Category Archives: Broadband

Choosing Between a DSL Provider and Cable Provider

Gone are the days where dialling up is the only way of getting online, as these are the days of high speed internet. This gives people not only the speed they need but also the ability to have their internet and their phone ready for use at any time.

This is making more and more people interested in what a DSL provider and a cable internet provider have to offer, and many people are confused about the differences between the two of them. Constant advertisements boasting one company’s superiority over the other are not helping matters either as it just furthers the confusion between the two.

For those in the market for a high speed internet provider, deciding whether or not a DSL provider has anything over a cable internet provider can be difficult, as the difference between them is not always clear. To clear up any confusion, know that there are some minor differences between cable and DSL internet services that may make a difference as to which one is best for your needs.

To help clear up any misconceptions on whether you should go with a DSL provider or a cable internet provider, here are the main specs on the two and a little bit on which type of service may work best for your family.
Cable Internet

For cable internet service you will need:

A cable ready internet modem, usually included with activation of cable internet service
A cable company that is offering cable internet service
An ethernet ready computer or a way to adapt your computer to Ethernet readiness

Most cable internet costs range in price every month and it is said to be up to five times faster than DSL, hence the higher price tag. For those who can’t possibly need internet that fast, DSL internet should do. The signal comes from the same coaxial cable cord that gives your television cable service, and it is run through a modem and into your computer.

It doesn’t matter how far away your home is from the actual cable company hub and cable is available on a lot more of a widespread basis. This makes it a popular and common favourite and even though cable lines can be shared between multiple users speed is normally not affected.

For DSL service you need:

An active phone line
A DSL-ready internet modem, which is normally included with and activated with the internet service
An ethernet ready computer or the ability to adapt your computer to be ethernet ready
A DSL internet provider

DSL stands for digital subscriber line, and it is the word that everybody uses to lump so-called high speed internet together. As a matter of fact, DSL internet is very rare because the signal gets weaker the further away from a central office or hub the actual subscriber is.

This means that unless you are close to an area that is giving off a DSL connection, the chances of you getting a good, fast internet signal is slim to none. There is not nearly as many DSL subscribers out there as there are to other types of internet, but it is pretty well priced. It is not quite as fast as cable internet but again, you get what you pay for.

Link-Connect are a long-established communications provider offering internet and telecoms services for businesses of all sizes. dsl provider provide everything relating to connectivity, telephony, websites, networks and security.
Submitted by search engine consultants at http://www.webrepairservices.co.uk

What to Look for in a DSL Provider

So you are looking for a DSL provider but have previously been stuck with one that you didn’t like, then you know just how important it is to make a good, sound decision about the company you choose to supply your DSL service for you and get it right. If not, you could end up paying a whole load of extra money in fees for terminating a contract or paying for a service that you are not satisfied with.

If you want to avoid either or both of these happening to you, read on for more information on what you should be looking for the next time you are in the market for a DSL provider.

These days there are a lot of small phone and internet companies that seem to be popping out of virtually nowhere. This is not always a problem, but these companies are not always the most skilled in what it is they are doing and they don’t always offer the best service, at least not at the very beginning. Sometimes these companies take a bit of coaxing and complaining on the behalf of the customer in order to get things right, and many times they end up getting bought out by a larger conglomerate of a company in the end anyhow.

If you want to avoid this happening to you, look for a company with a reputation that you have heard of before. This doesn’t mean go with the monopoly, but if that is what it takes to get a DSL provider that you can trust, you might just have to do that.

Many a DSL provider out there gets their customers by promising them that all they will have to pay is a really low rate every month, while the small print reads that that is just for six months and that service will be some other outrageous price for every month thereafter. Many people think that they can just get out of the service when that point comes, without really stopping to realise that they are bound by contract to that company and may have to pay to get out.

It is important to look out for good prices, not prices that are too good to be true.

Another important thing to look for in a DSL provider is good service, preferably great or even outstanding customer service. It may not matter much to you now whether or not the salespeople have any tact, but when your service is down and it has been down for several hours and you can’t get your work done chances are that you are going to wish you had taken the time to find a company that actually pretended to care about how you felt about things and took the time to train their associates accordingly. It may not seem like a big deal now, but there will come a time when you will care.

