From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Internet access
Internet access
Internet access is a service that provides access to the The gap between people with Internet access and
global system of interconnected computer networks those without it is one of the many aspects of digital
known as the Internet. Consumer use first became popular divide. Digital divide refers to “the gap between people
through dial-up connections in the 20th century. By the with effective access to information and communications
21st century, most products were marketed using the technology (ICT), and those with very limited or no ac-
term "broadband". cess to ICT”. ICT consists of “televisions, telephones,
videos and computers”.[11] Internet access is dependent
Proliferation of users on access to ICT. Whether someone has access to the In-
ternet can depend greatly on financial status, geograph-
Main article: List of countries by number of Internet ical location as well as government policy. “Low-income,
users rural, and minority populations have received special
Internet use around the world has been growing rapidly. scrutiny as the technological "have-nots."[12] Access to
With market saturation the phase of rapid growth is end- computers is the most dominant factor in determining
ing in industrialized countries, but the spread continues Internet access. The United States has invested billions of
in Asia,[1] Africa, Latin America, the Caribbean and the dollars in efforts to breach the digital divide and grant In-
Middle East. For example, the PC Conectado program ternet access to more people in low-income areas of the
helped the industry to grow in Brazil. United States.[12] In 2009, The National Center for Educa-
Approximately 500 million broadband subscribers tion Statistics reported 93% of classroom computers had
were in service in 2010.[2] Internet access; and there was about one computer avail-
To promote economic development and reduction of able per every five students. The Obama administration
the digital divide, national broadband plans from around has continued this commitment of breaching the digital
the world promote the universal availability of affordable divide and expanding Internet to rural and low-income
broadband connectivity. areas through stimulus money.[12]
Government policies play a tremendous role in Inter-
Socioeconomic access issues net access. Egypt experienced five days with no Inter-
net access on January 28, 2011 due to a decision made
by their president, Hosni Mubarak. The freedom that the
Access as a human right people of Egypt had to access information was taken
Further information: Right to Internet access from them. Internet access has changed the way in which
The United Nations has proposed that Internet access many people think and has become an integral part of
should be a human right. This push was made when it our economic, political, and social lives. Providing Inter-
called for universal access to basic communication and net access to more people in the world will allow them to
information services at the UN Administrative Commit- take advantage of the “political, social, economic, educa-
tee on Coordination. In 2003, during the World Summit tional, and career opportunities” given through Internet
on the Information Society, another claim for this was access.[10]
made.[3][4]
In some countries such as Estonia,[5] France, [6] Rural broadband provision
Spain,[7] Finland[8] and Greece,[9] Internet access has al-
Main article: Broadband universal service
ready been made a human right.
One of the great challenges of broadband is to provide
service to potential customers in areas of low population
Internet access as part of the digital di- density, such as to farmers, ranchers, and small towns.
vide In cities where the population density is high, it is easier
Main article: Digital divide for a service provider to recover equipment costs, but
Access to the Internet has grown from 10 million in 1993 each rural customer may require expensive equipment to
to almost 40 million in 1995 and 670 million in 2002. It get connected. While 66% of Americans had an Internet
is estimated that the Internet now has 1.97 billion users. connection in 2010, that figure was only 50% in rural ar-
Despite this tremendous growth, Internet access has not eas, according to the Pew Internet & American Life Pro-
been distributed equally throughout the world.[10] ject.[13] Virgin Media advertised over 100 towns across
1
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Internet access
the United Kingdom "from Cwmbran to Clydebank" that bandwidth increases. Fixed costs represent 80-90% of the
have access to their 100 Mbit/s service.[14] cost of providing broadband service[citation needed], and al-
Wireless Internet Service Provider (WISPs) are rapid- though most ISPs keep their cost secret, the total cost
ly becoming a popular broadband option for rural ar- (January 2008) is estimated to be about $0.10 per giga-
eas.[15] The technology’s line-of-sight requirements may byte[citation needed].
