This is kind of a random question, but what are the different speeds of internet, what's the fastest, and how much would they cost. I'm not really looking for any specific location, nor am I looking into getting it, I'm just curious to what is available these days.

28.8 kbps = slow dial-up modem
56.6 kbps = fast dial-up modem
dial-up cost = initial price of the modem (about $50) + $20/month for an ISP such as AOL or MSN

Broadband
-------------
DSL Line (leased line)
ISDN Line
T1 Line
Cable Modem (shared line) (the one I have is 10mbps download/1mbps upload)
I only know how much this one is cuz I pay for it. Around $35-$45 / month
T3 Line (niiiiiiice 'n' fast!)

A lot of broadband ISPs don't advertise their speeds because they don't want to be held down to any guarantees in contracts.

A DSL line (over a regular telephone line) is a leased private line to your ISP. This is different from a cable modem where you share the line with others in your neighborhood. This means that the more people in your neighborhood who sign up via the same cable company, the less bandwidth you have.

DSL LINES ARE UPGRADES TO TELEPHONE LINES
CABLE MODEMS RUN OVER STANDARD TV CABLE LINES

kbps = kilobits transferred per second (8 bits = 1 byte)
mbps = megabits transferred per second

Sorry I don't know much more. Hope this helps a bit.

I just upgraded from 28.8 k yesterday to Cable. It's QUITE a change from what I've seen...I went from 3 kbps to 205 kbps downloads. I love it.

I've heard of things capable of speeds 16 GBps, is that true, If so, how much would that baby go for?

there are actually faster speeds than that...google for some info

in my Cisco Networking book, it talks about SONET(synchronous optical network) that can reach speeds up to 9952Mbps :shock: . the kind of connection is called OC-192, so it's just another type of OC connection. i believer there's a new internet speed record. search the cnn.com site for "internet speed record"

That kind of connection ( anything in the OC cat ) requires fiber optics. Not only for transmission but integrated into the sending and recieving ends. A lot of military bases are converting toi fiber optic networks as well as most telecom companies. The only draw back for the telecom companies is that they are using fiber to transmit across long streches (say a call placed from Cincinnati to Cheyenne) but are degraded back to standard transmission bandwidth once the signal reaches the hub at the destination point - but someday....
All signal travel at the speed of light - but fiber carries much more badwidth for such a small transmission device - once you peak over 1 gb a sec - you would never personally notice an increase - everything would seem instantaneous

In reality the OC3 (optical) connections that these people speak of are not for home use. The cost of a Fiber optic connection although the fastest connection on the planet is also out of most home users pocket range.
So lets be realistic...

here are your choices as a home user.....

Dial up/ISDN I group these two because they both use telephone lines. The difference
is speed and dedication. Dial up is analog and will produce syncro-
connections of a a wopping 7 kbs....ISDN on the other hand is a digital and
dedicated line. 64 kbs..keep in mind this is Kilo (bits) not bytes, so for actual
speeds devide by 8. 64 devided by 8 = 8 kbs. But it is dedicated and you
can have as many as you like.

DSL This is a nice option for those concerned about dedicated bandwidth. For the
most part the speeds are good, but again since this service is run over the
phone lines any speed you are quoted must be devided by 8. Here is an
example of how you can get ripped off by DSL providers. I will use Verizon
since well I don't like them

Line speed promised: 64/1.5 (this is 64kup/1.5 meg down)


Now lets do the math, 64 devided by 8 as we already know is 8kbs. So the
reality of this connection is because of the (just slightly faster then dial up) up
load, it's a pretty crappy DSL connection. A good standard DSL line speed
for the home user would be 768/1.5 or in that range. You will have a much
lower "ping" if your DSL is "A" synconis...same up speed as down for
example......786/786 would produce much lower pings then 786/1.5


Cable Heres where things get confusing, Cable modems are rated in Kilo-bytes, not
not bit's...So if your cable company promises you 500 K throughput, and your
system is configured correctly, bet your bottom dollar thats what you will get.
The problem is the bandwidth is shared. Therefore you and everyone in your
neighborhood that uses cable is sharing the same bandwidth. So during peek
internet times the connection may be slower then usual. Most companies have
imposed speed caps to account for this. For instance 384/3.5 is the speed cap
imposed by Comcast for they're pro package. But since thats in Bytes not
bits it's actual speed. Unlike DSL which would have to be devided by 8. The
mis-information people have is that at peek hours it will slow down to less
then dial up speeds because of the shared bandwidth. This is a crock, cable
companies for the most part use Fiber optics once it reaches the street, so
there is more then enough bandwidth to go around.

This type of connection is probably the fastest most cost effective connection
for the home user.

T1 This is a bundle of 24 ISDN lines. They are basically tied together and create
one damn fast connection. But is you do the math and devide by 8 you will
find that even the infamous T1 connection is not much of a match speed wise
to a good cable connection.

T2/T3 Is just what it says it is 2/3 T1's , This is very expensive and most likely
out of the price range of a home user.

Wow, thank you very much for the very detailed information. You seem to know a lot about this topic. :shock: I guess I should just wait a few years until college to have a free T1 line.

You can always uncap your cable connection. Although, I'm still yet to master how to uncap mine, I'm working on it... any suggestions?

That violates the terms of service with your cable provider, doesn't it? I know at least with Optimum Online that's grounds for canceling your account.