Link-Connect are a long-established communications provider offering internet and telecoms services for businesses of all sizes. dsl provider provide everything relating to connectivity, telephony, websites, networks and security.
Submitted by search engine consultants at http://www.webrepairservices.co.uk

What You Need to Know About Switching DSL Providers

Having DSL can be such a joy, especially for those who have experienced the misery that can be dial up internet. There does come a time, however when it is time to go from one DSL provider to another so that it works better for you.

Whether you are dissatisfied with the service that the DSL provider you are working with now is providing or you have just found someone who can offer better service and a better rate, switching service providers can be a great thing to do. At the same time it can be rather frustrating, and there is nothing worse than switching your internet provider just to find out that you should have stuck with the one you had in the first place.

If this sounds like you, make sure that you keep these things in mind when looking for a new provider to switch your service to. Whether you want to believe it or not, it may be better for you to stick with the provider you are currently working with.

If you are switching from one provider to another and getting a better rate for a lower speed, you might want to rethink that. Sure, you are probably thinking that you aren’t really in a hurry as it is and that you want to save a bit of money in the process. For casual internet users who depend on their connection for email and instant messaging that may all be well and fine but for anyone else, you might want to consider going another route.

If you work at home or you download music, pictures, or video you are going to need a higher internet connection speed to work with or you may find yourself frustrated with your internet connection more often than not.

Whatever you do, do not switch your internet to a DSL provider that promises to give you six months of internet service for a ridiculously low price. If it seems too good to be true, it probably is. Read the fine print before you sign up for anything like this and make sure that the price you are paying is the price you are always going to be paying. For example, if you are paying a lower rate for six months and then every month of service thereafter is considerably more and you are obligated to a 12 month contract, that is not a good deal.

If your current service provider is charging you a bit more than what your introductory rate would be with another company but that is going to be your rate for however long you have service with them, you may want to consider staying with them.

Switching internet companies may be the best or worst decision that you have ever made for your budget. While it is extremely important to make sure that you find a DSL provider that you can afford, those who are thinking about switching should do all of their research before doing so.

Link-Connect are a long-established communications provider offering internet and telecoms services for businesses of all sizes. dsl provider provide everything relating to connectivity, telephony, websites, networks and security.
Submitted by search engine consultants at http://www.webrepairservices.co.uk

Low Cost Satellite Internet Brings The World To You

People used to say that money makes the world go round and while it does, the second thing that makes the world go round in these modern times has to be the internet. As a center of commerce, information, and entertainment, the internet has grown into both a library and a marketplace ever since it was first conceived and there is a hugely growing number of households that have it in their homes in one way or another.

Dial-up was the first type of access to be offered and even though it is still offered as a type of service in many places in the country, it is not typically the service of choice when it comes to most people. The only people who typically have dial-up service are those who live too far out of town to get DSL or cable service. These are considered broadband services and operate at a much higher efficiency than dial-up and do not require your phone line to operate. You may use your telephone while these services operate and this is very convenient for people who use their home also as a center of their business.

Satellite internet service is available for people who live out in rural areas too far away from town to get DSL or cable and is able to operate at the same level of speed as the other broadband service types. For those who do live in these rural areas, satellite internet service is the only option available and will be the only option, at least for a while. Some areas, though, are so far away from civilization, DSL and cable service will probably never be offered there and in this case, satellite internet (and television) service are indeed the only options that will ever be available.

So, whether you live in the mountains, out on the planes, or on your own private island, satellites can bring the world to your doorstep in the form of TV or these days, the internet. No matter your situation, this is a great way to make sure that you can stay connected to the rest of the world, so consider ordering your satellite internet service today! The installation might be a little pricey, but most companies will work with you by offering you a slightly higher monthly payment instead of getting the installation payment up front. In the end, though, if it comes down to having dial-up internet or satellite, the best choice is in the satellite, because dial-up service is likely to fade away completely.

Dror Klar is a writer and promoter of news, movie reviews and celebrity information. If you are in the market for DIRECTV or Dish Network
High Speed satellite Internet and TV
He offers the Best Deals including New York High Speed Satellite Internet.

