Internet Primer
In order to make good decisions, you must first have good
information. In order to decide among the various choices for connection to the
internet you must first understand the issues. The best decisions are made with
accurate and complete information, but to decide between the various options
for Internet access you need to first understand some basic concepts.
The case for the value and usefulness of an internet
connection is well understood.
E-mail communication, web shopping, information gathering, remote
monitoring of homes and the elderly, school assignments for all levels to
mention a few are essential, particularly in the semi-rural environment of the
Harbor Inc area. Less known advantages
of the internet are taking advantages of new services such as voice Over IP,
Video Conferencing, and Private Point 2 Point networks. At this point in time, anyone can
connect to the internet for the cost of a phone line and an Internet Service
Provider (ISP). This is what is meant by Dial-up Modem Service and represents the minimum in cost and quality. The issue is what do you want to do on
the internet and what is the speed and quality of service needed to do it. Dial-up is too slow to reap the real
benefits of the internet. On the
other hand, if one can pay for it the fastest speeds and highest quality are
currently accessible in the Harbor Inc area. How to help improve the service and lower the cost for
internet connectivity for everyone in the Harbor Inc area is an end worthy of
some effort because not everyone currently has more than dial-up service. Currently only about 20% of Americans
who have internet service subscribe to services better than dial-up. In the Harbor Springs School district
only about 50% of the students even have a computer at home.
These problems are not unrecognized as there are currently
efforts to form a cooperative for the upper half of Michigan- Northern Michigan
Broadband Cooperative. The
Cooperative has the potential to help solve the long-term problems as it
promotes infrastructure but a short term solution is needed.
In order to understand the coming discussion and the range
of services available, the pros and cons, the cost and availability it is
necessary to compare the possibilities.
To do this we need a little vocabulary.
A bit is the
smallest unit of data in a computer and has a single binary value, either 0 or
1. A byte is eight bits that can represent 256 different
possibilities to mean a letter, number, or typographical symbol (for example, ÒgÓ.
Ò9Ó, or Ò!Ó). The data transfer
capacity on an electronic communication system it called its Bandwidth and is measured in bits per second (bps). One thousand bps is 1 Kbps (1 kilobit
per second), one million bps is 1 Mbps (1 megabit per second), and one billion
bps is 1 Gbps (1 giga bit per
second). Note that computer memory
is measured in terms of Megabytes (M or MB).
When describing the performance of a system the bandwidth is
often cited. In practice, the advertised bandwidth is not always reliably
available to the customer; Internet Service Providers (ISPs) often allow a
greater number of subscribers than their backbone connection can handle, under
the assumption that most users will not be using their full connection capacity
very frequently. This aggregation strategy works more often than not, so users
can typically burst to their full bandwidth most of the time. The best picture to use is to look as
the data stream as a pipe with water flowing at a certain rate. As more and more people draw water the
rate at which the individual receives water goes down. The pipe has only a certain size. Larger bandwidth can support more users
with out impacting an individual user.
Also, the rate at which you can receive data (download) and the rate at which you can send data (upload) are generally not the same with download speeds
always faster. Broadband is
often called high-speed Internet, because it usually has a high rate of data
transmission. In general, any connection to the customer of 256 Kbs (0.256 Mbs)
or more is considered broadband Internet.
But one should note, this will get you only the lowest quality video.
One of the great challenges of broadband is to provide
service to potential customers in areas of low population density, such as the Harbor
Inc area. In cities where the population density is high, it is easy for a
service provider to recover equipment costs, but each rural customer may
require expensive equipment to get connected. A similar problem existed a
century ago when electrical power was invented. Cities were the first to
receive electric lighting, as early as 1880, while in the United States some
remote rural areas were still not electrified until the 1940s, and even then
only with the help of federally funded programs like the Tennessee Valley
Authority (TVA).
Several rural broadband solutions exist, though each has its
own benefits, pitfalls and limitations. The benefits most people care about
include cost, difficulty, reliability and security. The best way to get
broadband is different for different people since people care about cost,
difficulty and security differently. A bank would care about reliability and
security more than cost. A bank
wants to make sure hackers cant get the information and that the connection is
something they can expect to always be available (reliability). A home user is
likely to care about cost and difficulty more than reliability. There is
nothing that is truly secure. Locks on your house are made to make it harder to
break into your house, but a determined intruder can still break in through a
window or by picking a lock. Similarly, there is no truly secure computer, just
ones that are harder to break into than others. Each person has to determine their own needs. Options
include Satellite Internet, Cellular Broadband, Remote ADSL (asymmetric digital
subscriber line), DSL repeater, Cable and Wireless Internet Service Providers (WISP-WIFI).
Dial-up Modem Service
ADSL coverage is available to a wide area if the telephone
lines have been designed well. As such, it is the most likely choice unless you
happen to live somewhere remote, or in an area where cable is available.
ADSL broadband is delivered through your existing telephone
line, using a special modem or router. There is no need to have an additional
telephone line installed and you will still be able to make and receive calls
whilst surfing the web.
If you already have cable TV, or if you live in an area
served by a cable operator, then a broadband cable Internet connection may be
an option for you.
