Business DSL Alternatives

Business DSL has been popular with small businesses because of its ready availability and low monthly cost. It works just great for some businesses and not so good for others. Some are out of luck completely. The service is just not available to them. Here’s a bit of explanation and some alternative ideas for companies that either can’t get business DSL or don’t like the way it works.

Business DSL is similar to residential DSL. It comes in on ordinary twisted pair telephone wiring. Usually this is just a single pair like a phone line. In fact, it is a phone line. This means that DSL is delivered by your telephone company. They own the copper and are the only ones who can connect to it. Often, though, they will lease out copper pairs to competitive carriers that also offer business DSL service.

One thing that often distinguishes business DSL from residential service is that the home variety is priced at bargain basement prices because it uses the same wires as your landline telephone. Filters are installed so that the low frequency voice signal and the higher frequency digital signal don’t interfere. Business DSL lines are often used only for the digital connection. The telephones have their own separate network.

Some things that business owners don’t like about DSL are the shared rather than dedicated bandwidth, relatively low speeds, outages that don’t get quick repairs and asymmetric bandwidth (for the ADSL variety).

If you’ve been disappointed with what you can get in DSL performance or can’t get DSL at all, consider these alternatives.

For about the same or a little more money, you can get either 3G wireless broadband or Cable broadband. Cable is like DSL on steroids. The much higher bandwidth can make up for shared and asymmetric bandwidth. Like DSL, Cable is distance limited and only available if the cable happens to pass near your business location. Forget DSL or Cable if you happen to be located in the countryside.

Wireless is now an option for businesses in rural and metropolitan areas. WISPs or Wireless Internet Service Providers offer what amounts a giant WiFi hotspot. In order to get a far enough reach, special antennas are needed at each business location. Another flavor of wireless service is fixed microwave wireless. This is business grade service only available mostly in downtown business districts. The provider installs a small antenna on the roof of your building and an Ethernet jack in your office. Bandwidths range from 1 to 45 Mbps for standard service and 50 to 100 Mbps for high speed options. You typically need a line of sight path within 6 miles of the provider’s tower.

There is a type of wireless service that is nationally available and usually doesn’t require outside antennas. This is 3G cellular using the same towers and signals as smartphone cellular. These towers offer strong signals for most businesses, especially if high performance indoor antennas and modems are employed. The 3G service is similar to many DSL service speeds. Now 4G is becoming available, with bandwidth similar to Cable.

One more wireless service that you can get even if there is no cellular service is satellite. All you need is a dish on the roof with a clear view of the southern sky. Prices and bandwidth are competitive with DSL, Cable and 3G. It’s good for many applications, but not VoIP or video conferencing. The latency or time delay is just too long going to and from the satellite.

Consider T1 and Ethernet over Copper if you want high reliability professional wireline connections with low latency. T1 is the classic telecom service. What’s changed is that it is now available nearly everywhere you can get landline phone service and prices are a fraction of what they were a few years ago. Bandwidth is competitive with many DSL services and this is symmetrical dedicated bandwidth. It also comes with a service level agreement that ensures your line will get the highest priority if a rare outage occurs.

Ethernet over Copper (EoC) has emerged recently as a competitor for T1. It is also dedicated rather than shared bandwidth, symmetrical with equal upload and download speeds, and service level agreements. EoC offers higher bandwidths that T1 that often rival the best you can get from Cable. Like T1, prices may be double what you pay for Cable or DSL, but the bandwidth is rock solid and highly reliable.

Are you dissatisfied with your current bandwidth options or simply want to see if you can get a better deal? If so, get complementary competitive business bandwidth options and prices to know the opportunities available for your business location.

Mobile Wireless 3G Broadband

Most of us are now broadband dependent. We really can’t function if we can’t get connected to the Internet. That’s meant a wireline solution for the home and office and whatever on the go.

Whatever? Wireless standards are all over the map. LAN technology has long settled on 10/100 Ethernet with Gigabit Ethernet the emerging standard that's backwards compatible with earlier 10/100 standards. For wireless, the one common thread is WiFi. Nearly every wireless device can now communicate on a WiFi 802.11 b/g/n network. That would be great if you could connect to WiFi everywhere you go. Unfortunately, that’s far from the case.

One solution is to use a WiFi router at home or in the office and then go out in search of WiFi hotspots all over town. We hang out in our favorite restaurants and coffee shops to be able to connect our computing devices. In-between we simply go without.

The only nationwide wireless broadband network available is the cellular phone network. Cell phone towers were originally erected to provide a cordless mobile phone telephone service. It wasn’t long before the cell phone channels were doing double duty. Some were still assigned to carry phone conversations. Others were set up to transport Internet data. The latest technology is 4G. It’s fast and reliable, but it is still in the process of deployment. Can you get 4G? Maybe, maybe not. It depends on where you are. The established standard is 3G wireless. it’s available just about everywhere and gives you the same bandwidth performance as a basic DSL service. In many cases, it works as well as the T1 line at the office.

