subject: Video Gamers - A Dial Up Connection Will Not Cut It [print this page] Computer games have advanced by leaps and bounds since the early days of solitaire and electronic checkers. Games today have the same graphics, audio, and complexity of most major motion pictures and can transport the gamer to a new and exciting virtual world. A world filled with players from across the globe, all enjoying the realistic sounds and moves available in the game. But Beware! While this virtual world is available to all, you must have the correct type of internet connection to enjoy all the features available to a true gamer.
Once dominated by males, age 25 and older, gamers today include elementary school kids, grandparents, and everyone in between. All these potential gamers, however, will not be able t o enjoy the full effect of their games if they don't switch to broadband and continue to use a dial-up connection.
The differences between dial-up and broadband are vast. Broadband allows you to send and receive highly detailed and realistic imagery at the correct speed. This is possible because broad band uses a single medium (wire) to carry several channels of information and data transmission at one time. For the layman out there this just means that a log of people can send and receive data all at once. With a dial-up connection you can either send or receive, you cannot do both.
An integrated Services Digital Network (ISDN) is able to transmit voice, video, and data over a fiber optic telephone line, this allows for a faster data transfer of about 64 kbps (64,000 bits per second) as compared to a dial-up connection with a transfer speed of only 2400 bps. This faster connection allows the gamer to enjoy real time connection to the other players in a room and stunning graphics without the wait.
Most ISDN lines offered by the telephone companies use two separate lines called B channels, allowing you to use one line for voice and the other for data. If, however, you use both lines for data, you can get a transfer rate of 128 kbps, three times the speed provided by today's modems.
The best way to optimize your gaming experience would be to contact your ISP (Internet Service Provider) and request a Broadband ISDN connection. The combination of Broadband and ISDN will give you a transfer rate of about 1.5 million bps, making dial-up look like it is moving at a snail's pace.
As you can see, in order to have the ultimate gaming experience dial-up just doesn't work. In order to get in-your-face graphics, realistic sound, and real time playing you must upgrade your system to Broadband, ISDN, or a combination of both. With the different types of internet connections available today there is no reason you should not be able to join the rest of the world in playing the various games available online. If you have discovered online games and still have your old dial-up connection...we're sorry. Demand better, you deserve it!
Video Gamers - A Dial Up Connection Will Not Cut It
