Today’s Internet is not what it was from even just a short 5 years or so ago. Today, things are a lot different. The speeds keep increasing and the technology keeps advancing. 
At the same token, the cable lines, phone lines and airwaves are becoming increasingly bloated with information trying to make it from point A to point B. When some of the Internet providers like ATT started putting caps on how much Internet bandwidth that was used by any one person a few years ago, the main reason that they said the limits were started was because of network congestion.
Essentially, caps help to balance out how much bandwidth is used by any one individual. It helps to prevent one person from doing something like run a web server from his house or maybe a mail server. It helps to distribute the bandwidth so everybody has a good experience.
When the Internet first started, almost everybody had a dialup connection that would tie up the main phone line while you were online surfing. Since cell phones were rare at the time, the only true fire way around it was to add another phone line. They also had some software programs that used a thing called busy call waiting to alert you when a phone call was coming in while you were online. At the time, it was great technology.
Once broadband started to roll out, DSL was the most popular and fastest option. DSL was fast, reliable and offered speeds that far surpassed a dialup connection. In addition, you could use your phone while you were online and the connection was there as soon as you booted up your computer. To this day, I still have a backup dialup that is intended for times when your main Internet goes down from a technical issue or a storm. Every once in a great while I fire it up just to see how slow things was back in the day. Even today, there are some rural areas that only have dialup or satellite as an online option.
Today, we have added things like cable and fiber optic that can get speeds of 72 mb/s or higher. Speeds like this are insanely fast and get information to your browser almost as fast as you can click the link. If you have Comcast for your provider, they offer a new combination modem and router that can be “bridged” in order to allow you to use your own router if you desire to do so. You will have to call Comcast to activate this feature if you want to use your own router. Using your own router will give you a lot more flexibility in setting up your networks. It will make it easier for you to open and close ports, set up your wireless network and so on. If you are just a basic user and have no need for custom settings, the modem provided will most likely all you will need.
If you prefer, you can also BYOE (bring your own equipment) and purchase your cable modem at a retail outlet like Walmart or Best Buy. This has the advantage of eliminating the monthly rental fee but these modems may not support the fastest speeds that these companies have to offer. Be sure to check the documentation before purchasing.
If crazy speed is not your main interest, staying with DSL or using enhanced DSL systems like U-Verse might fit the ticket for you. These speeds will not be as fast as cable but DSL is reliable. Keep in mind that if you want to use your own router, it will be difficult if not impossible with U-Verse. With regular DSL, it is as simple as changing a simple setting to put the modem in bridge mode so you can use your router as the server instead of the modem.
There are lots of options out there to choose from. If you live in a rural area you might have some limitations on what is available. Satellite, although generally slow and unreliable, can often be a better choice then a dial up option.
Article posted by , Ross D
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