Many people have 3G wireless plans on their smartphones. That’s an excellent way to always have broadband with you. Some plans are set up for tethering. You can share your 3G mobile wireless broadband with several other devices using WiFi. In essence, you become the WiFi hotspot everywhere you need one.

That’s great if you happen to have a 3G smartphone with a tethering options. But what if you don’t? Is it possible to have 3G connectivity to your laptop, notebook, tablet or e-reader?

You bet it is. What you need is known as a wireless modem aircard. This is the radio set that connects to the cellular network. How does it connect to your device? There are two methods. For laptop computers, a broadband USB modem just plugs into an open USB connector. This device looks like one of those memory “dongles.” In this case, the primary function is wireless connectivity. It may do double duty if it also has a Micro-SD slot so that you can plug in a memory card up to 32 GB. That way you only need to carry one device for both file storage and wireless connectivity.

A more universal solution is MiFi mobile hotspot. This is a device about the size of a deck of cards that has a wireless modem aircard, battery and WiFi card all built-in. What it does is connect the 3G cellular wireless network to your device using WiFi. There are no wires involved. You can support up to 4 WiFi enabled devices from your MiFi anywhere you can get a cellular signal.

How much does it cost to get mobile wireless 3G broadband? DataJack has plans starting at under $10 for 200 MB. That’s pretty light duty for email and some Web browsing. If you need more, pick a 500 MB, 1GB or 5GB plan. They’ve got a chart to help you pick the right size wireless plan. The 200 MB plan is good for some 800 Web pages or 20,000 emails a month. The big 5GB plan will cover 20,000 Web Pages or 500,000 emails a month. These are just estimates, of course. Downloading music, video or apps will burn through those MB faster than general Web browsing or email activity.

If you go to a cell phone store to buy 3G wireless, they’ll hand you a 2 year contract to sign. Buy your plan through DataJack and you’ll have nationwide coverage (check the map to be sure your area is covered) with no contact, no termination fees and no activation fee. if you decide you don’t really need it anymore, you aren’t stuck for months or years paying through the nose.

By the way, another great use for one of these 3G wireless services is backup for your desktop computer. How big of a disaster is it if your Cable or DSL goes out while you are in the middle of something important? With a wireless option, you can keep working on the Internet during outages plus have mobile capability the rest of the time.

Does this sound like the service you’ve been wanting but didn’t know was available? Learn more, check coverage and order your DataJack Mobile Wireless 3G Broadband service now.

The Next Decade of Bandwidth - Part III

There’s a major conflict brewing between those who have spectrum and those who want it. On one side are the wireless cellular and broadband carriers. On the other side are TV broadcasters, satellite operators, governmental agencies and others with established rights to regulated pieces of the electromagnetic spectrum. There isn’t enough to just give everyone all they want. The marketplace is resolving some of the issue of who has the greater need through spectrum auctions and private sales. At the same time, clever ideas are helping create additional options through more efficient use of existing frequencies.

One such clever idea is to squat on any channel not currently being used. This is the principle behind “white space” transmissions. White space is a term often used in printing. Everywhere on the page not covered by ink is white space, the color of the unprinted paper. Pages with text spread out and empty areas have lots of white space.

You can carry that analogy over to the TV band. Before the days of cable and satellite, you know that there were only a few channels you could pick up with an outdoor antenna. Stations were never assigned channels right next to each other. That’s because early receivers didn’t have tuners that could separate adjacent channels well enough to keep the signals from interfering. The FCC made sure to put at least one blank channel in between each broadcaster in a particular area. Those blank channels were assigned to other cites too far away to interfere. In any given area, there is lots of white space where there are no assigned transmitters in the TV band.

White space transmitters take advantage of this situation by using those unused channels to transmit fairly weak signals that won’t interfere with TV reception. Wireless microphones were one of the first applications to take advantage of this available spectrum, hiding between stations before the switch to DTV. Since the switchover, the idea of using the white spaces in the remaining VHF and UHF TV bands has been blessed by the FCC, although with restrictions. In order to prevent chaos, any device operating unlicensed in these bands must take action to prevent interference to licensed operations. That means consulting a database of assignments maintained by the FCC and listening for transmissions on a channel to ensure it is unused before sending out any signals.

The idea of listening before transmitting is reminiscent of early Ethernet networks that used collision domains before everything evolved to switching. It’s the same as intersections where there are no traffic lights. Each user is responsible to make sure there is no traffic in the way before crossing. As long as everyone follows those rules, there is an amazing amount of spectrum still available that can be used on a shared basis.

Another technique being used to squeeze more performance out of existing bandwidth is being deployed by the cellular carriers themselves. It’s based upon the fact that all cellular towers aren’t used equally. Some are grossly overloaded and others lightly accessed. Those areas of high congestion need more towers, but there aren’t always more licensed frequencies available. Relieving the congestion involves breaking up the existing cells into many smaller cells using lower power transmissions. You don’t need a high power signal when you are standing right next to the cell tower.

