A decade ago, accessing the Internet was a task that not everybody could do. Not all PCs were equipped with a modem jack, and even if they were, there weren’t many Internet Service Providers at that time which could make that PC slot useful.

Things have definitely changed since then. Before the century turned, the demand for Internet connectivity went up astronomically. ISPs sprouted like mushrooms on a rainy day, even on areas where providing the service was deemed unprofitable or a missionary’s undertaking.

Going Mobile

One of the things or developments in the IT industry which revolutionized Internet connectivity was the emergence of mobile PCs, such as notebooks, PDAs, or palm tops. Office tasks and business transactions are gradually being taken out of the offices or the conference rooms. Many have realized that time is too precious to be spent inside the workplace.

PC manufacturers immediately took note of this need and trend. Whole design teams were given tasks to come up with notebooks or portable PCs which could rival or even outmatch desktops. After just a few years working on the drawing board, many computer companies have succeeded in threatening the very existence of bulky PCs which adored many desks since the computer became personal.

The notebook’s portability is not the main feature which makes it very popular among students and office slaves today, though. While desktops could bring the user into cyberspace through any of the mode available at present, still it cannot give the user that degree of mobility or freedom that only laptops or PDAs could give.

Wi-Fi

Before the advent of wireless Internet, the only means of connecting to the Internet was either through dial up, cable, or DSL. All these require that the PC be leashed to that yellow cable or phone wire that transports the user to cyberspace. This is one of the reasons why notebooks were not yet very popular 4-5 years ago. Laptops were not exactly portable during those years as far as connecting to the Internet is concerned.

High-speed Internet access made another revolutionary turn when wireless access increasingly became available. Many were enticed by the thought that they could be at their workplace even if they’re blocks away sipping a delicious brew at their favorite coffee shop. Many local governments realized the benefits that municipal-wide wireless Internet access could do to their economy. Hence, cities started to install Wi-Fi transmitters all over their area or jurisdiction.

Potent Advertisement

Local governments and business establishments saw the limitless potential of wireless Internet as far as enticing people or customers is concerned. Hence, efforts were made to make Wi-Fi free. Many cities and establishments around the United States, and even in the other parts of the globe, are already offering free wireless Internet access for their citizens or patrons. The race towards blanketing whole towns or cities with Wi-Fi signals peaked during the last two years when bills calling for the installation of wireless Internet access transmitters swamped various legislative bodies, including the national congress.

To be continued…

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Have you ever wondered what happened to dial-up technology?

I was browsing through several Internet connection articles on PC World’s Web site when I thought of searching for some news or developments on dial-up access. To my surprise, the search led me to what probably is the archive section of the Web site.

The latest news on the list doesn’t even concern the United States. The report dealt with the pace that countries outside the US are embracing broadband Internet. It cited the declining costs of high speed Internet access and the willingness of the people to make the shift.

By now, the comparisons or analyses illustrated in the article may already be moot and academic. Everybody’s ditching their slow dial-up access for either a DSL or broadband cable connection. The advent of Wi-Fi has also convinced people to disconnect themselves from slow Internet access. Broadband is the new standard, and the demise of dial-up is obviously inevitable.

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The advent of broadband Internet has immensely changed the way we surf the Web. Gone are the days when most of the Web sites that we browse or log on to contain plain text or feature very few pictures. At present, a Web page designer would definitely lose clients if he doesn’t know how to integrate audio and video in his creations.

But this wasn’t the order of things a decade ago. If you were able to go around cyberspace during the 90s, you would notice that there were no streaming audios or videos in 90% of all the Web pages on the Internet. There were even music sites that didn’t contain any MP3 or WMA file. All they had back then were lyrics and pictures of singers who topped the charts.

You might even think that the MP3 file format hasn’t been invented yet during that time. If you did, then you thought wrong. Most of the multimedia features that Web pages have today were already available 10 years ago. Sure, Real’s audio player was still quite primitive that time. However, the technology to upload multimedia presentations on the Net was already present back then.

So why weren’t our parents or older siblings able to experience the sensory overload that we’re getting right now every time we’re opening Internet Explorer or Firefox? The answer is obvious.

14kbps during the 90s was already considered “warp speed.” Dial-up still reigned during this period as the primary mode or means of connecting to the Internet. That all changed when DSL, cable Internet, and wireless access became available. The bandwidth that these connections offer is many times faster than their predecessor. As a result, Web site makers have stocked their designs with tons of audio and video files to make it more interesting and interactive. Accessing Web sites loaded with multimedia presentations would’ve been virtually impossible on a dial-up connection. However, songs and videos can be seamlessly played when surfing at 512kbps or higher.

So does this mean that the demise of the dial-up is near?

Wait for part 2 of this article I’ll give you a hint, though. The answer is in the negative. There are ways by which you could boost up your dial-up connection to dizzying speeds. However, there are several disadvantages in injecting steroids on your slow connection. For one thing, it could mess up your registry. I’ll discuss the pros and cons of this “jack up” next week.

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Stuck on dial-up? Don’t fret. While you really won’t be able to watch the videos at YouTube seamlessly, you would still be able to pretty much do anything that can be done in cyberspace without noticing your nails grow.

Web pages should load without any quirks at 50kbps. Of course, a few head-scratching moments cannot be avoided if the page you’re accessing contains multimedia presentations. Worry not though. Chances are, the Web site that your accessing doesn’t contain any audio or video. If there is any, it usually doesn’t automatically run.

The maximum speed or capacity of a typical dial-up modem is 56Kbps. The largest dial-up bandwidth that my ISP and laptop’s modem frequently give me is 50.6Kbps. I haven’t experienced getting the maximum speed yet. You should be getting 46-50.6Kbps on the average. Don’t settle for anything else. Disconnect and try to establish another connection if you’ve been provided with a smaller bandwidth.

This method of optimizing or speeding up your connection may be crude, but hey, if you’re on dial-up, every kilobyte counts.

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