| It used to be that a dial up modem capable of 56 | | | | up to 8 Mbps. That's about seventy times faster |
| Kbps provided enough speed for most people to | | | | than dial up and several times faster than even |
| enjoy the Internet from the comfort of their | | | | satellite based Internet service. Plus, a broad band |
| own home. Thanks to the growing complexity of | | | | cable Internet connection is always on, so you |
| the Internet and the increasing amount of | | | | don't have to wait for the dial in process to |
| multimedia entertainment available on the World | | | | complete. In addition there's no noticeable time lag, |
| Wide Web, a mere dial up connection really | | | | which makes it good for video games and VoIP. |
| doesn't satisfy anybody these days. In fact, even | | | | (Comcast can also provide digital voice phone |
| some of the faster means of connecting to the | | | | service bundled with high speed Internet which |
| World Wide Web can be pretty disappointing. For | | | | makes VoIP less attractive, but at least this |
| example, even though DSL qualifies in many | | | | technology allows you to have the option of using |
| people's minds as a high speed Internet | | | | a VoIP service.) |
| connection, it's really a light duty Internet | | | | A broad band cable high speed Internet |
| connection at best. It may be fine for things like | | | | connection gives you access to plenty of the |
| email, text messaging, and even moving around | | | | material on the World Wide Web that's simply too |
| the occasional digital photo, but DSL will start to | | | | data intensive to be practical with a slower |
| cause grief when its users attempt to download | | | | connection. This includes things like video files- |
| larger files like software applications, videos, and | | | | even ones big enough to contain full length |
| music over it. Satellite Internet is a little bit faster | | | | movies. Of course downloading a full length movie |
| than DSL, but it has a fair number of problems | | | | will take a lot of bandwidth, but when huge files |
| itself. Specifically, it has a time lag created by the | | | | like that aren't being downloaded, Comcast's high |
| distance that the data has to travel to and from | | | | speed Internet service provides more than |
| the satellites in orbit. This time lag makes satellite | | | | enough bandwidth to allow several people to do |
| based Internet access a bad choice for VoIP | | | | normal web surfing all at the same time. A |
| applications, online gaming, or anything else where | | | | wireless router is extremely useful for this |
| a slight pause could cause problems. The other | | | | because it allows different devices to take |
| problem with satellite Internet is that it's really | | | | advantage of an Internet connection without being |
| expensive, both in initial equipment fees and | | | | physically connected to the cable modem. |
| monthly subscription fees. | | | | Comcast will provide a free wireless router in |
| Most people will find that the best type of | | | | addition to a free wireless modem. This will allow |
| Internet service for their homes is a broad band | | | | you to connect to the Internet both by wireless |
| cable high speed Internet connection like what's | | | | technology as well as wired technology. If you're |
| provided by Comcast Cable TV. This type of | | | | good enough at networking, you might even be |
| Internet connection is faster than any of the | | | | able to set up a home network so that you can |
| others mentioned above. About the only type of | | | | share files among all of your computers over the |
| Internet access that's faster is a T1 connection, | | | | wireless network enabled by this free router. |
| but since that's not available for residential use, it's | | | | These are just a few ways a truly high speed |
| kind of a moot point. Comcast's high speed | | | | Internet connection can improve your life, and |
| Internet technology provides download speeds of | | | | Comcast can supply it for you. |