These small cellular stations are called microcells, picocells and femtocells. A microcell covers an area about a mile wide, a picocell is 600 feet wide and a femtocell is a 30 foot cell. These small cells can cover a business district, a campus or even a single building to fill in dead spots or congestion in cellular coverage. They can be connected to the rest of the cellular phone system by traditional T1 line, Ethernet over Copper or even a broadband Internet connection.

You might have noticed that picocells have a similar coverage to WiFi hotspots. With the move to 4G for data and even VoIP voice, WiFi may turn into an alternative to the cellular phone networks. WiFi is built into nearly every Internet connected device already. WiFi routers have proliferated in both homes and offices. Many restaurants, hotels, auto service shops, retailers and other business locations already have free WiFi hotspots available. What’s missing is universal coverage and roaming. With cellular, you are free to move about while maintaining your connection. The system takes care of handing off the connection from cell to cell. With WiFi, you need to log into each hotspot individually. A similar system for WiFi plus higher power transmissions and more hotspots could make this a serious candidate for universal wireless broadband, especially free access.

In Part I, Part II, and Part III, we’ve seen how the coming juggernaut of wireless broadband Internet is sucking up all the available spectrum it can find and how more efficient techniques are being developed to make better use of existing spectrum. In Part IV, we’ll have a look at how technological improvements can open up additional bandwidth to satisfy our insatiable broadband appetite.

Is your business running short on bandwidth or simply looking to get a better deal? See what's available for your business location in the way of T-carrier and Ethernet copper, SONET and Ethernet fiber, fixed wireless and Hybrid Fiber Cable (HFC). Get instant bandwidth pricing up to 1 Gbps and fast quotes on other services.

Pay As You Go Broadband

Do you realize that there are millions of frustrated Internet users who don’t have broadband yet? You do if you happen to be one of them. WiFi hotspots and public access computers are fine up to a point. But you really want and need broadband on the privacy of your home computer or when you are on the go. What do you do when you can’t get DSL or Cable broadband?

One excellent answer is to go wireless. This is what every smartphone does. But what about that desktop computer? It needs a wire plugged in the back, doesn’t it?

Not anymore. Many of today’s computers, like the Apple iMac, have wireless connectivity built-in. It’s there to make it easy to locate your computer wherever you want without the hassle of drilling holes in the wall or floor and stringing wires. Most everyone connects their broadband modem to a WiFi router to enable all sorts of devices, such as game consoles, laptop and notebook computers, Internet-enabled TVs and tablets. So, why don’t you just connect your computers to the Internet by WiFi?

Nice idea, but unless you happen to live in a restaurant or hotel, just where are you going to get a WiFi broadband signal? From a DataJack MiFi, of course.

The MiFi is a beautiful device. It’s about the size of a deck of cards. Inside is a rechargeable battery, a WiFi hotspot that connects up to 5 WiFi enabled devices, plus a 3G wireless radio. The broadband signal is provided wirelessly from a myriad of 3G cellular broadband signals that are available in most populated places and some areas out in the boonies. You can check coverage to see if the signal blankets the areas where you live, work and roam. If so, you’re in luck.

But, wait a second. Doesn’t 3G broadband require you to sign a two year contract and go through a credit check? If you march into a cell phone store and demand service, that’s exactly what happens. There’s another alternative, however. That’s the DataJack 3G nationwide wireless network. DataJack offers 3G broadband service on a pay as you go basis. That means an affordable price, no contract fees, no credit check and no deposit required. Best of all, you can use DataJack to provide broadband to your desktop as well as your laptop and tablet computers.

You have a choice of connection device. You can buy a DataJack USB device that looks like a flash drive and plug it into the computer you want to power with broadband service. It even has a microSD memory card slot so you can take files with you like you would with any USB memory drive. Unlike a standard flash drive, this one lets you take 3G broadband to whatever computer you like.

The MiFi is a bit larger, but even more powerful. Some tablet computers and other devices are enabled for WiFi but don’t have USB jacks. The MiFi lets you set up a personal WiFi hotspot at the push of a button. Include your friends and colleagues or use all the capacity for yourself. When you need to move on, push the button again and slip the MiFi into your pocket.

The DataJack wireless broadband solution is ideal for many Internet users who either can’t get wireline broadband services or just don’t stay put in any one location enough to justify paying line charges for service they only occasionally use. It’s also great for mobile users who don’t want the commitment that comes with cellular contracts or the rejection of not having a great credit rating. Other users will find it’s a great backup service that keeps you connected when the Cable or DSL goes down.

The one caveat is that this service isn’t for heavy Internet addicts. If you are always downloading video programs, every song you can find or large software packages, you’ll find the 5GB monthly fair use limit restraining. For most everyone else, this is plenty of capacity for Web browsing, email, downloading content, order entry on the go, playing games and streaming video clips.

By the way, what broadband do you have when you leave town? Little or none with standard wireline services. With DataJack, you have broadband wherever you have signal coverage nationwide. Now, that’s Internet you can take with you.

Does this sound like the type of Internet service that would work for you? If so, learn more and get your DataJack 3G Wireless broadband device and service now.