hamper connectivity in some areas with hilly and heavily Currently some ISPs estimate that about 5% of users
foliated terrain. However, the Tegola project, a successful consume about 50% of the total bandwidth.[17]
pilot in remote Scotland, demonstrates that wireless can To ensure these high-bandwidth users do not slow
be a viable option.[16] down the network, many ISPs have split their users’
The Broadband for Rural Nova Scotia initiative is the bandwidth allocations into ’peak’ and ’off peak’, encour-
only North American program to guarantee access to aging users to download large files late at night. [18]
"100% of civic addresses" in a region. It is based on Mo- In order to provide additional high bandwidth pay
torola Canopy technology. As of Nov. 2011 under 1000 services[19] without incurring the additional costs of ex-
households have reported access problems. Deployment panding current broadband infrastructure, ISPs are ex-
of a new cell network by one Canopy provider (Eastlink) ploring new methods to cap current bandwidth usage by
was expected to provide the alternative of 3G/4G service, customers.[20]
possibly at a special unmetered rate, for those harder to Some ISPs have begun experimenting with usage-
serve by Canopy. The Nova Scotia provincial government based pricing, notably a Time Warner test in Beaumont,
maintained a C$500,000 holdback in trust until all these Texas.[21] The effort to expand usage-based pricing into
concerns had been addressed.[citation needed] the Rochester, New York area met with public resistance,
however, and was abandoned.[22] In Canada, Rogers Hi-
Availability Speed Internet and Bell Canada have imposed bandwidth
caps on customers.[citation needed]
Besides offices and residences, there are public places to
use the Internet, including libraries and Internet cafes,
where computers with Internet connections are avail-
Rise of "broadband" and "high
able. Some libraries provide stations for connecting speed" Internet
users’ laptops to local area networks (LANs).
There are wireless Internet access points in public access,
Broadband Internet access often shortened to just
places such as airport halls, in some cases just for brief Internet,
"broadband" and also known as high-speed Internet is
use while standing. These access points may also provide a term describing a service that provides a bit-rate sup-
coin operated computers. Various terms are used, such ported is higher than (or considerably higher than) a 56
as "public Internet kiosk", "public access terminal", and kbit/s modem.
"Web payphone". Many hotels also have public termi- Broadband Internet access may give access to Inter-
nals, though these are usually fee based. net services such as:
Coffee shops, shopping malls and other venues also • Much faster world wide web browsing
offer wireless access to computer networks, referred to • Telephony, radio, television and videoconferencing
as hotspots, for users who bring their own wireless-en- • Virtual private networks and remote systems
abled devices such as a laptop or PDA. These services administration
may be free to all, free to customers only, or fee-based. • Online gaming especially massively multiplayer
A hotspot need not be limited to a confined location. The online role-playing games which are interaction-
whole campus or park, or even the entire city can be en- intensive
abled. Grassroots efforts have led to wireless community "Broadband penetration" is now treated as a key eco-
networks. nomic indicator.[23][24]
Even though information signals generally travel
nearly the speed of light in the medium no matter what
Pricing the bit rate, higher rate services are often marketed as
Traditionally, Internet service providers have used an "faster" or "higher speeds".[25] Data is transmitted more
"unlimited" or flat rate model, with pricing determined quickly over a broadband network in the sense that the
by the maximum bitrate chosen by the customer, rather number of signals (bits) transmitted per second is higher.
than an hourly charge. With increased consumer demand Bit rate is a measure of throughput, but latency is also a
for streaming content such as video on demand and peer- consideration.
to-peer file sharing, the use of high bandwidth applica-
tions has increased rapidly. History
For ISPs who are bandwidth limited, the flat rate pric- The term broadband was originally a reference to multi-
ing model may become unsustainable as demand for frequency communication, as opposed to baseband. The
2
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Internet access
term adopted a second meaning, which became synony- that most users will not be using their full connection ca-
mous with higher-speed data transmission compared pacity very frequently. This aggregation strategy (known
with acoustic modems. as a contended service) works more often than not, so
The US National Information Infrastructure project users can typically burst to their full bandwidth most of
during the 1990s brought the term into public policy de- the time; however, peer-to-peer (P2P) file sharing sys-
bates.[26] Broadband became a marketing buzzword for tems, often requiring extended durations of high band-
telephone and cable companies to sell their more expen- width usage, violate these assumptions, and can cause
sive higher data rate products, especially for Internet ac- major problems for ISPs. In some cases the contention ra-
cess [27]
cess. tio, or a download cap, is agreed in the contract, and busi-
In the U.S. National Broadband Plan of 2009 it was de- nesses and other customers, who need a lower conten-
fined as "Internet access that is always on and faster than tion ratio or even an uncontended service, are typically
the traditional dial-up access".[28] The same agency has charged more.
