Charles Bishop <ctbishop@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> wrote:
> Not me so much as my son. He wants to pay games on line with friends and
> need a faster connection.
> Is DSL suitable, and if so how do I get it? MCI doesn't offer it, Sprint
DSL should be fast enough for online gaming. Some folks like to talk
about
how much faster cable is, but there are some gotchas in that "faster."
For your purposes either DSL or cable would work and I'd pick based on
price and service.
> says that they have wireless intenet connections, but they seem to think
> that the Web is the internet (at least the salesperson did). I'm annoyed
> by trying to call and find out who offers it, and the costs.
The "wireless" service that Sprint is talking about is probably using
digital cell phone connections. The big advantage there is it will
work almost anywhere your cell phone works so you aren't tied to a DSL
phone line or cable TV wire. It is not as fast as DSL or cable, but
certainly faster than dial-up modem. It tends to cost more than DSL
and cable and you should be sure you understand the air-time usage
rules for whatever plan they are offering because going over on usage
can get very pricey. It works, I've used it, but the cell phone
companies really don't understand the Internet as you've found.
The other wireless that someone else mentioned is the short distance
wireless that works basically within your house and is called 802.11.
That is frequently included with the DSL and cable service, but you can
buy your own. This just lets you move around your house and yard without
having to have a wire to the DSL or cable modem.
Verizon seems to be pretty agressive about marketing their DSL product
and if you go to their web site and plug in your telephone number it
will tell you if their DSL service is available to you. DSL uses
existing telephone wires and is limited to within a couple miles of
a telephone switching center. It does allow you to use the phone
and DSL at the same time.
I hope this helps.
Bill Ranck
Blacksburg, Va.
|