What is 4G and Why Do You Want It?

You see ads for 3G cell phones and wireless modem aircards. Now here comes 4G. What is this advance in technology all about and why should you want it now?

2G, 3G, 4G. All those G’s, what do they mean? What we’re talking about is a shorthand for the generations of wireless broadband service. It’s been advancing so fast that it’s not unusual for different generations of service to be available in the same area. That’s by design. If you are in a weak service area for 3G, then your device will automatically seek out a lower speed service such as 2.5G or 2G. You won’t get as high a bandwidth, but at least you’ll be connected.

Wireless broadband is generally a companion service to cellular telephone. It uses the same towers and base stations. Coverage areas are pretty much the same. The exception is when a particular tower site hasn’t yet been upgraded to the latest cellular broadband generation. In that case, you’ll get a lower level of service until you move into the coverage of a cell tower that is at the latest standard.

I should mention here that there are two wireless broadband services that have nothing to do with cell phones. One is the WISP or Wireless Internet Service Provider that offers home and business broadband. You need to be within line of site of their tower and install an outdoor antenna on your roof. These WISPs are pretty much locally owned an operated, and generally serve locations that aren’t wired for DSL or Cable.

The other non-cellular wireless service is the WiFi hotspot. There are so many of them, that they could almost form a cellular-like network of their own. That hasn’t happened because hotspots are also largely local services, mostly offered by restaurants and hotels. There’s no network to tie them together, so once you leave a hotspot you have to log into another one at your next stop.

That’s where 4G steps in. Imagine that you are connected to a 4G service and are reading a document while parked in your car. You can go into a client’s office or your own and you’ll still be on the same service. The idea of 4G is to blanket a city with a signal strong enough that you have high bandwidth connectivity without worrying about where you are located.

But doesn’t 3G do that? To some extent, yes. But 4G has the advantage of higher bandwidths. With the 4G service that is available today using the WiMAX standard, you can get 3 to 6 Mbps on a normal basis, with bursts of to 10 Mbps.

WiMAX 4G is also not limited to mobile service the way that 2G and 3G are. It’s designed for both desktop and mobile service. That puts this 4G network in a class by itself. You can get a WiMAX modem for your desktop computer and a plug-in 4G aircard for your laptop computer. You’ll have the same service at your desk as you do on the road. There are even 4G phones coming out sometime this summer that look to become a game changer in the wireless service industry.

There are two standards that will dominate 4G service. One is LTE which will be deployed later this year and through 2011. The other is WiMAX broadband that is available now in many cities and states. Find out if your location qualifies for 4G wireless broadband
now.

4G WiMAX Wireless Broadband Available Now

Have you been frustrated by your choices in home and mobile broadband service? How would you like to find a wireless broadband Internet service that you can use at your desk and take with you on your laptop? Would you like it even more if this service was cheaper than DSL, Cable and 3G wireless? Would you go for it right now if this service was screaming fast? You should really check and see if you can get 4G WiMAX broadband.



What’s WiMAX and why is it better than other broadband service options? WiMAX is a new worldwide standard for high speed wireless data service. If you think the name sounds a lot like WiFi, you are right. In fact, you can think of WiMAX as the coming replacement for public WiFi hotspots. The MAX in WiMAX hints at why. This service gives you a hotspot that covers an entire city. It can extend for 20 or 30 miles. Compare that with WiFi that disappears in a couple of hundred feet.

If you want to go mobile and not have to constantly look for WiFi hotspots to connect, you are probably considering or have a 3G modem aircard. This is a USB device that looks like a flash memory dongle. But the modem aircard has a two-way digital radio inside that connects to a cellular broadband signal. That gives you broadband at speeds similar to entry level DSL but without the wires. The upgrade is 4G or fourth generation wireless broadband. WiMAX is the implementation of 4G that is deployed and working right now.

What does 4G WiMAX have to offer? How about typical download speeds in the range of 3 to 6 Mbps with occasional bursts to 10 Mbps? How about a service that needs no telephone or cable TV wiring even at a desktop location? How about a service that you can run at your desktop and then take with you on your laptop? That pretty much rules out the wireline services doesn’t it? Combine that with a service plan price that starts at $30 a month, and even 3G wireless is left in the dust. You can order home service, mobile service, a combination plan and a plan that even includes 4G VoIP phone service in the bundle.

Now the question is can you get 4G WiMAX broadband at your location? CLEAR offers this service in parts of Texas, Washington, Oregon, Illinois, Idaho, Nevada, Hawaii, North Carolina, Georgia and Pennsylvania. More locations are under construction right now. The only way to know for sure is to check for CLEAR 4G WiMAX broadband service availability. Give it a try and see if you’ve been missing out on faster, cheaper wireless broadband service.

CLEAR Sailing for 4G Wireless

You’ve heard that 4G wireless is coming. Well, CLEAR is deploying 4G WiMAX wireless services right now. If you are one of the lucky ones living in an area where CLEAR WiMAX high speed wireless broadband Internet is available, you’ll enjoy bandwidth similar to what you get from DSL or Cable, but without the wires. Various plans are available for home, mobile or both.

