Is There a Difference Between High-speed Internet and Broadband
Is There a Difference Between High-speed Internet and Broadband
I was talking with a friend on-line recently. He's been
trying to convince his father to purchase high-speed internet.
During our discussion the question “What's the
difference between High-speed internet and Broadband?” came
up. It got me thinking, when you see phone companies advertising
DSL they usually do refer to it as High-speed Internet. On the
other hand when you see cable companies advertising their
high-speed internet, they usually refer to it as Broadband. Aside
from the technical scientific and dictionary definitions of these
words I would like to take a moment to clarify the muddied
waters.
He, probably like a lot of you, thought there may be a difference
in the two services. It's a logical conclusion. They go by
different names, they must be different right? Let's examine
what they both are. DSL and Cable Internet access both offer an
“always-on” connection to the internet. They both
provide speeds greater than any you'll ever see on a dial-up
connection. They both allow you to be on the internet and on the
phone at the same time. They both run somewhere in the
neighborhood of 50 clams a month. They both require you to
purchase, or lease in some cases, an additional modem device in
order to receive the service. They both offer the promise of a
better, faster internet where music, movies, tv shows, digital
phone, lightening fast downloads, file sharing, instant
messaging, access to a wealth of information and financial data
is suddenly at your fingertips. You can have several things going
all at once all thanks to your high-speed er, uh, broadband
internet connection. They also both make you more vulnerable to
viruses, spyware, and attacks.
So, what's the difference between High-speed and Broadband?
Well, not much. The terms are simply, as far as the consumer(you)
is concerned, a marketing technique. It's a method to sell
you a service. It's a tactic to sound superior to the
competition. So which one actually sounds better? Your guess is
as good as mine. To me, they're interchangeable. I will use
the term high-speed in one sentence and the term broadband in
another.
Well, that's great mister Deconfuser man, but that still
doesn't help me make my decision as to which is better. Ah,
but it does. As far as service and speed go, they're
basically the same. Virtually identical. So you see, the decision
simply boils down to price. Which one is the best use of your
dollar? I can't answer that question for you, but I can give
you some information to help you decide which is worth the
expense.
When purchasing high-speed broadband internet access look for the
speed to price comparisons. The more speed or “pipe”
you buy the more it's going to cost you. Most offer a lite or
starter package that's still faster than dial-up but
isn't their top speed offering. This is usually fine for
emails, chat, paying bills and such. If you have kids or need the
connection for work or business then you're going to want the
best money can buy. Kids love downloading looooots of things off
the internet, and will let you know very quickly that your
family's connection is well…slow Mom. So here you go, a
modem's top speed is 56Kbs that's 56 kilobytes/second
which is 56,000 bytes/second. The fastest broadband connection
around here that I know of is 3Mbs, or 3 mega-bytes/second, or
3,000,000 bytes/second.
I hope this helps you to understand the lack of difference
between broadband and high-speed internet. I also hope it helps
in determining where you want to spend your money.
A shameless plug here: I'll be offering some classes over at
Wilkes Community College on Spyware, how to know you've been
infected, removal, and protection this summer. Check out their
website or call Wesley Poplin in Continuing Education
336.838.6207 for more information.
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