Broadband Definition
Broadband is a relative term used for high speed internet over a phone line, cable, or satellite connection often including TV and telephone services. Broadband derives from “Broad Bandwidth” initially used in radio to describe a wide frequency range, allowing the capability of hosting a large number of radio signals.
Today our “Bandwidth” capabilities have increased with technologies such as digitisation and fibre optics. Communication now occurs in both directions at high speed, allowing TV on demand, video conferencing and high speed internet.
Benefits:
Speed
Broadband can be up to 160 times faster than a dial up connection. This means no more waiting for ages for your favourite website to download. Infact it allows websites to become more interactive and dynamic. As more people adopt broadband, websites can contain more audio, video and flash content. Sites such as YouTube and mySpace allow everyone to share video and music over the internet.
Other benefits include cheap worldwide phone calls, just recently its become possible to download TV programs and Films from major media sources such as the BBC, Channel 4 and Sky among others..
Connectivity
Broadband is “always on”, no longer do you have to wait as your connection dials in and verifies your password. As soon as you start your computer up, aside from the ability to connect to the internet instantly, your computer will receive your email, you can synchronise your pc clock and automatically download the latest news through RSS feeds.
Broadband is big enough to share – you can use your telephone while browsing the internet, with higher broadband speeds its possible to have a number of PC’s connected to the internet with an Ethernet or Wireless router, allowing the whole family to be online.
Flexibility
Instead of pay per minute, broadband uses a pay monthly system and because of the competitive nature of the service, the cost is usually value for money, especially as costs often include telephone and even TV.
As the market for broadband service providers is always changing there are many different packages to choose from and you can generally tailor the broadband package to your needs.
How fast should I go?
Broadband Speed is measured in megabytes per second, but is often abbreviated to MB. If you use the internet for reading news, checking email and sharing photos with family and friends, you’ll only need a lower speed connection of 1 or 2MB.
If you want to download music you could survive with a slower connection, but a faster one will allow you to download more. When it comes to watching video online or downloading TV and Films, then 5-8MB or more will be preferable.
Speed limits are present as your area will share a large broadband connection; they divide the connection up amongst each customer, ensuring no one customer uses all the broadband! Usually you can download faster than you can upload and sadly its common that the speed your connection is supposed to be is a little slower than stated on your broadband package.
What is my download limit?
Many broadband providers now allow unlimited downloads, often though you may be limited to only downloading so much data per month. This allowance is measured in Giga Bytes (GB) - a whole film can be from 1-5GB of data depending on the quality. Usually restrictions can be from 2-16GB per month and are set in place as another method of sharing the connection.
Service Providers
Be aware that different broadband providers offer a different quality of service. Low cost providers may put minimal investment into providing the service. While big brand names often have superior customer support, they often have their own problems too, and you could end up paying for more than you need.
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