So, what’s WiMAX and what is the difference between 3G and 4G? WiMAX is an international standard for wireless broadband service. It’s been described as WiFi with a city-wide coverage area. Technically there are a lot of differences between WiFi and WiMAX, but that’s probably how you’ll use it.

WiMAX stands for Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access. It’s defined by IEEE standard 802.16. You’ll remember that WiFi is also an IEEE standard, 802.11. One difference between WiMAX and WiFi is that WiMAX uses licensed frequencies at high power. WiFi shares unlicensed frequencies with microwave ovens, Bluetooth headsets, cordless phones and other devices that operate at relatively low power levels. This is why you can get WiMAX in your car or at home, while WiFi disappears as soon as you drive away from the restaurant or leave your driveway.

Remember all the hoopla about kicking analog TV stations off the air so their channels could be sold to the highest bidder? Clearwire was one of the big winners in that spectrum auction and CLEAR WiMAX is the service they are offering on the channels they won. With no interference and towers transmitting powerful signals, WiMAX service can go for miles and even penetrate buildings. You’ll need a modem for your PC or MAC. It sits next to the computer on your desk or plugs into your WiFi router just like any other broadband modem. A WiMAX picks up its broadband Internet connection through the air. A smaller version looks like a USB memory stick and plugs into your laptop computer for mobile use. But WiMAX gives you service all over town, even in your car.

Isn’t that also true of 3G cellular broadband? Indeed it is. What WiMAX has to offer is generally higher speeds than 3G. That’s why it’s called 4G or fourth generation to indicate that it is a step up technically from 3G or third generation. How fast does WiMAX run? CLEAR says that the average expected download speeds are in the range of 3 Mbps to 6 Mbps, with occasional bursts up to 10 Mbps. Sustained rates of 3 to 6 Mbps are pretty rare for 3G mobile broadband.

Where is CLEAR WiMAX available? Right now it’s in selected areas of the country with more cities on the way as the build-out continues. The greatest concentration of service is in Texas, in almost a dozen cities. You’ll also find CLEAR in Hawaii, the Seattle-Portland area of the Pacific Northwest, Boise, Chicago, Las Vegas, Philadelphia, Atlanta and Milledgeville, Georgia, and Charlotte, Greensboro and Raleigh, North Carolina.

Another advantage of CLEAR WiMAX 4G is cost. Plans start at $30 a month, which is less many DSL and Cable broadband plans and much less than 3G cellular broadband. Being wireless, the equipment is shipped to you and you install and activate it yourself. No waiting around for the cable guys. Plus you can get combined home and mobile service, which is something DSL and Cable can’t offer.

Does this sound like a broadband service you might like to have? If so, learn more and order your CLEAR WiMAX 4G broadband service online now.

Internet Soothes The Savage Beasts

How do you get a bunch of unruly teenagers on a school bus to behave themselves on the trip to and from school? Have the driver scream threats? Hire a pro wrestler to intimidate them? Put in a spy camera and give the troublemakers detentions? Nope. The answer is much easier. Just give those kids access to WiFi Internet and you won’t hear a peep out of them.

That’s what Vail, Arizona has done to one of its busses. Reports are that once the WiFi router was installed, rowdy behavior simply disappeared. What’s more, there is more homework is getting done that ever before. Can you find a better return on your school district dollar than this?

Of course, not all of those students are likely writing term papers. Some are tweeting about their teachers, some are sending amorous emails to classmates, some are reading computer and science news sites, and I’ll bet a bunch are playing online games. It really doesn’t matter. The problem was discipline. The Internet was made available. Afterwards, no discipline problem.

I suspect there is a wider lesson to be learned here. We’re constantly hearing about those computer or gaming addicted kids who just won’t go outdoors and play. Yeah? Well, those are also the kids who aren’t tagging buildings with spray paint, stealing other kids’ lunch money, or terrorizing the neighborhood. Perhaps the solution to both childhood and adult behavioral problems is more Internet, not less.

There’s and old saying: “Idle hands are the devil’s playground.” That’s as true today as it ever was. For some kids, the under-supervision problem is severe, with parents absorbed by careers and social lives. A lot of adults fare no better. They’ve been trained through childhood and schooling to do what their teachers and then their bosses order. But with unemployment rampant, there is no boss anymore and they find themselves both directionless and squeezed financially.

What’s that got to do with the Internet? I think there’s a case to be made that universal Internet access is at least as important as universal telephone service or public libraries. The information world has changed dramatically in the last couple of decades. Everything is moving online, including communications, reference and research materials of all sorts, newspapers, job postings, magazines, games, and a lot of socializing and support. If you aren’t connected, you are more than disconnected. You are disadvantaged.

There’s something online for everyone. Whether you want to solve a puzzle, read up on what’s going on in the world, do your homework, look for a job, or even make your own job using your computer. Every profession, every trade, every hobby, every political action, and every interest is represented online. It’s even possible to go to college and get a degree online.

