There’s little in the name that gives away what DSL broadband Internet is all about. Even if you know what the letters stand for - digital subscriber line - that still doesn’t offer that much help. Whenever you see those three letters, you should think “Ma Bell”, if you want to remember that DSL Internet service is delivered through a telephone line.
There’s no elaborate equipment needed to get digital subscriber line broadband service in your home: Just a modem, an Ethernet cable, a network card and a cord to plug in to the modem.
Speed and price are two areas where DSL is likely to make the greatest impact on potential customers. The service is estimated to be as much as 20 times faster than traditional dial-up. That’s certainly a noticeable difference, although it can’t provide connection speeds to beat other high speed services, such as cable broadband.
However, a comparison to cable broadband is actually what telephone companies offering broadband Internet are hoping for when it comes to the paying for Internet service. For the most part, digital subscriber line service offered lower monthly prices than cable Internet, according to statistics gathered in early 2009.
The difference ranged from $10 to $25 a month, and it’s important to point out that cable providers sought to make up the difference by bundling services, including telephone and digital cable television, to seek a competitive advantage.
Although Internet service on phone lines is reliable and competitive with cable broadband, the No. 1 high speed Internet provider in the country, digital subscriber lines faced a few less-than-attractive issues that potential customers should consider:
1. Uncertainty of service. This only applies to the issue of whether your home can actually hook up to a phone line. DSL providers generally can’t hook you up unless you live within roughly 3 miles of a central office.
2. Availability of service. Internet service on phone lines is not universally available, and service availability is particularly spotty in rural areas of the country.
The phone line broadband service takes advantage of different frequencies within its phone lines to deliver either high speed Internet or phone service, and that allows customers to use both services at the same time. Another positive is that the connection only involves your household. With cable Internet, the bandwidth is shared by other users in your neighborhood, which can sometimes affect the connection speed.
That’s not the situation with DSL, meaning more
reliable security and no risk to connection speeds, even as more users share the same cable.
So, if you want a reliable broadband Internet connection that’s much faster than dial-up, competitively priced and secure, turn to DSL high speed Internet.
Taylor Jensen writes abouthigh speed Internet and is considered an expert in the field of wireless Internet. He and partner Bob Ross are always keeping you updated on high speed Internet deals.