defined it differently through the years.[29] When traffic is particularly heavy, the ISP can de-
In 2000, most residential access was by dial-up, while liberately throttle back users traffic, or just some kinds
access from businesses was usually by broadband Inter- of traffic. This is known as traffic shaping. Careful use
net access connections. In subsequent years, dial-up has of traffic shaping by the network provider can ensure
declined.[citation needed] Wireless and satellite Internet are quality of service for time critical services even on ex-
often available in rural or undeveloped areas where tremely busy networks, but overuse can lead to concerns
wired Internet is not. about network neutrality if certain types of traffic are se-
verely or completely blocked. As consumers continue to
Data rates adopt broadband services, available speeds are general-
Dial-up modems are limited to a bitrate of about 60 kbit/s ly increasing. For existing connections, this most of the
and require the dedicated use of a telephone line — time simply involves reconfiguring the existing equip-
whereas broadband technologies supply more than this ment at each end of the connection.[citation needed]
rate and generally without disrupting telephone use.
Although various minimum bandwidths and maxi- Other considerations
mum latencies have been used in definitions of broad- The Broadband for Rural Nova Scotia initiative applied
band, ranging from 64 kbit/s up to 4.0 Mbit/s,[30] a 2006 fairly complex criteria to assess an acceptable "broad-
Organization for Economic Co-operation and Develop- band" solution for its clients, and rejected some propos-
ment (OECD) report[23] defined broadband as having als for reasons that had nothing to do with data rate,
download data transfer rates equal to or faster than including usage based billing, high latency, and service
256 kbit/s, while the United States Federal Communica- throttling.
tions Commission (FCC) as of 2010, defines "Basic Broad-
band" as data transmission speeds of at least 4 megabits Speeds needed for Internet video
per second, downstream (from the Internet to the user’s As the bandwidth delivered to end users increases, the
computer) and 1 Mbit/s upstream (from the user’s com- market expects that video on demand services streamed
puter to the Internet).[31] The trend is to raise the thresh- over the Internet will become more popular, though at
old of the broadband definition as the marketplace rolls the present time such services generally require special-
out faster services.[32] The standards group CCITT de- ized networks[citation needed]. The data rates on most[citation
fined "broadband service" in 1988 as requiring transmis- needed] broadband services still do not suffice to provide
sion channels capable of supporting bit rates greater good quality video, as MPEG-2 video requires about
than the primary rate which ranged from about 1.5 to 6 Mbit/s for good results. Adequate video for some pur-
2 Mbit/s.[33] poses becomes possible at lower data rates, with rates of
Common consumer broadband technologies such as 768 kbit/s and 384 kbit/s used for some video conferenc-
ADSL are "asymmetric"—supporting much lower maxi- ing applications, and rates as low as 100 kbit/s used for
mum upload data rate than download. Data rates are de- videophones using H.264/MPEG-4 AVC. The MPEG-4 for-
fined in terms of maximum download because in practice, mat delivers high-quality video at 2 Mbit/s, at the low
the advertised maximum bandwidth is not always reli- end of cable modem and ADSL performance.
ably available to the customer. Consumers are also tar-
geted by advertisements for peak transmission rates,[34]
while actual end-to-end rates observed in practice can be Technologies
lower due to other factors.[35] Physical link quality can Common methods of consumer Internet access in 2011
vary, and ISPs usually allow a greater number of sub- include:
scribers than their backbone connection or neighbour- • Dial-up (including ISDN)
hood access network can handle, under the assumption • Asymmetric digital subscriber line (ADSL)
3
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Internet access
• Internet over cable television lines include VDSL and pushing optical fibre connections clos-
• LAN (PPPoE) - usually in areas of high population er to the subscriber in both telephone and cable plants.