So, here’s something to roll around. How much could we reduce our juvenile delinquency and adult crime problems by making the Internet not only available, but mandatory? We need to insist on broadband everywhere as being as important as electricity and indoor plumbing everywhere. The “one laptop per child” project isn’t just important in Africa. It a crying need in the United States. Instead of turning kids into hunchbacks with backpacks loaded down with heavy and non-interactive textbooks, why not get those lessons online and accessible through the tablet or laptop computer every child gets from school day #1?

Yes, the vast majority of kids are going to use those computers for a lot more than grinding out rote homework assignments. They’ll be exploring all sorts of web sites, playing games, sending each other messages and whatever else they find interesting. We should be thankful that happens naturally. It’s curiosity, exploration and self-teaching that is going to be as important to their success as any assignments they’ll ever receive.

Can You Get To The Cloud?

Cloud computing and cloud storage are the emerging architecture for how we’ll all use computers before long. Advantages of doing everything in the cloud include not having to buy or maintain software, automatic backup for stored data, being able to access the same tools and data from anywhere using a variety of devices, and smaller, lighter computers themselves. In fact, your computer might turn out to be a netbook, cellphone or tablet. It sounds promising, but there remains one nagging question. Are you sure you can get to the cloud?

The WAN or Wide Area Network link is the weak link in this chain. If most computing is done locally or by downloading applications from an in-house server, you’ve got control of the system. You only lose your ability to communicate with the outside world when your link goes down. But lose that link on a cloud-based system and your client device becomes the proverbial doorstop -- one that's really too lightweight to make even a good doorstop. If everything you do is in the cloud, you’ve got to have a pathway to that cloud at all times.

Mobile device can get connection redundancy by having two wireless technologies embedded. The primary link is through the carrier’s data network that’s on the same towers used for cellular telephone service. You are more likely to encounter a weak signal area than for the carrier service to fail. But Hurricane Katrina taught us that even well designed wireless systems can go dark if the emergency is dire enough.

A commonly used second path is WiFi connectivity. WiFi has a couple of advantages. There’s almost always a WiFi hotspot, and usually a free one, within walking or driving distance. If the nearest hotspot is down because a line break has shut down all telecommunications in the area, you can simply venture out further until you find a place that’s connected to a different broadband service. It might be inconvenient, but at least you can get to your apps and data.

It’s not quite as easy to work around an outage in a bricks and mortar office or store. You can’t easily just have everybody pick up and move to the nearest coffee shop with service. Instead of depending on someone else for backup, you need to provide that redundancy yourself.

What makes a good backup service? A carbon copy of what you have now is better than nothing, but has limitations. For instance, if a nearby construction activity cuts the wire bundle containing your T1 line, it will likely cut through your second T1 line as well. In backing up T1 or DS3 connections, you want service from two separate suppliers that approach your building from different directions and have no wires or equipment in common. You may elect to set up your routers to use both lines normally but fall back to the single working line when failure occurs. That cuts your bandwidth in half, but everything else continues to work as usual.

You should think about what you need to get by during an emergency. Perhaps less bandwidth will slow things down but can be lived with for a short period of time. A T1 line makes a good backup for DS3 service despite the huge difference in bandwidth: 1.5 Mbps versus 45 Mbps. Since T1 is copper based and DS3 is fiber based, outages that affect one won’t necessarily take down the other.

You should also look at the newer Ethernet services for primary or backup bandwidth. An advantage of Ethernet is that it is often much lower cost per Mbps than traditional carrier grade services. It offers high reliability, and the lower speeds from 1 to 45 Mbps might be available over copper as well as fiber.

What’s the best backup service for your cloud based computing architecture? Check out the variety of bandwidth services available for your location.

Is Dial-Up Internet Doomed?

Once the undisputed ruler of the Internet, dial-up service, seems to be facing a bleak future. It's become a broadband world, with every technology from WiFi hotspots to DSL to two-way satellite to Cable Internet to Fiber to the Home to cellular WAN clawing at each other's users in hopes of getting them to switch services. Where does the once cutting edge 56K dial-up service fit in? Or does it?

If you are a heavy broadband user, you may be shocked to hear that as many as 20 or 30 million people in the U.S. still log-in to the bloodcurdling scream of the connecting telephone modem. Are these people Luddites? Masochists? Or do they live way out yonder where the cable lines don't go?

Actually, dial-up Internet users fall into two categories. Those who would switch to broadband in a second if there was a low priced alternative available and those who use the Internet so little that they loathe to pay anything at all. Dial-up works just fine for them, thank you.

Hey, it wasn't that long ago that dial-up worked just fine for all of us. You remember the last century, don't you? I'm so old I can fondly remember getting my first 2400 bps modem bundled with Prodigy service for the Mac. This was pre-Internet, but offered web-like pages that were actually generated by the software installed in the computer. The latest news and other information automatically downloaded from the service as needed to fill in the blanks.

