The new computer is here...

Puppyraiser

PFG, Picture Framing God
Joined
Jul 10, 1999
Posts
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Loc
Maryland
Business
Howards retired
OK, I've got it up and more-or-less running. I still have some stuff to transfer from the old one (this is a change, because I usually don't replace until the old one is toast.) I have the external hard drive attached, so I won't have to go through this SetUpHell again in 5 years or so. Anyway, I was trying to download some of my favorite games, and have reluctantly come to the conclusion that dial-up just isn't going to cut it. So now here are the questions: 1) can you techies explain DSL, Broadband, cable in simpleish terms? 2) do I have to change my email addresses if I go with any of the faster connections? 3) what about firewalls? I don't even know what I should be concerned about here. There will no doubt be other questions, but this will give me a start...
 
Dial up???? Welcome to the Real World!

DSL is a faster way to connect to the 'net. It uses your telephone lines (yes, you can talk on the phone and surf at the same time).

Cable connects to the 'net using your cable TV lines.

With either Cable or DSl, you use a modem to connect your PC to the telephone wire / cable (easy).

Speed: DSL is about 6-7 times faster than dial-up. Cable is about 10 times faster. Either one now offers even faster (and more expensive) connections, but they are overkill.

Cost: If DSL and cable are the same, go for cable, otherwise, DSL is really fast enough for almost anything.

You do need a fire-wall to prevent hackers and other cretins from invading your PC. Windows comes with a firewall and is enabled by default (unless you disabled it). You can get also a good firewall from http://www.zonelabs.com/

Those firewalls, are called "software" fire-walls. There are also more powerful firewalls, called hardware fire-walls. They cost around $50-100. They look like a hub that you plug your modem in.

Most likely you'll be fine with a software firewall. If you do want to get a hardware fire-wall, it might be a good idea to have a techie set it up for you, faster and safer.

Broadband is a fancy word for connecting faster to the 'net, using either DSL or cable.

PS: As for the email address: It will stay the same, has nothing to do with DSL or cable.

[ 05-16-2006, 12:13 PM: Message edited by: Paul N ]
 
I switched to dsl several years ago and the email is the same. The dsl is thru qwest and the interenet is thru another source...how does is work?? ...got me...they just flip switches around and wah laa DSL!
Pretty soon you will be a DEll junky like me and have 5 of them!
You can get a HUB....and with an ethernet cable ( it is the cable that has a bigger end that looks like a phone plug) and connect the old computer with the new one.
The computer should have a place to click for the firewall to be ON.
Mike has a diagram about that part of it.
 
DSL degrades with distance from the switching station. MAKE sure you are "in good range." The telephone salespeople kept (and keep) telling me that I can get DSl, but it isn't so. I am too far away. I use cable.
 
PS: As for the email address: It will stay the same, has nothing to do with DSL or cable.

That depends on what your e-mail address is currently. Let's say you were using EarthLink for dial-up access, and your e-mail address was an earthlink address. Now you decide to get broadband cable. You could retain your earthlink e-mail address, but you'd still have to pay earthlink as if you were still using them. I would consider this to be a bad thing. If you are using yahoo mail or something like that, you wouldn't need to change it.

For someone who has a business, getting your own domain name is a good thing. For $8 a year or so you can get a domain name and e-mail address that you can keep indefinitely. So you could have ellen@howards.com (or something like that) as your e-mail address.

Check out what sort of broadband is offered where you live. Obviously the phone company and the cable company are the first two places to look. You will never go back to dialup.


You may get a firewall from your service provider. If not, you definitely want one. Make sure it comes with 4 ports if there's even the slightest possibility you'll have more than one computer hooked up to it.

Let us know what your options for broadband are, and we can provide advice.
 
Ellen,
I see that you are on AOL.
If you go with another provider you are going to lose your e-mail address. You are going to find how difficult it is to cut ties with AOL, they often continue billing you long after you switch over. (We call them AOHELL!)

Try THIS to see what’s available in your area.
 
Like Cliff said, the phone companies promise DSL, but often say, “oops” when it it time to install it.

Most companies have a web site where you can ask them to “ping” you to see if you are truly within range (I think you need to be within 1-1/4 miles of a substation). Just find their web site, enter your phone number and within a few hours you’ll get an e-mail saying whether you’re within range or not.

We have cable, too. It is likely to be a bit more expensive than DSL, but we’ve done some speed tests on-line (there are several web sites to do this) and the speed is off the charts (well over 3,700 kB/second) which, I believe, is much faster than DSL promises.

