a month. Initially, you'll have to purchase a personal computer configured with the necessary interface hardware for about $900. Eventually, however, StarBand will be selling just the required satellite antenna and PC interface cards for $299.

Ted Needleman is the former associate publisher and editor-in-chief of Accounting Technology magazine. He is now a technology consultant and writer based in Stony Point, NY.