Internet: What Should You Be Looking For?

Internet: What Should You Be Looking For? By Marvin Garellek, Contributing Editor to Main Street Life is about choices, and that's no different when you're shopping for high-speed internet. But what should you be looking for? "High speed internet" is a relative term and what is high speed? To people that still have dial-up 1Mbps would be high speed, but not to people that already experienced or have 5Mbps. Not everyone needs the fastest connection. Take a moment to consider what you need your broadband Internet for you should have a clearer idea of the speeds that you need. The average residential user surfs the Internet, email, listens to music and chats with friends on Facebook. Any speed higher than 500Kbps works well for the average user. It is those users that download lots of music and movies, or graphic designers, gamers or engineers that send large files that require higher speeds. There are a lot of providers out there and each of them has different features and (usually) speeds available in packages that can range from the cheap and affordable to the downright ridiculous. Right now there is the telephone company, the cable company, the wireless company and the satellite company and not all serve every market. Look for bundles! For users who want a little more and pay a little less on the total bill, you can bundle up your internet access with TV and phone depending on the provider. Shop around if you want to save money on your telecommunication and entertainment services with a technology bundle you have to start balancing your choices. You may find yourself attracted to one provider's TV package but be less enthused with their broadband. You may have found a great deal on cable packages. Figure out your priorities, know them and then shop around for the best options in finding the high speed internet provider that has the right deal for you. While you are shopping around, think about what the Internet will be in a few years. Our society couldn’t operate today without Wi-Fi, but it didn’t become prevalent until the early to mid-2000s. Before that, we used Ethernet cables and before that, our primary method of connecting to the web was via phone lines. Every few years, the method of accessing the web changes to be faster and more accessible. In the future the web will be accessible from anywhere and at any time. Right now if you are in or near a major city you can access the web on any device with a data plan like your Smartphone. Wi-Fi/WiMaxx is used by Wireless Internet Service Providers like GROUPE-ACCES (GAC) to serve rural customers. Also known as Fixed Wireless Broadband, this is the most exciting prospect for the future and seems logical given the direction of web technology today. The point is that more devices will have access to these networks and that these networks will be more prevalent as time goes on. Ten to twenty years down the road, people will wonder how we managed without connectivity to our laptops and hand help devices. Do your homework and get connected.