The US Robotics 56K modems that came later were plenty fast enough for surfing text-heavy Web pages, sending and reading email, and even building your own site. As a regular modem upgrader, I came to expect constant performance improvements. But it all stopped at 56K. Why? Because that's all an analog telephone connection can handle. To be truthful, I never got the full 56 Kbps or anything close on our noisy lines. Connections at 36 to 48K were common, but completely usable.

I've had a cable broadband service for almost 10 years now. But I only gave up my dial-up account last year. Why? Because I was still getting significant traffic on that first website and the cable has only become dependable since Comcast took it over a couple of years ago. I cut the cord since my old faithful Web site faded into obscurity and the plethora of free WiFi hotspots nearby serve as an adequate backup ISP.

So if someone who is an avowed heavy Internet user hung on to dial-up service until just recently, it doesn't really surprise me that there are millions of casual users out there who don't feel the need for speed. It could be that email is their killer app. It could be that they only log-in occasionally. It could be that they are social users, not developers, and that the sites they visit aren't that resource demanding. How much speed do you really need for Google searches, Wikipedia, or Twitter?

Suffice it to say that the $9.95 a month dial-up service from NetZero looks really good compared to broadband prices. For $14.95 you can get an accelerated dial-up service that doesn't cram bits down the phone line any faster but gives the effect of faster loading pages by caching, reducing image sizes, pre-fetching and other technical tricks.

Even so, is NetZero destined to be the last dial-up ISP standing? There are forces afoot that might make it so. Most significant is the new rural broadband stimulus that is using public funds to bring at least 640 Kbps broadband to the hinterlands. If prices fall well below $20 a month for broadband, many dial-up stalwarts will be tempted to move on up to watching online videos and hanging out in resource demanding websites.

Frustrated rural residents who have their choice between pricey two-way satellite Internet or cheap dial-up will jump to low cost broadband in the blink of an eye. So will urban dwellers of modest incomes who need cheaper broadband for school work or launching their own online businesses.

There is also a whole class of users who get all the Internet access they need or want on their cell phones. The new touchscreen models with 3G connectivity can message, email, and bring up Web pages as efficiently as PCs running on typical broadband services. A recent entry, the netbook, is a notebook computer that runs on cellular broadband. Get used to one of these and the thought of having a wire connected to your computer just so you can access the Internet will seem quaint, indeed.

Dial-up is far from dead, and its demise may be extended well into the future by the crush of the current recessionary economy. But sooner or later the symbiotic relationship between dial-up modem and analog telephone line will be done for, as both technologies fade into the history of technology along with the telegraph, coal furnaces, and the Victrola.

4G Wireless Quietly Encroaching on 3G

To hear the cellular carriers describe it, the mobile world is going 3G wireless as the defined cutting edge technology available today. Meanwhile, a competing and faster technology is being slowly deployed, city by city, across the country. What's really going on?

It's actually little more than the usual pattern of technological improvement. It starts with an invention, in this case wireless data service, followed by steady improvements as time goes on. We saw this with the personal computer. Today's PC shares a lot of commonality with the one's of decades ago. You still have a CPU, disk drive, RAM, ROM, monitor, keyboard and mouse. But the speed and capacity of today's machines are orders of magnitude above the best you could buy years ago.

Mobile data is on a similar growth curve. WiFi hotspots are something of a unique product with a very limited coverage area, which is unlikely to change. Wide area mobile service is really the domain of the cellular carriers. By building an extensive network of towers and transmitting stations, they have wide footprint of wireless coverage for telephone calls. Piggybacking a data service on this same infrastructure is a logical and cost effective move.

What started as dial-up speed data service for mobile phones has been steadily improved down two paralleled paths, mirroring the two most popular types of cellular service. CDMA, used by Verizon Wireless, Sprint and Alltel, offers EV-DO and EV-DO Rev. A cellular broadband. GSM, used by AT&T and T-Mobile, offers EDGE and HSPA broadband. The latest incarnations are considered third generation or 3G. Access is now available through many if not most cell phones, wireless aircards used as adaptors for laptop computers, and built into the latest netbook computers.

The 3G services aren't done evolving, but they soon will be. AT&T wants to double it's current 3 Mbps peak speed over the next couple of years. Verizon and Sprint are on a similar upgrade path, perhaps a little faster at deployment.

But one carrier isn't waiting for the 3G marketplace to mature. They're already moving ahead to 4G. That carrier is Sprint, in combination with Clearwire. Since the company carries the Clearwire name, those not watching this closely might not realize that it's related to the competitive cellular business.

The 4G technology is WiMAX, which stands for Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access. It doesn't interfere with current cellular operations or use the same transmission frequencies. It's being launched in parallel with today's 3G networks. In a few cities you can have your choice of 3G or 4G. Download speeds for the 4G WiMAX service are typically 4 to 6 Mbps with bursts beyond 15 Mbps.

WiMAX also isn't being touted as a cellular technology. There's no cellphone service or handsets. Instead, WiMAX is being offered as a broadband Internet service for home or business, with a mobile service available through plug-in aircards like those used for 3G cellular. You can also get VoIP telephone service bundled, similar to what is offered by cable and telephone companies.