density Fibre-optic communication, while only recently being
• Wi-Fi hotspots used in fibre to the premises and fibre to the curb
• Wireless Internet service provider - sometimes schemes, has played a crucial role in enabling Broadband
simply called ’microwave’ Internet access by making transmission of information
• Mobile broadband over terrestrial mobile phone over larger distances much more cost-effective than cop-
networks using CSD, GPRS, EDGE, EVDO, HSPA, etc. per wire technology.
either through mobile phones or PCs In a few areas not served by cable or ADSL, commu-
• Satellite Internet nity organizations have begun to install Wi-Fi networks,
See also: Last mile#Existing last mile delivery sys- and in some cities and towns local governments are in-
tems and Local loop stalling municipal Wi-Fi networks. The newest technolo-
As of 2011, the following methods see a smaller usage gy being deployed for mobile and stationary broadband
share: access is WiMAX and LTE, and other technologies in use
• Data-only cellular networks like WiMAX and LTE include fixed wireless, e.g. Motorola Canopy
• Leased line From around of 2006, broadband mobile Internet ac-
• Broadband over power line cess is increasingly available at the consumer level using
• IP over DVB "3G" technologies such as HSDPA and EV-DO technolo-
• Fiber to the home gies.
• Wireless mesh network - mostly military and One
laptop per child use DSL (ADSL/SDSL)
• Packet radio Main article: Digital subscriber line
• Free-space optical communication DSL (Digital Subscriber Line) provides a connection to the
• Wizzy Digital Courier Internet through the telephone network. Unlike dial-up,
At the turn of the century most residential access was DSL can operate using a single phone line without pre-
by dial-up while access from businesses was usually by venting normal use of the telephone line for phone calls.
higher speed connections. In subsequent years dial-up DSL uses the high frequencies, while the low (audible)
declined. frequencies of the line are left free for regular telephone
Access technologies generally use a modem, which communication.[36] These frequency bands are subse-
converts digital data to analog for transmission over a quently separated by physical filtering devices added to
particular analog network (ex. the telephone or cable the telephones.
networks).[36] DSL originally stood for "digital subscriber loop". In
telecommunications marketing, the term digital sub-
Dial-up scriber line is widely understood to mean Asymmetric
Main article: Dial-up Digital Subscriber Line (ADSL), the most commonly in-
This technology dials into the network through an exist- stalled technical variety of DSL. The data throughput of
ing phone line, creating a semi-permanent link to the In- consumer DSL services typically ranges from 256 kbit/s
ternet.[36] Operating on a single channel, it monopolis- to 20 Mbit/s in the direction to the customer (down-
es the phone line and is the slowest method of accessing stream), depending on DSL technology, line conditions,
the Internet. Dial-up is often the only form of Internet ac- and service-level implementation. In ADSL, the data
cess available in rural areas as it requires no infrastruc- throughput in the upstream direction, (i.e. in the direc-
ture, other than the already existing telephone network, tion to the service provider) is lower, hence the designa-
to connect to the Internet. Typically, dial-up connections tion of asymmetric service. With a symmetric digital sub-
do not exceed a speed of 56 kbit/s, as they are primarily scriber line (SDSL), the downstream and upstream data
made via a 56k modem.[36] rates are equal.
Bonded dial-up modems
Broadband
To provide increased bandwidth over dial-up multilink-
Main article: Broadband Internet access ing technology or modem bonding was developed.[37] It
This term includes a broad range of technologies, all of required two modems, two phone lines, two dial-up ac-
which provide high data rate access to the Internet. counts, and an ISP with support for multilinking - and
Broadband provides a continuous connection; there is no of course any line and data charges would also be dou-
dial-up/in process required and it does not “hog” phone bled. This inverse multiplexing option was briefly popu-
lines.[36] lar with some high-end users before ISDN, DSL and other
The standard broadband technologies in most areas technologies became available[38] and Diamond and oth-
are ADSL and cable Internet. Newer technologies in use
4
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Internet access
er vendors created special modem with bonding abili- 384 kbit/s to more than 20 Mbit/s. One downstream
ty.[38][39] channel can handle hundreds of cable modems. As the
system grows, the cable modem termination system
ISDN (CMTS) can be upgraded with more downstream and up-
Main article: Integrated Services Digital Network stream ports, and grouped into hubs CMTS for efficient
ISDN, a telephone data service standard, was one of the management.