If you go with cable and you have it installed at work, they will try to sell you the “business package” (like 10 whole MB of storage space - big whoop; and 5 e-mail accounts - be still my heart). The Business plan is a rip! You can do much better with almost any other ISP e.g. One-on-One gives me 100 Mb or storage and 25 e-mail accounts for $9.95/month). If you go with cable, tell them you don’t want that stuff and try to get a residential account even though it goes to your store. You’ll be able to save about $40/month if you can.

If you’re trying to install broadband cable at home and already have the connection, … never mind.

In any case you’ll be given a modem (which you can buy outright rather than lease) which you can leave on all the time. Once it’s on, you can just access a web browser and you’re on.
 
Yes, with AOL it is a different question. If you have service and email address with them, you may lose the address.

But do get other email addresses like Yahoo, Google (gmail) and others. Faster and more reliable than AOL.
 
My address is too far out for DSL via telephone lines, and cable was too bloody expensive for my storefront location.

Ellen, shop around your local phone companies. Choice One offered a pretty good deal on my three-line phone service, including all the usual add-ons. I was nearly ready to switch from SBC, and then the rep said, "Oh, one more thing, a T-1 internet connection is included at no extra charge with a 5-year contract." :eek: :D

Actually, it is a partial T-1 line, with a transfer rate of about half speed. As I recall, that's something like 512mb/sec. Anyway, it's plenty fast enough for my needs -- and ya can't beat the price.
 
OK, I checked and DSL is out. I have this stupid dislike of our cable company. Their domain is xxx@myactv.net, which I think looks incredibly DUMB. Don't ask me why... I just do. I will check with the phone co, but I have about a BILLION business cards (really good price, though!) with HowardsArt@aol.com on them. I probably am contacted once a month by that means. Perhaps AOL has a premium choice?
 
When you cancel AOL, theyll give you free access to your old email address. (through a web interface) They change it to @aim.com but point the old one to it so you wont lose any emails.

The long term solution is to get your own domain, as suggested above, and have people email your domain instead.

DSL is good, Cable is better, FIOS is best. Dialup is pretty much dead/obsolete. (52 speed, on a good day)

A very slow DSL (768 speed) is available for $12.95-$14.95 almost anywhere, for residential. Commercial here with Verizon is $49.99/mo, which is 3mbits. DSL is often sold in speeds of 768, 1.5, 3.0, 7.0, and 10.0 in some areas (UK)

Cable here is $39 for 5mbits (~5000 speed) or $49 for 15mbits (~15000 speed) (residential). Commercial here with COX starts at $49/mo for their slowest speed.

FIOS is about $5 less than cable, for the same speeds. Its sold now in 5, 15, and 30 mbit speeds It will eventually replace DSL and has the same offerings as cable (digital TV, phone, internet) We have it here, but its not in every state yet.

100mbit technology is about a year away.

Regardless of which you get, you'll want a ROUTER such as a Linksys WRT-54G (about $40). The router lets you share the feed with multiple computers in your home (wired and wireless), and acts as a firewall. Windows XP also has a firewall built in, to protect you from your own internal PCs on the same network. Youll want antivirus on each PC, and the wireless portion of the router will have to be disabled or secured.

Congratulations on the new PC!
Mike
 
Most companies have a web site where you can ask them to “ping” you to see if you are truly within range (I think you need to be within 1-1/4 miles of a substation).

With ADSL technology, you need to be within 18000 feet (~3 miles) of a CO (central office), although the phone companies are starting to have remote boxes that aggregate DSL and send it to the COs. In addition to the distance requirement, you need to have good copper and not a lot of transformers and line filters between you and the CO. It's a less forgiving technology than cable.

Another thing to keep in mind, if you are sending lots of data the other way (rather than just downloading web pages and e-mail) you'll want to pay attention to the upload speeds. So if you are adding pictures to your web page or sending e-mails with large attachments, or sending significant amounts of data from your computer to a server or other computer, be aware that the huge download speeds advertised by (e.g. cable companies) are not matched on the uplink side. The connections are very asymmetric unless you get yourself into a T1 or similar $$$ connection.
 
Ellen, it is possible to use high speed internet and keep your AOL address. AOL has partnered with companies like Quest to provide their high speed option.

I use it at home and have for 2 years now. Contact AOL, I think Keyword "Broadband" or High Speed" will get you to where you need to go.
 
Originally posted by EllenAtHowards:
...I will check with the phone co, but I have about a BILLION business cards (really good price, though!) with HowardsArt@aol.com on them.
As others have noted, you can keep your current ISP account if you set up a phone-line internet connection. I've had my AT&T account and web site for years. No problem.

The Choice One high-speed, T-1 set up includes email addresses and some gigabytes of web page space, but I don't use them.
 
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