Fastest Type of Internet Connection
By Bob Rankin
Internet connections defined, explained and evaluated…and don’t forget to test your internet speed for free.–PC Pitstop
The Fastest Internet Connection?
Everyone wants the fastest Internet connection they can get. Today, the giants in high-speed Internet are DSL (digital subscriber line) and cable modem service. But a newer technology called fiber optics blows them both out of the water, if you can get it. Here’s how they stack up, speed-wise…
Which Internet Connection is Fastest?
DSL is the original “broadband” consumer Internet technology. It operates over the same copper wires that bring telephone service into your home. Those wires are connected to a “central office” facility. The maximum speed you can get on a DSL connection is highly dependent on how far your home is from the central office (CO). The theoretical maximum download speed of DSL is about 40 Mbps.
Cable modem technology runs over coaxial cable, the thicker, shielded wire that brings cable TV into your home. Coaxial cable may be connected to cable service provider facilities up to 100 miles from your home. The theoretical maximum speed of a cable Internet connection is 400 Mbps – ten times faster than DSL.
But you won’t see anywhere near the maximums from either cable or DSL. Service providers throttle download speed to each home in order to serve more customers. Additionally, the number of users in your service area will affect how much cable bandwidth is available to each user. You may have noticed that your Internet connection is slowest in the late afternoon and early evening, when all of your neighbors are online.
PC Pitstop offers a FREE Internet Speed Test.
Excerpt shared with permission from Bob Rankin.