oldest digital access methods for consumers and busi-
nesses to connect to the Internet. Fiber to the home
A basic rate ISDN line, known as ISDN-BRI, is an ISDN Main article: Fiber-to-the-home
line with 2 data "bearer" channels (DS0 - 64 kbit/s each). Fiber optic wires convert electrical signals carrying data
These can be bonded together for 256 kbit/s or more and into light, and send this light through tiny transparent
this technology has been used for video conference appli- glass fibers. This method is extremely quick and has little
cations and broadband data transmission. Primary rate interference. It is more expensive than other methods to
ISDN, known as ISDN-PRI, is an ISDN line with 23 DS0 deploy. Its speed is dependent on how close the fibers are
channels and total bandwidth of 1544 kbit/s (US stan- to one’s computer, the amount of bandwidth available,
dard). ISDN E1 (European standard) line is an ISDN lines and how the service is configured. Most high-capacity In-
with 30 DS0 channels and total bandwidth of 2048 kbit/s. ternet and cable television backbones already use fiber
Its use peaked in the late 1990s prior to the availabili- optic technology, with data relayed to other technology
ty of DSL and cable modem technologies. (DSL, cable, POTS) for final delivery to customers.
Fiber to the home (FTTH), is essentially similar to ca-
WiFi ble Internet access, but promised much faster bit-rates -
Main article: Wi-Fi up to 100 Mbit/s. Australia has already begun rolling out
Wi-Fi is the standard method to connect a high-speed lo- the network over the country using fiber-optic cables to
cal area network via wireless transmitter/receiver. WiFi 90 percent of Australian homes, schools and business.[40]
is convenient for mobile Internet users and can bring ser- and similar efforts are underway in Italy[41][42][43] and
vice to areas where wiring would be costly. WiFi service many other countries.
range is short, and penetration through building walls
is limited. Individual homes and small businesses often Satellite broadband
have a WiFi router for laptops and phones, which is con- Main article: Satellite Internet
nected to a DSL or cable modem for connection to the Satellites in geostationary orbits are able to relay broad-
larger Internet. band data from the satellite company to each customer.
Satellite Internet is usually among the most expensive
WiMax ways of gaining broadband Internet access, but in rural
Main article: Wimax areas it may be the only choice other than cellular broad-
WiMax (Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Ac- band.
cess) works similarly to WiFi in that it transmits informa- Broadband satellite Internet has a inherent high la-
tion via airwaves, but it handles network traffic more ef- tency due to the signal having to travel to an altitude
ficiently. This technology penetrates building walls much of 35,786 km (22,236 mi) above sea level (from the equa-
more effectively and can be used across larger distances tor) out into space to a satellite in geostationary orbit
than WiFi. and back to Earth again. The signal delay can be as much
as 500 milliseconds to 900 milliseconds, making it un-
Cable modem suitable for applications requiring real-time user input
Main article: Cable modem such as remote RDP control, certain multiplayer Internet
A cable modem transmits data via airwaves on the cable games, and potentially some VPNs due to latency is-
television infrastructure. Although cables have low in- sues.[44] Satellite Internet providers also often have "Fair
terference, comparably high speeds, and allow television Access Policies" that throttle throughput to dial-up data
use, the cost of bringing service into an area (trenching rates after a certain download threshold is reached.
cable) can be very high.[citation needed] Data is transmitted The proposed O3b Satellite Constellation is planned
via coaxial cable or a Hybrid Fiber Coaxial. Cable Internet to orbit much lower - in medium earth orbit at an alti-
systems can typically operate where the distance be- tude of 8,063 km (5,010 mi) for a much reduced latency
tween the modem and the termination system is up to of 125 ms. The proposed new network is also designed
100 miles (160 km).[citation needed] for much higher throughput with links well in excess of
Downstream, the direction toward the user, bit rates 1 Gbit/s. Orbiting even lower at 1,000 km (620 mi) will be
can be as much as 400 Mbit/s for business connections, the planned COMMStellation™ scheduled for launch in
and 100 Mbit/s for residential service in some countries. 2015, expected to have a latency of just 7 ms.
