If we could pin down one thing that people have no patience for these days, it is slow internet speeds and connectivity. In that case, the type of internet connection plays a vital role in the right provision of connectivity. The times have changed so have the means of delivering connectivity too. Who doesn’t remember the days of the dial-up connection? The characteristic sound starts playing in our ears the moment we read this word, as much as the music, this noise has been a soundtrack to an era.

However, with multiple channels of provision, the number of Internet Service Providers has also grown. And opting for the right one in one go is a tricky task, to be honest. The situation gets worse if we feed hefty amounts of dollars every month to an internet connection that ends up disappointing us by delivering mediocre speeds and screen freezes that happen more often than not. If all of this sounds relatable to you, then read on as this article shows you how a witty sales representative might lure you into choosing the wrong type of internet connection and how you can make a more informed choice.

Dial-Up Connection

Dial-up connectivity is almost extinct now, very rarely used in extremely remote areas only under grave circumstances. It uses telephone lines to transmit signals to and from the server. The analog signals travel via telephone lines that are later recoded into digital ones when they reach the PC. An Average dial-up connection offers internet speeds at a mere 40-50 kbps. This design comes with other drawbacks too, since the technology can only support one kind of signals at a time, either voice or internet, so your connection will be frustratingly be disconnected each time Granny called Mommy. On the application front, most of this technology has been limited to the past now.

Cable Internet

The cable is one of the most popular methods of internet transmission. The technology is available in all urban and some rural areas. It uses coaxial copper cables initiating at the internet service provider’s end for signal transmission using DOCSIS aka Data Over Cable Service Interface Specification.  The modem then separates television signals from internet data signals so both of them can flow through the same channel simultaneously without intermixing.

Cable being a growing broadband system has competition with itself in terms of growth and with modern technologies slowly making their way to the market. Cable as a medium offers 25-300 Mbps of broadband speeds.

DSL

DSL, just like dial-up connections uses telephone lines to transmit signals but has the ability to let voice and internet signals flow simultaneously unlike dial-ups. Therefore, you can conveniently use the internet and make phone calls at the same time without significant hindrance.

Asymmetric DSL is a more common technology with different download and upload speeds. It makes perfect sense since the instances of downloads are greater in number than the ones of upload over the internet. If you don’t need those lightning-fast internet speeds and can make do with average ones, then 5-35 Mbps offered by DSL is good for you.

Fiber-Optic

This is the newest baby in the lot! The latest technology in wired internet transmission thus far hence is not available extensively owing to the infrastructural cost involved. The technology uses light and glass wiring to transmit signals.

A transmitter converts electrical signals to light at the initial end that reflects along with a specialized glass or plastic cable. The recipient end then reconverts the light signals to electrical ones. This internet connection offers actual lightning-fast speeds going up to 1 Gbps.