Satellite Internet Makes Life Easy For Many That Do Not Have Access To High Speed Services

For people who live outside the city limits and wish to catch up with the rest of the United States in the use of the internet, options are often very limited. DSL and cable internet services rarely extend too far outside the city limits in rural areas, so most of us who live out in the country have to resort to one of two things: dial-up service or satellite internet service.

Most of us know that dial-up service was the original way to get on the internet and unless you had two separate phone lines in your house, if you wanted to surf the internet, you had to keep your household phone line tied up as long as you were on it. For people who run businesses at home, this can be quite the inconvenience. Not only that, but dial-up is the slowest of all the modes of internet transportation and as soon as you start to dial a number on the phone line the internet is using, it disconnects and instantly ends all file transfers and stops any pages that were loading on your browser.

Satellite internet service will give you and your family all the benefits of dsl and cable internet service that people who live closer to towns and cities typically enjoy. The speed is just as high and the great thing about all broadband internet service types like this is the fact that it does not use a phone line.

Even though satellite internet service can cost more than other types of service, it is starting to gradually go down in price just like other types of broadband. This means that soon, it will be very affordable for families who live on farms or just a few hundred feet too far from where DSL or cable service ends.

Installation can be expensive, but some internet providers will allow you to skip the initial installation fee if you agree to pay a higher monthly fee for a certain period of time. This can be convenient if you cannot come up with the money to have the system installed all at once. An alternative to this would be to save up the money it costs for the installation, but sometimes it seems more convenient to just pay a little extra every month and skip the lump sum payment of the installation altogether. The choice is yours, but the only real option for those of us who live too far outside of town to acquire DSL or cable internet service, satellite, for now, is the only solution.

Dror Klar is a writer and promoter of news, movie reviews and celebrity information. If you are in the market for DIRECTV or Dish Network
High Speed satellite Internet and TV
He offers the Best Deals including New York High Speed Satellite Internet.

The High Speed Saviour Of Rural Internet Reigns

If you live out in the country and you hate being stuck with plain old dial-up internet service, but cannot get DSL or cable service in your area because it is so far from town, the best solution available to you at the moment is satellite internet service.

This is classified as a type of broadband service and is kin to DSL and cable internet service, but the difference is that is requires no ground wiring to work. The satellite dish is mounted on the side or roof of the house and allows you to receive your internet almost the same way you would receive a satellite TV signal.

There are a few bad things about the old dial-up system that used to be the only way you could get online. The first is the fact that it used your phone line to connect to the internet. Not only is this inefficient, but you can neither place nor receive calls while the internet is connected.

If you try to dial a number with your phone while it is connected, it will typically disconnect itself because the signal was interrupted. Most people who have had dial-up have been in the middle of downloading something, whether it is a business-related file or a piece of music, and a relative in another part of the house disconnecting you by trying to use the phone.

No matter how many hours you had been downloading that single file, it was all lost the second your family member tried to make a phone call. After that, all you could do was start over from the beginning and hope no one else tried to dial a number.

For those of us who have a broadband internet service, those days are long gone. DSL uses the phone line, but separates the signals so that the phone and internet do not interfere with each other anymore.

Cable internet service is a whole other thing and you can typically subscribe to it through your cable TV provider. DSL is alright and cable internet is faster, but if you live too far outside of town to get either one, satellite internet service is the answer.

It might be a little expensive to install unless you decide to opt for the payment plan by paying a higher monthly fee for a while, but if you require internet service for your business or just for leisure, this is the way for you to go.

DSL service will eventually be run through all phone lines, but this is quite some time away, depending on how far from populated areas you live.

Dror Klar is a writer and promoter of news, movie reviews and celebrity information. If you are in the market for DIRECTV or Dish Network
High Speed satellite Internet and TV
He offers the Best Deals including New York High Speed Satellite Internet.

Consumers Paying Too Much For Broadband Technical Support

British consumers are spending a combined total of 31 billion pounds a year just to sort out problems with their broadband services…and that doesn’t mean the problems are always sorted too! According to a survey carried out by the price comparison website uSwitch we are paying more and getting less when it comes to seeking support from our broadband providers.

