Here’s a fun fact about what we’re doing on the internet. Many of us are using cartoon avatars instead of our own pictures when we are engaging in social networking. For those who have fears about privacy, this is a fun way to show something of your personality while not posting a photo.  Cartoon avatars are often easier to upload than regular photos, which need to be cropped and sized.  One of the most popular series of avatars at the moment is from AMC’s popular show Mad Men, and the avatars that can be custom created as a game.  In fact, there are some artists who will actually create an avatar of you after viewing your photo or chatting with you via a face time app or a webcam.  With the tremendous popularity of facebook and all that we do in our spare time with a high speed internet connection, it is sure that our capacity for having fun with ourselves will only increase!

Looking for internet providers in my area was more difficult than I thought.  There are so many advertisements on television and radio and seem to be about my neighborhood, but many of the providers don’t actually reach my specific neighborhood.  I found it was made easier when I was able to search for internet providers by zip code.  That made it much more precise.  I could then compare the plans side by side, and see how they stacked up for speed, price, and promotions.  I like bundles, since they really save money and deliver the better quality overall.  I was able to see if the major internet providers offered the same plans in my neighborhood that they offer elsewhere in my city, and check out specials for new customers.  For me, speed is everything, so it helped to see how the plans that had top speeds featured were priced, and how they were bundled.

AT&T high speed internet is one of the best bargains you will find on the internet. For a limited time, they will give you a $100 gift card for signing up if you are switching from cable!  Basic service starts at just $19.95 a month, and comes with a free modem.  Higher speeds up to 7 Mbps are also available, and for truly great monthly rates.  These come with the free modem and the gift card as well.  Enjoy the dependability of AT&T, and the strength of their high speed DSL network.  You will also enjoy the gift card!  These offers are available online only, and for a limited time.

Worldwide high speed internet subscribers increased up to 410.9 million. Regardless of the economic downturn, the numbers for the subscribers still rises up to 3.47 per cent on the last 2 quarters of 2008. The research conducted by Point Topic showed that, Western Europe leads the continental penetration at 25 percent, followed by North America at 21 percent and South and East Asia at 15 percent. In terms of the number of subscribers, China and the USA are leading the way followed by Japan. In terms of the most popular internet connection, DSL (ADSL, SDSL) is currently on the lead and the most popular option.

The broadband industry has turned us all into chicken littles. Back in the day (in the 1990′s) many people used to worry about the internet “running out” of bandwidth. That is not exactly the case with mega giants like Time Warner Road Runner Internet constantly improving technology. I remember being made to feel guilty about large downloads. People would say “If this growth continues, soon no one will be able to download anything!” Well, it turns out that we were wrong. My download size has increased, the number of people on the internet has increased, but bandwidth has increased even more! There is no longer talk of the whole system coming to a grinding halt.

I can’t find any exact statistics on this, which is driving me crazy because I love statistics in every way! However, I don’t think that this dismal prediction about downloads was just paranoia. At the time and given predicted growth rates of the industry and download rates it was quite reasonable that we would “run out” of bandwidth soon. I guess the broadband industry really came to the rescue there, because goodness knows that no human is going to give up his/her greedy ways to conserve scarce, shared resources.

What role do broadband providers like Bell South play in todays internet addicted population? I see internet addiction as a big, and increasing, problem these days. I have to say, I suffer from a touch of it myself. There was an (all too true) article in a joke newspaper that I read the other day that was about how an internet outage would make us all more productive. I also hear that kids now spend over 20 hours per week online. Back in MY day, I was lucky if I spend 20 minutes a week!

So, do broadband providers have any responsibility here? Well, much as we all like to blame others for our problems, I don’t really think we can point the blame at broadband internet. Sure, it’s easier to become addicted to broadband than to dial-up. Broadband, in general, is always on and always convenient. With dial-up, you at least have to rejoin the “real world” when your sister needs to call her boyfriend for the 5th time that day (again, I’m thinking of back when we used dial-up in the 1990′s) I guess the price of convenience is the possibility for overuse; I’d say it’s a fair price.

Free wireless broadband is starting to be offered here in town, but you definitely won’t get the same speed as if you where connected to Verizon internet service. Not where I live, of course, but it’s there in the downtown areas. I was on the phone with a friend who was visiting from out of town. He asked me where he could connect to someone’s broadband wireless. Just then he looked down and saw the sign pained on the pavement “wireless, town of Chapel Hill.” I like this idea on the surface, but I always have to wonder about unintended side effects.

First, if cities providing free internet catches on, how will this effect the Broadband industry? It could decrease subscriptions. I wonder if this will affect cafes and coffee shops that offer wireless internet. As a far out idea, will we start seeing lots of homeless people toting laptops to get the free internet? People basically throw away laptops once they are a couple years old so it could happen! Finally, I know it’s not really free. Nothing, not even bandwidth, is really free. Someone pays and that someone is the taxpayer, in this case. I guess I am paying for it anyway, so I’d better use it!

These days it seems easy to steal some bandwidth. You just open your laptop and look for open wireless networks. Can’t do this if you are on dialup internet. Sure, they could give you viruses and expose you to hackers, but it is just so tempting to get the free broadband. It’s really hard to think of this as stealing. Is anyone really affected? Does anyone really get hurt? I remember hearing of a report of some man being arrested for stealing wireless from a coffee shop, because he sat in his car outside instead of going in. Is this where things are headed?

I’ll admit that it’s wrong to steal, and as someone who knows my way around a computer I know that something is really being stolen. You see, whoever set up that wireless network paid for that bandwidth from the ISP. If I’m using some of it at a given time, the person who paid has less to use. However, broadband provides so much bandwidth that, in general, no one would ever notice. That doesn’t justify it, though. If you steal and no one notices, it’s is still stealing!

I keep getting ads about switching to Charter Internet as a broadband internet provider, but I remain skeptical.  How well does it really work?  So far, I don’t know anyone personally that has been brave enough to try it out.  I don’t think that most people are willing to try a new technology, let alone one as important as their ISP, without a word-of-mouth recommendation.  That’s why I think Charter Internet is clearly barking up the wrong tree with their advertising.

I haven’t seen any offer that they’ve had yet that says that I can try their service for free with no strings attached.  They just keep sending me ad after ad with the same information.  There’s no way that it will get me to switch from my current cable broadband provider, even if it is less expensive.  I can’t afford to be without my internet!  To try them out, I would keep my old service and get their new one as well.  Without a free trial, though, it just makes no sense.  So, until someone else I know is brave enough to try out this new technology, I’m attached to my cable modem.

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Deciding which high speed cable provider takes the cake is not easier said than done. There are many variables to consider including price and quality of service. These 2 variables alone can cause a stressful experience for those of us choosing a new ISP. The real key is to know how good the service is in your neighborhood. Most ISP connections depend largely on how current their infrastructure is and many lines out there may be decades old. Compare that with new fiber optics and cable will be fighting a loosing battle unless they come up with new technology that will allow for higher speeds like the 40G network. If you want to see how Cable ISP stack up against each other, we have prepared a page dedicated to highlight the differences.