by Constantin Daniela

Created on: August 07, 2007

You probably have one of the popular types of internet connection: dial-up, ADSL, cable or broadband.

Dial-up are the slowest type of the 3, and the most common to home users. It involves the use of a standard 56k modem and the speed is kinda slow, being able to transfer around 50 Kilobytes of data per second. When initiating the dial-up connection you will hear your PC literally dialing (hence the name) a phone number (provided by your ISP). It will after connect to a server and therefore the internet. You pay only for the hours you stay connected; also popular are the pre-paid packages (lets say for example 10 hours of connection).

Because you connect via phone, you can't use your telephone during the time you stay connected.

ADSL has a different principle: it splits your phone line in 2 separate lines, one for data (internet) and one for phone calls. So you can still telephone while connected to the Internet. ADSL offers incredible performances in speed and reliability compared to standard ADSL.

The next in rank is the cable, considering the best option for home users. Cable companies offers different packages, with different speed specifications and bandwidth limits. There is a monthly fee you have to pay, and you have non-stop internet access, according to your package specifications. It is much faster and reliable that the dial-up alternative.

Broadband is often called high speed internet. It usually has a very high rate of transmission. In general, any connection to the customer of 256 kbit/s (0.256 Mbit/s) or more is considered broadband Internet. This type of connection is usually for companies, and not for home use.

In the 4 descriptions above, you have a certain amount of details to help you figure out what kind of connection you have. But to be more certain, there are several sites available that can help you in this problem. Some examples: http://www.bandwidthplace.com/speedtest/
http://www.s peakeasy.net/speedtest/
http://www.speedtest.net/
You can choose among their different test servers, and the websites even provides the user with a help to better understand test results. Sometimes, it requires to give your country address, to better results.

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