Comparing common Internet-connection
speeds
Many moons ago (ah, to be younger, dumber, and blessed with more hair), I
tried connecting my laptop to the Internet by using my cellphone as a dialup
modem. I fried phone after phone before I finally gave up on that idea. Why
the fry (sorry about that)? The main reason was that the Internet download
speeds were only 19 Kbps. That was good enough for e-mail, but if I wanted
to surf the Net, I was out of luck: The simplest of Web sites appeared at glacial
speed, if at all. (On more than one occasion, I fell asleep while waiting.)
My cellphone created a bottleneck through which data, no matter how
fast it'd been moving before it got to my phone, could only travel at no
more than 19 Kbps.
No matter how fast any part of a connection might be, the overall speed of
the entire connection will be limited to the slowest portion.
It's a pretty safe bet that the greatest limit on the performance you experience
with Wi-Fi will be the method used to connect the hotspot's access point to
the Internet. Here's a look at the most common connection scenarios:
Dialup: Most of you are probably familiar with the earliest of Internet
connection methods. I, at one time, had a dialup connection rated at 28
Kbps (some of the earliest were between 7 and 10 Kbps), but for the
most part, dialup connections move data at a maximum rate of 56 Kbps.
Broadband: Taking the form of a cable or DSL connection, broadband
speeds are typically in the 700Kbps range. Whenever I've checked my
cable connection speed, I've found it varies quite a bit. The lowest rate I
measured was 238 Kbps -- and the highest was 768 Kbps. The DSL
providers in my area offer similar speeds.
Satellite: Also known as Very Small Aperture Terminal (VSAT), a connec-
tion via satellite can take on many forms. Depending on the carrier and
connection plan, connection speeds can range from around 500 Kbps to
as high as 2 Mbps.
T-1 line: Although not at the absolute top of the heap when it comes to
speed, a T-1 connection moves data at a pretty respectable rate -- 1.544
Mbps. These connections can be pretty speedy; they're found, most
commonly, as a connection for hotspots and businesses.
Part I: The Wonderful World of Wireless Fidelity
Page 26