Many companies are using expensive 0870 and other premium rate numbers for us to call to get help when there are problems with their broadband service. Others are keeping their customers on hold for too long (on expensive rate numbers), and others just aren’t sorting out our problems quickly enough.

All in all it sums up British customer service attitudes at the moment. We pay companies to provide a service and when they fail to provide their service or there is a problem with it British consumers have to fork out to get it sorted.

The uSwitch survey found that as the numbers of broadband consumers grows in the UK so do the levels with dissatisfaction. For example, whilst TalkTalk has responded to previous criticism of its poor customer service and long times spent on hold by some customers, the supposes “lucky” ones who got through, by introducing a freephone helpline, it’s overall technical support isn’t up to standard.

The survey revealed that UK broadband customers make 19 million calls to their broadband providers per year, which equates to a staggering 2,000 calls per hour. This number is boosted by the fact that customers are now having to ring up their broadband providers an average of three times in order to get their problem resolved, often spending an average of six minutes on hold each time!

Steve Weller, Head of Communications Services at uSwitch, said: “New advances in broadband technology appear to be having an adverse effect, with connection problems and service interruptions occurring all too frequently. Customers have found themselves having to make numerous calls to get their problems fixed so it’s no wonder satisfaction is at an all time low. Broadband has become part of our lives and we now spend 34 days a year online, so when things go wrong we need assurance that our service will be back up and running again as quickly as possible and at minimum expense.”

He concluded: “We call on the industry to stamp out the extortionate and inconsistent charging structures currently in operation and to focus instead on getting the service right first time. We look forward to the day that broadband works straight out of the box and we will just pay for the service we sign up to.”

Guide2Broadband discusses broadband options for residential customers, primarily for the UK market. Find out more about getting the best broadband option for your home at http://www.guide2broadband.com

More Broadband Customers Are Ready to Switch Provider

More and more companies are now offering broadband internet services but consumers are being increasingly let down by poor customer service and are actively looking to switch broadband providers, that is according to a survey by research firm Point Topic.
Point Topic carried out its Broadband Consumer Survey a year ago and found that 92% of customers were very or fairly satisfied with their provider. However, just one year later and the same survey has found that number has dropped to 77%, whilst those very or fairly dissatisfied has nearly doubled to 9%.

It is the broadband providers who have entered the market offering “free” broadband who have come in for the highest levels of dissatisfaction with 17% of TalkTalk customers and 14% of Sky broadband users saying that they were very or fairly dissatisfied with the service on offer. Although these broadband providers may offer “free” broadband with cheap set-up costs and low monthly bundled fees, it is the after-sales support that is letting the consumers down.

Following the survey, Point Topic concluded that the new entrants to the broadband market were failing to meet high customer expectations, and that all ISPs were getting worse at customer service as they competed for a share in the market.

The survey also warned that more consumers were considering switching their broadband provider in the forthcoming months. In 2005 just 8% of those questioned said they were thinking of changing supplier, whilst the 2006 survey reveals that this has now shot up to around 25%. On top of this, one in 10 had actually switched broadband supplier in the last six months.

When switching broadband providers the survey found that price was the main factor for a customer looking for a new supplier. Customers are increasingly being pulled in by marketing campaigns offering “free” broadband or bundled services where they get several services, such as home phone and digital TV, from one supplier. Although this may seem like more value for money, the finding of the survey suggests that it is then when consumers are let down by poor customer service whilst still being tied down by long fixed term contracts.

As more and more consumers become aware of the problems with certain companies, and as their fixed term contracts come to an end, more customers are now looking for more reliable broadband connection providers, with speed also becoming an increasingly important factor for many consumers too.

Guide2Broadband discusses broadband options for residential customers, primarily for the UK market. Find out more about getting the best broadband option for your home at http://www.guide2broadband.com

Broadband Services Getting Faster and Faster

Broadband connections are getting faster in the UK but many are still failing to reach the speeds that many service providers advertise. That is the view from the thinkbroadband website which recently carried out a survey of the speeds that broadband users receive.