Where is WiMAX 4G service available? It's been deployed in Baltimore, Portland OR, and just recently Atlanta. The plan is also to launch service in Chicago, Charlotte, Dallas / Ft. Worth, Honolulu, Philadelphia and Seattle this year. By the end of 2010, Clearwire expects to be service 80 major cities in the U.S.

AT&T's 4G service will be based on LTE or Long Term Evolution technology. Verizon is planning a similar approach. LTE won't get started for a year or so, but it will follow a similar approach to WiMAX in that it will use different channels than those in use for 3G, so that both 3G and 4G services can exist simultaneously.

There is some thought that once 4G technologies mature, 3G will be phased out. Perhaps the current cell phone technologies will follow suit. The trend is toward converged IP networks for everything. That suggests that VoIP running on 4G networks along with data service on the same channels will be the new wireless communications technology.

Cellular Netbooks Are Downright Cheap

Is most of your computing done on the run? If so, you may be interested in a computer that's optimized for mobile use. That's one of the new netbooks with built-in 3G cellular Internet access.

What's so special about the netbook computer? After all, laptops aren't all THAT big and they do a nice job at the coffee shop.

Sure they do. In fact, if there were no netbooks a laptop with a wireless modem aircard would do the same job. Well, if you don't mind lugging a big padded bag with a big heavy computer with more stuff inside than you really need.

Mobile computing is what netbooks are optimized for. They're about half the size and weight of a standard laptop computer. They have much larger screens than smartphones and full QWERTY keyboards with decent size keys. That puts them a step above smartphones and messaging centric cell phones when it comes to Internet access. They also have hard disk drives, fast processors and enough RAM to run a standard operating system. Two popular models run Windows XP Home Edition.

What netbooks don't have is CD ROM or DVD drives. They're optimized for operation on the Internet, not running sophisticated image manipulation software or playing DVD movies. You can get your multimedia experience online, as needed. Because they're Internet machines, netbooks are gravitating toward having built-in 3G cellular wireless connectivity to augment the standard WiFi access.

What 3G wireless gives you is the ability to use your computer on the Internet wherever you happen to be. Cellular towers transmit both voice and data signals. The wireless modem aircards in netbooks pick up only the data signals, so they are not useful as cell phones. But they will let you browse the web and send email while parked in your car, on the bus or at a client's place of business. Ready to close an order? Pull out your netbook and enter it online while sitting next to the customer.

If you want to buy a netbook, you'll find them priced less than laptops but still in the $300 to $600 range. You can get your netbook for a fraction of that by ordering it along with a cellular data plan. How cheap? How about $49.99 for an Acer Aspire One bundled with a 2 year AT&T 3G wireless plan. The carrier subsidizes the cost of the netbook just like they do on cell phones. You need to commit to a 5 GB monthly data plan for $60 per month.

What are the hottest cell phone deals available right now, including free cell phones? Use the Cell Phone Plan Finder to check out the top phones and associated wireless service plans. You can also buy these machines without a data plan for more money and simply use the WiFi connectivity in hotspots.

If you would rather have a smartphone or other cell phone with Internet access, such as a BlackBerry, check out the free and low cost options available at Cell Phone Plans Finder right now.

T-Mobile 3G Aircard For PC and Mac

Would you like to be able to connect your laptop computer to the T-Mobile 3G mobile data network? How about free access to T-Mobile HotSpots? Ah, what you need is the T-Mobile webConnect USB Laptop Stick.

This "stick" is a wireless modem aircard with a swiveling USB connector. It plugs into a USB port on your PC or Macintosh computer. For PCs you'll need to be running Windows XP or Vista. For Macs, it's OS X 10.3.9 or higher.

An advantage of this aircard is that it gives you access to the Internet just about anywhere you can get a T-Mobile cellular signal. That's much of the U.S., although you should check the coverage maps to make sure you'll get a strong signal where you expect to be. In strong 3G signal areas, you'll be connected at speeds comparable to DSL or Cable Modems using the HSDPA protocol. In weaker areas, you'll still get EDGE 2G connectivity for broadband or near-broadband speeds.

You'll also be connected to T-Mobile WiFi HotSpots with unlimited free access. Normally you have to pay a fee to connect to these in Starbucks coffee shops, Borders Books, FedEX Kinko's Office and Print Centers and various airports and major airline clubs. But buy this aircard and data service plan and you'll get the HotSpots thrown in free.

Note that the built-in T-Mobile Connection Manager finds you the best connection for where you are, be it 2G, 3G or WiFi, and makes the connection. That greatly expands your ability to operate at broadband speeds just about everywhere.

But there's even more. The webConnect USB Laptop Stick features a built-in microSD slot that supports up to 8 GB memory cards. Use this instead of another portable flash memory drive when you are on the go.

What are the hottest cell phone deals available right now, including free cell phones? Use the Cell Phone Plan Finder to check out the top phones and associated wireless service plans.