Decoding Internet Speed Talk

You hear all the time these days about 3G networks and high-speed Internet

, but do you actually know what all those random numbers and terms mean? Sure, you know that 3G is faster than 2G, but how much faster is it? What does that extra speed actually allow you to do? Figuring out how fast your Internet is and what kind of speed you actually need can save you both from waiting hours on big downloads and from paying way too much for speed you dont need. Before you go and buy the fastest Internet on the market, you should learn how to decode all that talk about different speeds. So, the actual numbers that go with Internet speeds can be a little difficult for the average Joe to understand. CLEAR, a new high-speed Internet provider, for instance, offers 4G speed broadband Internet connections, which are supposed to be four times faster than 3G connections. CLEARs website says that its download speeds average three to six Megabits per second. Does that make any sense to you? Heres how to break this all down so that you can figure out just what kind of Internet connection you actually need. Terms like 3G and 4G actually mean third generation and fourth generation. They arent really numbers that mean anything other than that each generation is obviously a little more advanced than the last. As technology advances, so do the generations, whether theyre for mobile phones or Internet connections. At the rate that technology is advancing today, a fourth generation product is actually going to be a lot more advanced than a third generation product. Okay, that was pretty easy to understand, but now were going to get into things that are a little more complex. Remember that our example, CLEAR, said it averaged between three and six Megabits per second? Okay, a bit, in this case, is basically a piece of electronic information that your computer sends and receives. When youre connected to the Internet, your computer is constantly receiving information from cyberspace and sending information back to it. The more Megabits per second that your computer can send, the faster your Internet connection is going to seem. What were basically talking about here is bandwidth. Imagine that your computer is connected to cyberspace by a pipe. The pipe that you would have had about ten years ago could be the size of your thumb, so information could only go to and from your computer very slowly. Back then, bandwidth the size of this pipe was measured in Kilobits per second. Now, though, most average pipes are much, much larger than that like the size of a car tire compared to the size of a thumb. Because of this, we measure bandwidth in Megabits per second. One Megabit is equal to 1,000 Kilobits, if that gives you an idea of how far weve come. The Internet speed you need will depend on what you do with your Internet. CLEARs speed of three to six MBPS will give you good speed for playing games and downloading things. You may get by with less than that if you dont do much but check email, but if you play online games or download lots of music and pictures, youre going to want more bandwidth.

Decoding Internet Speed Talk

By: Laura Williamson

POST COMMENT

Get Wireless Internet and Stay Connected Anywhere Locating Tennessee Salvage Yards by The Internet Drive by Downloads Turbomeeting By Rhub, No Download Required, No Monthly Fees Internet Bingo Continues to Grow in 2010 Funny Videos Are All Over The Internet 3 Things You Must Do After Attending Every Networking Event Download Tokobot For Free! Download The Bigs 2 For Free! Download Jak and Daxter The Lost Frontier For Free! Big Name Internet Marketing Coaching Planet Puzzle League ds download How to Start a Profitable Home Based Internet Business