In the simplest of terms, broadband is high speed internet access. But how fast is it and why does that matter?
Speed measurement
The broadband speed is the amount of information that you can download per second. For example, a speed of 1 Mb means that you can download up to 1 Mb of data per second from the internet to your computer.
What if you don't download?
You may think that you do not download at all. In fact, every time you surf the internet you are downloading information onto your computer in order for you to be able to see it on the screen.
Benefits of a faster speed
By having a faster connection, you will be able to surf the
internet with much greater ease. Pages will load quicker, you will be able to
send and receive email faster. You will be able to enjoy online shopping and
banking without waiting forever for a new page to open.
A faster connection also allows you to download music, games, programs and even films from the internet.
There are plenty of perfectly legal sites to choose from. This is normally cheaper than buying direct from the high street and will of course save you time.
If you really want to fully take advantage of broadband, you can get into online gaming where you can play a game against someone on the other side of the world. You can even enjoy listening to a variety of international radio stations.
And if that is not enough, there is a new phenomena sweeping the world called VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol). VoIP means that you can make phone calls over the internet to dramatically cut the cost of your traditional phone bill. You can even replace your traditional phone completely with a VoIP phone.
The speed of broadband
So how fast is 1 Mb per second? Well, the simplest way to look at it is to compare it to your old fashioned dial up service. The following table shows how much faster broadband is to dial up. Most broadband packages come in speeds of
512Kb, 1Mb, 2Mb, 8Mb, 10Mb or 24Mb.
| Speed | 512k | 1 Mb |
2 Mb |
8 Mb |
10 Mb |
24 Mb |
| Faster than dialup |
x 10 |
x 20 |
x 40 |
x 160 |
x 200 |
x 480 |
The right speed for you
In order to find the right speed for you, think about what you will be doing online. There is little point in paying for a 24Mb connection if all you are going to be doing is surfing the internet and checking your emails. However, if you want to download music, a 24Mb connection will do that much faster than a 1Mb connection. Most people are perfectly happy with a 1Mb connection. Is is often possible to get a 2Mb connection for the same price though and some providers don't even offer 512Kb or 1Mb products anymore.
