You have many choices for your Internet connection services.  Gone are the days of the slow dial-up modem connections.  Today you can get high-speed (Broadband) connections at very inexpensive rates (less than $50 per month) for you office. Below is a description of the different types of connection services.  What service you can utilize will depend on what is available in your area.  In some areas you may have the to option to utilize several types of connection services.  While in other areas you may only have the option to utilize one type of service. 

The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) defines "Basic Broadband" as data transmission speeds of at least 4 megabits per second, downstream (from the Internet to the user’s computer) and 1 Mbit/s upstream (from the user’s computer to the Internet).

 

Broadband Connections 

This is high speed connection to the Internet through the use of DSL, Cable, Satellite, ISDN, T-1, Mobile broadband/Wi-Fi, MiFi, etc. Dial-up modem is not considered Broadband.

DSL (Digital Subscriber Line): 

This is a high speed  connection that utilizes the telephone line in your office to provide a much greater connection speed than Dial-up service.  Price is usually cheaper or comparable to Cable.

 

DSL Speeds range from 256 kbit/s to 20 Mbit/s.
 

 

 

 

 

Cable:

The same cable that brings the signal to your TV also can be utilize to provide a high speed connection to the Internet.  Service Providers that provide Cable TV service also provide the Internet connection service through Cable.  Price is usually a bit more than for DSL.
 

Cable speeds can be as much as 384Kbit/s to 400Mbit/s upstream/downstream.
 


 

 

 

Satellite: 

This service requires you to have a Dish and Box that send and receive the signal from the Satellite.  This service is affected by heavy clouds and anything that obstructs the view of the Satellite dish.  Price is usually three to five times more than DSL.
 

Broadband satellite Internet also has a high latency problem which is due to the signal having to travel longer distances. The signal delay can be as much as 500 milliseconds to 900 milliseconds,

 

Satellite speeds is 64 kbit/s per channel.  With the launch of new satellites in 2012 speed is expected to be  well in excess of 1 Gbit/s (Giga bits per second) with 125ms latency.  In  2015 speeds are expected to be in excess of 1.2 Gbit/s with 7ms latency.

 

 

 

ISDN (Integrated Services Digital Network): 

This service is provided through a special land line that run to a location in your building.  ISDN uses the standard telephone line. An ISDN line has two data channels.  Each channel runs at 64Kbit/s speeds.  Two or more channels can be combined to provide greater speeds.  A connection is made when any user on the network open their Internet Browser.  This is a very expensive method.  Much more expensive than Satellite.
 

Speeds can reach 1.544 Kbit/s when combining all 23 channels.

 

 

 

 

 

T-1: 

T-1 is also known as Leased Lines.  This service is provided through a special land line that runs to a location in your building. It provides faster connection speeds than DSL, Cable, Satellite, ISDN, and Wi-Fi. However, it is more expensive than all of them.  The use of T-1 requires the use of specialized networking equipment such as Routers, CSU/DSU, etc. which is normally provided by the service company.    Some of the benefits include uptime and bandwidth data rates may be guaranteed, quality of service may be supported, and blocks of static IP addresses are commonly included.

There are different levels of T-1.  Although a T-1 has a maximum of 1.544 Mbit/s, a fractional T-1 might be offered which only uses an integer multiple of 128 kbit/s for bandwidth. In this manner, a customer might only purchase 1/12 or 1/3 of a T-1, which would be 128 kbit/s and 512 kbit/s, respectively.

 

 
WiMAX:
Another technology that is in the works is called WiMAX (Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access).  Think of this as Wifi on steroids.  It is intended to replace DSL and Cable.  It is designed to provide mobile broadband connectivity across cities and countries through a variety of devices for data telecommunications, tv, phone, etc.  This network will operate at speeds of up to 1 Gbit/s.

WiFi (Wireless Fidelity): 
Wifi uses radio waves that enables devices to communicate wirelessly.  Wifi devices such as Hotspots, USB Modems, Aircards and Phone enabled Hotspots can be used to allow a computer to access the Internet Directly.

Current Wifi transmissions take place on a 3G or 4G network.  On 3G networks the average download speed range from 400 to 700 Kbps with peak rates up to 2Mbps.  4G speeds are 10x faster than 3G networks.