According to their research the average broadband connection in the UK is now 2Mb up from 512Kbps three years ago. The data was provided by more than 330,000 people who took a speed test on the thinkbroadband website with the results showing that although speeds had gone up over the last three years many people were still some way off the speeds that were being advertised by their broadband providers.

Many people had been sold 8Mb connections but were unable to get this speed because of the distance they live from their local phone exchange or the quality of their phone line, both factors which are ultimately out of the customer’s control. This means that many customers are paying for a high speed connection although they may be unable to receive that service.

Andrew Ferguson, editor of the thinkbroadband website, also highlighted the fact that some broadband providers were keeping people on fixed connections to save costs. He said: “Because the broadband they are giving people still fits into the description of ‘up to 8Mbps’ that they are selling people, they think that’s fine.”

In response to this Mr Ferguson, and many others in the industry, feel that customers should be told that the connection they are getting is “rate adaptive”, which means it runs as fast as the line can tolerate.

The fastest connection that was registered in the survey was 21Mb which belonged to a customer of the broadband provider Be. Be Broadband is one of a number of companies which have invested in ADSL2+ technologies, which offers substantial speed improvements. However, such services are often limited to urban areas. In response to this, BT Wholesale is currently trialling ADSL2+ technology, which it is expected to roll out to other internet service providers in the next 24 months giving many more customers the chance to experience faster broadband speeds.

In other countries such as Japan, speeds of 50/60Mbps are not uncommon due to VDSL technology. However, faster broadband speeds over telephone lines could potentially lead to interference with radio stations so Ofcom wants these problems fixed before the green light is given to technologies such as VDSL and VDSL2, which offer tremendous broadband speeds.

Guide2Broadband discusses broadband options for residential customers, primarily for the UK market. Find out more about getting the best broadband option for your home at http://www.guide2broadband.com

Direct TV Internet: Finding the Best Deals Online

Are you still using dial-up for your Internet access? No way! Aren’t you tired of waiting for it to connect, waiting for it to download what you need, waiting for it to upload your messages? Aren’t you tired of just waiting, waiting, waiting? I was, so I made the switch to high-speed Internet service and boy am I glad I did!

With Direct TV Internet the waiting is gone. Now, I can download new software in just 7 short minutes (compared to a whopping 47 minutes using my old dial-up service), a video clip in three minutes, and a song in only two seconds! Yes, I said 2 seconds!

But, that’s not all. With high-speed satellite service I have instant access to the Internet any time of the day or night, no matter what the weather or anything else that might be happening in the world around me. I certainly couldn’t say that about my old service.

In just seconds I can be chatting with a friend from across town or across the world, researching a term paper for school, downloading the latest music or my favorite television show that I missed, and more. Plus, I no longer have to worry about missing an important phone call. With my new satellite service, my phone line remains clear, no matter how long I’m on the computer!

Unlike DSL or cable service, Direct TV Internet uses their satellite system to connect users, thereby eliminating any disruptions due to fallen wires or broken and disturbed fiber optic cables. Whether it’s a local fire, downed tree, overturned utility pole or even a bad storm, my Internet service is always there, ready to get me where I need to be.

Now, you may be asking if high-speed Internet service through Direct TV is available to anyone. Sure. Just about anyone in the continental United Sates, with clear access to the southern sky, can take advantage of the Direct TV Internet service.

And when it comes to price, there’s no beating what Direct TV offers. With literally dozens of special offers and rebates available all of the time, most people can find a package that best suits their needs at a price that doesn’t bust their budget. In many cases, satellite service may cost the same or even less than other comparable services in their area. And, when you combine your Internet service with your TV satellite system you can save even more. Now, that’s a deal!

I can’t say I was looking forward to the change. But, I’ve been pleasantly surprised at both the quality and options of service Direct TV Internet offers me. And, who can beat their reliability? I certainly haven’t found another provider that even comes close! Hope that helps you make a decision.

The best deals on Direct TV’s Internet service are here: this Direct TV Internet article at DigitalTVDojo; this Direct TV Internet page on Squidoo; and this Direct TV Internet article on Hubpages.