Upstream traffic, originating at the user, ranges from Advantages
5
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Internet access
1. True global broadband Internet access availability hilly and heavily foliated terrain. In addition, compared
2. Mobile connection to the Internet (with some to hard-wired connectivity, there are security risks (un-
providers) less robust security protocols are enabled); throughputs
Disadvantages are significantly slower (2 – 50 times slower); and the net-
1. High latency compared to other broadband services, work can be less stable, due to interference from other
especially 2-way satellite service wireless devices and networks, weather and line-of-sight
2. Unreliable: drop-outs are common during travel, problems.[citation needed]
inclement weather, and during sunspot activity[45] Rural Wireless-ISP installations are typically not
3. The narrow-beam highly directional antenna must commercial in nature and are instead a patchwork of sys-
be accurately pointed to the satellite orbiting tems built up by hobbyists mounting antennas on ra-
overhead dio masts and towers, agricultural storage silos, very tall
4. The Fair Access Policy limits heavy usage, if applied trees, or whatever other tall objects are available. There
by the service provider are currently a number of companies that provide this
5. VPN use is discouraged, problematic, and/or service..[citation needed]
restricted with satellite broadband, although
available at a price Power-line Internet
6. One-way satellite service requires the use of a Main article: Power-line internet
modem or other data uplink connection Broadband over power lines (BPL), also known as power
7. Satellite dishes are very large. Although most of line communication, uses mains power lines to send and
them employ plastic to reduce weight, they are receive radio signals. Because of the extensive power line
typically between 80 and 120 cm (30 to 48 inches) in infrastructure already in place, this technology would al-
diameter. low people in rural and low population areas to access
the Internet with little cost in terms of equipment, cables
Cellular broadband or wires.
Main article: Cellular broadband It has developed faster in Europe than in the US due
Cellular phone (mobile phone) towers are very wide- to a historical difference in power system design philoso-
spread, and as cellular networks move to third genera- phies; the US uses a step-down transformer, through
tion (3G) networks they can support fast data; using tech- which the signal cannot pass, per house whereas in
nologies such as EVDO, HSDPA and UMTS. Europe, it is more common for a somewhat larger trans-
These can give broadband access to the Internet, with former to service 10 or 100 houses.[citation needed]
a cell phone, with Cardbus, ExpressCard, or USB cellular Concerns over interference in the 10 to 30 MHz range,
modems, or with cellular broadband routers, which allow used by licensed amateur radio operators, as well as in-
more than one computer to be connected to the Internet ternational shortwave broadcasters and a variety of com-
using one cellular connection. munications systems (military, aeronautical, etc.) have
According to the international Organisation for Eco- also been an issue, leading to the IEEE P1901 standard
nomic Co-operation and Development (OECD), "Wireless specifying that all powerline protocols must detect exist-
broadband subscriptions in OECD countries had exceeded ing usage and avoid interfering with it.
half a billion by the end of 2010, an increase of more
than 10 percent on June 2010, according to new OECD Leased lines
statistics." [46] In contrast, fixed broadband subscriptions Main article: Leased line
reached 300 million in 2010.[47] Leased lines, such as those from T-carriers can carry In-
ternet data over fiber optic lines or copper lines. They
Wireless ISP are quick but highly regulated and generally intended for
Main article: Wireless Internet service provider business use.[citation needed]
(See also Cellular Broadband, above)
This typically employs the current low-cost 802.11
Wi-Fi radio systems to link up remote locations over
Government Broadband Index
great distances, but can use other higher-power radio (gBBi)
communications systems as well.
