As would be expected, the capacity and speed of the basic connection service will determine the cost of your Internet access. The general rule is that the higher the bandwidth capacity and the faster the speed, the higher the cost to install and maintain your Internet link.

There are several ways of connecting to the Internet: from a simple dial-up link using a standard telephone line to faster and “always on” connections using a leased line, ISDN, ADSL, ‘cable’, satellite, terrestrial fixed and mobile wireless. The faster the connection the greater its capacity, enabling the fast transfer and download of data across the Internet.

The type of connection you use also has a direct effect on the speed with which you will be able to use the Internet. The capacity of an Internet connection is referred to as its bandwidth, and is measured in bits of data per second, a bit being an on or off 1 or 0 signal. A thousand bits is a Kilobit (Kb), a million bits is a Megabit (Mb), a thousand million bits is a Gigabit (Gb) etc. However, data files are measured in Bytes, KiloBytes (KB), etc, with a Byte calculated as eight bits.

So, a 1MB file is 8,000,000 bits and, in theory, will take 200 seconds (3 minutes 20 seconds) to transfer over a perfect 40kb/s (40,000 bits per second) connection.

Although there are many ways to connect to the Internet, they vary mainly by connection and by speed. A connection may be one that has to be launched each time you wish to use it, or you can have an “always-on” connection, also known as a broadband connection. The first is connected by a modem and the second through an Ethernet card.

Speed, the second variable, determines how quickly you can receive and send data to and from your computer.

Pros and Cons of Different Internet Connections

Method Pros Cons
Dial-up Inexpensive Slower than broadband

Available anywhere Can incur local phone charges
Can connect using a cell phone and a cell phone modem Needs two lines to make phone calls while online
Broadband Much faster than dial-up More expensive than dial-up
Always on; no delay to connect Not available in all areas
Doesn’t need two lines to make phone calls while online
Wireless
You can be connected to the Internet almost anywhere Connection is less secure
No extra wiring to connect more employees to the Internet Signal can be lost for a variety of reasons – even a microwave oven
Doesn’t need two lines to make phone calls while online Slower than broadband

High rates of transfer are said to be “fast” connections or “high speed” connections.

Many companies choose to have an “always-on” connection because of the speed, even though such a connection can be a bit more costly.

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