There are millions of avid Internet users surfing the Web in the United States today. North Americans account for slightly more than 1/5 of the world’s Internet usage. It’s not a huge surprise since we tend to consume a lot of everything. However and despite our heavy usage, we’re not completely Internet greedy because not everyone in America who is using the Internet is surfing the fastest wave. In fact, some are just cruising.
Currently, there are two main kinds of Internet services. I could describe them as fast and slow but since those are not very technical terms and I’m speaking about a technical topic, I’ll describe them by category: dial-up and broadband. Dial-up Internet service is the mode through which most Americans got their first experience with the Internet. Dial-up users access the Internet through their telephone line. Dial-up Internet service, while convenient and offering access to the same Internet as every other Internet service, works well when doing basic searches but can seem excruciatingly slow when navigating the today’s multimedia websites. Plus, you can’t make or receive calls while on dial-up Internet. This is not the case with Broadband Internet.
Broadband Internet is designed to help you do everything fast. With broadband, you can search, download, and upload while still being able to make phone calls and you aren’t at as much risk of losing your Internet connection. That’s why a majority of Internet users prefer one of the four broadband (aka high-speed) Internet services:
Satellite Broadband Internet – Just like it sounds, satellite Internet requires you to tap into satellite signals to gain access to the Internet.
DSL High-speed Internet – DSL stands for digital subscriber line. Internet service is provided via the DSL, which allows for data to be split into two channels: one for voice data and one for electronic data. This channel split is what allows DSL users to talk on the phone and surf the Internet at the same time.
Cable High-speed Internet - Cable Internet uses the cable connection from your cable TV provider as a means to access the Internet.
FiOS Broadband Internet – The newest type of high-speed Internet is FiOS Internet. It uses fiber optic cables to provide Internet services. Because it’s so new, FiOS is only available from select providers.
As for speed, satellite Internet is the slowest of the broadband Internet services and FiOS is the fastest so that leaves cable and DSL Internet running neck and neck in the middle. All of them, however, are faster than dial-up. Surprisingly though, dial-up Internet still maintains a fair amount of popularity among Internet users; Currently, 44% of North American population still uses dial-up Internet service.
So what does it all mean? I’m not certain. I’d say it means one of two things: (1) North Americans are learning to be more patient or (2) North Americans are slowly catching on that shelling out a couple extra bucks per month to surf the Internet faster is well worth the time they save waiting on dial-up. Personally, I think the latter is more likely. What about you?
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