The Government Broadband Index report released in Jan-
Traditional 802.11b was licensed for omnidirectional
uary 2011 assesses countries on the basis of government
service spanning only 100–150 meters (300–500 ft). By fo-
planning, as opposed to current broadband capability.
cusing the signal down to a narrow beam with a Yagi an-
With ambitious targets for both the speed and coverage
tenna it can instead operate reliably over a distance of
of next-generation broadband networks, the developed
many kilometres (miles), although the technology’s line-
countries of Southeast Asia scored highest in this first
of-sight requirements hamper connectivity in areas with
government broadband index. Greece is the worst-per-
6
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Internet access
forming country measured, owing to its relatively low • Free-space optical communication
coverage target and drawn-out deployment schedule. • Telecommunications network
Greece also suffers due to the considerable size of its • World Wide Web
public-funding commitment as a percentage of overall • Broadband mapping in the United States
government budget revenues, and because its plan does • Global Internet usage
little to foment competition in the high-speed broadband • List of Internet users by country
market.[citation needed] • List of countries by number of broadband Internet
Australia, the country with the highest-profile and subscriptions
most controversial public-sector scheme, also falls in the • National broadband plans from around the world
bottom half of the index, mainly because it is spending
a colossal 7.6% of annual government budget revenues Broadband implementations and stan-
on its National Broadband Network. In South Korea, by dards
comparison, the government is spending less than 1% of
• Digital subscriber line (DSL), digital data
annual budget revenues to realise its broadband goals,
transmission over the wires used in the local loop of
achieving targets by encouraging the private sector to in-
a telephone network
vest in the country’s broadband future.[48]
• Local Multipoint Distribution Service, broadband
wireless access technology that uses microwave
Users signals operating between the 26 GHz and 29 GHz
Senior citizens – Internet use among senior citizens is bands
different than internet use among the younger genera- • WiMAX, a standards-based wireless technology that
tions. Since they didn’t grow up with the internet around provides high-throughput broadband connections
them, they aren’t as attached to the internet and social over long distances
networking as the younger generations are. More often • Other wireless technologies, including IEEE
than not, senior citizens use the internet as a tool to find standards (802.11b, 802.11g, and 802.11a) and many
resources and information ranging from online dating to proprietary wireless protocols. In 2008, with WiMAX
housing to health to celebrity gossip. On the other hand, still at the top of the learning curve in terms of price,
some use it as a social networking tool to connect with these technologies dominate the market for fixed
family and loved ones or as a tool to meet new people.[ci- wireless broadband.
tation needed] • Proprietary technologies such as Motorola
Canopy have had particular success in
penetrating rural markets hard to reach with Wi-
See also Fi or WiMax.
• Global Internet usage • Power line communication, wireline technology
• List of countries by number of Internet users using the current electricity networks, via the P1901
• List of countries by number of broadband Internet and older BPL-based standards
users • Cable modem, designed to modulate a data signal
• National broadband plans from around the world over cable television infrastructure
• Global digital divide • Fiber to the premises, based on fiber-optic cables and
• History of the Internet associated optical electronics
• English on the Internet • High-Speed Packet Access (HSPA), a new mobile
• Unicode telephony protocol, sometimes referred to as a 3.5G
(or "3½G") technology
Technologies • Evolution-Data Optimized (EVDO), is a wireless radio
broadband data standard adopted by many CDMA
• Back-channel, a low bandwidth, or less-than-
mobile phone service providers
optimal, transmission channel in the opposite
• 802.20 MBWA (Mobile Broadband Wireless Access)
direction to the main channel
Wi-Max and 3G/4G technologies in North America are
• Baseband
sometimes deployed with usage based billing making
• Fiber-optic communication
them impractical for some main applications.[citation need-
• List of device bandwidths ed]
• Local loop
Satellite Internet access is inherently high latency for
• Narrowband
physical reasons and thus cannot satisfy all definitions of
• Public switched telephone network (PSTN)
broadband.
broadband It is always described by satellite vendors as
• Residential gateway
high speed evading latency concerns.[citation needed]
speed,
• Mobile broadband
7
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Internet access
Future broadband implementations significantly-between-2009-and-2010.aspx.
Retrieved December 23, 2011.
• Bonded DSL Rings a ring topology at the remote end
[14] "Virgin Media’s ultrafast 100Mb broadband now
that enables 400 Mbit/s over existing DSL
available to over four million UK homes". News
• White Spaces Coalition a group of technology
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