There are three principal ways to connect to the internet, each with two
flavours:
|
Dial Up |
Broadband |
Leased Line |
A
b
o
u
t |
Using a modem to make a telephone call to your service provider
to access to the internet. |
Usually from your telephone company, this uses your existing line but does not stop you from using the telephone at the same time. |
Principally the reserve of wealthy businesses, this is a permanent, dedicated connection for internet traffic only. |
T
y
p
e
1 |
Ordinary - You pay for calls in the same way as you would if you
were telephoning a real person or company |
ADSL - ultimately provided by BT, regardless of the supplier, and
only available on BT lines. This may change with Local Loop Unbundling |
Cable - little more than a dedicated telephone line and often
slower than ADSL but with no contention to worry about - it's your line |
T
y
p
e
2 |
Anytime - You pay a monthly fee and internet connection is toll-free and unlimited |
Cable - only available from cable companies. You need to be
in their area which is often only major urban areas |
Optical - Your internet
service provider will use this to get large amounts of data moved in the
cheapest possible way |