A cable Internet connection requires a special modem, which
is connected to your cable along with your cable TV box (if you have one). Most
cable companies offer packages that include telephone and TV channels as well
as a broadband Internet connection.
As with ADSL, cable Internet providers usually offer a
selection of broadband deals for different requirements.
In some of the more remote or rural areas of the US, ADSL
and Cable Internet connections may not be available. Increasingly in these
areas, smaller Internet providers are providing local coverage using wireless
technology of various forms.
For a wireless Internet connection, a small antenna
receiving signals from a relatively local source is installed on the outside of
your house (much like a TV aerial) and this sends signals to a connection point
on the inside, which in turn is connected to your computer. No telephone line
or coaxial cable of any kind is required.
Satellite is generally seen as a last resort for people who
live in remote areas and cannot receive any other form of broadband Internet.
It is available throughout the US and requires the installation of a special
satellite dish. There are two types of satellite connection.
The first type is a one-way connection, where you will be able to receive data (view web
pages), but can only send data (if for example you want to send an email) by
using a dial-up modem through a telephone line.
Two-way services,
where data is both sent and received through the satellite dish, are also
available, although these tend to be expensive to install with an additional
monthly subscription.
Currently, the United
States Department of Agriculture, the agency that is concerned with areas such
as ours, does not consider satellite service as broadband.
Some providers also offer SDSL services. An SDSL connection is very similar to an ADSL connection.
The difference is that ADSL can download data from the Internet
faster than it can upload data, while
SDSL is just as fast at uploading
as downloading.
SDSL requires an extra telephone line, separate from the one
you use for voice calls, and is an option for some that need to send large
amounts of data.
Power-line
Internet
This has been
proposed as a possibility in the future and is a new service still in its
infancy that may eventually permit broadband Internet data to travel down
standard high-voltage power lines. However, the system has a number of complex
issues, the primary one being that power lines are inherently a very noisy
environment. Every time a device turns on or off, it introduces a pop or click
into the line. Energy-saving devices often introduce noisy harmonics into the
line. The system must be designed to deal with these natural signaling
disruptions and work around them. Broadband over power lines (BPL), also known
as Power line communication, has developed faster in Europe than in the US due
to a historical difference in power system design philosophies. Nearly all
large power grids transmit power at high voltages in order to reduce
transmission losses, then near the customer use step-down transformers to
reduce the voltage. Since BPL signals cannot readily pass through transformers,
repeaters must be attached to the transformers. In the US, it is common for a
small transformer hung from a utility pole to service a single house. In
Europe, it is more common for a somewhat larger transformer to service 10 or
100 houses. For delivering power to customers, this difference in design makes
little difference, but it means delivering BPL over the power grid of a typical
US city will require an order of magnitude more repeaters than would be
required in a comparable European city.
The second
major issue is signal strength and operating frequency. The system is expected
to use frequencies in the 10 to 30 MHz ranges, which has been used for decades
by licensed amateur radio operators, as well as international shortwave
broadcasters and a variety of communications systems (military, aeronautical,
etc.). Power lines are unshielded and will act as transmitters for the signals
they carry, and have the potential to completely wipe out the usefulness of the
10 to 30 MHz range for shortwave communications purposes.
What can
broadband do?
Now you are
in a position to look at what a particular bandwidth will allow you to do. For comparison purposes letÕs use a
typical web page download (most actual pages will require more time) and a
typical popular song download.
Looking at Table I you can see the inherent limitations of dial-up
service and the benefits of large bandwidth. Even if 8Mbs were available not everyone would pay for the
service. It is a question of
perceived value and an individualÕs cost benefit analysis. Table II attempts to compare the
various possibilities, pros and cons and compare end user prices. These prices do not include the cost of
developing and providing the infrastructure that allows the service to reach
the house or business. The role
that Harbor Inc can play is to support the development of this infrastructure
in whatever way they can. For
example, if WIFI were found to be the most feasible approach help in citing the
needed towers would be need.
Negatives
that may not be clear from Table II include: In the case of cable which could provide phone, internet and
video programming at the same time, you lose local phone service hence local
911 service, unless the provider supports E911. If you choose satellite service you have a large difference
between download and upload speeds as well as a 7 second delay in all responses. Systems that rely on transmission
through the air are subject to problems with interferences.
As you can
see the choices for an individual are complex and depend heavily on what is
available physically and monetarily.
The choices for support for infrastructure development by local
political units and/or Harbor Inc are equally complex for the same
reasons. The development of
some system is so important to quality of life in the area that it should not
be left solely to market forces.
Unless we all make an effort and push in some direction the time scale
for progress is years rather than months.
Further Information:
www.wikipedia.org/broad-bandinternetaccess
www.high-speed-internet-access-guide.com/internet-glossary.html
www.northernmichiganbroadband.org/white-paper-4/
www.ruraltelecon.org/index.php?q=node/2
Local providers:
Cherry Capital Connection; www.cccwifi.com
231.264.9970
Northern Lights Media, L.L.C.; info@thenlm.com 231.539.8465
Gaslight Media; jamieb@gaslightmedia.com
231.487.0692