High Speed Connections

Charter Pipeline installed cable modem at our house this past week. And quite frankly, I was excited. It made me reflective of the all the changes we have experienced over the years in the speed of data transfer between computers and all the changes that are still to come.

It didn't seem all that long ago when we would take our telephone and place it into a special cradle to make a connection with another computer. The actual connection was slow at a snails pace of 14,400 kbps or about 12-14 lines of text per second (the average speed of a fax machine). Nevertheless, it was the concept of being able to connect two computers across town or across the United States that was so exciting.

Over the years, we've seen the speed increase from 14,400 to 28,800 to our current 56k. Now cable modem flies through the neighborhood at 512 kbps or ten times the speed of our old 56k connection. And that's not even the fastest speed available; service continues to increase at levels of 768k and1Meg connections for businesses and power users.

I can clearly remember my first connection with an off-site computer. It allowed my computer technician to troubleshoot my machine. He was able to repair software related problems from miles away. The process was slow and the connection not reliable, but it worked. I was fascinated on how I could sit and stare directly at my machine and see the movement and actions of the technician appear before my vary eyes - it was magic.

But we became impatient and demanded more. So enter the fax, the Internet and the technology revolution. As our interest grew, programs became more readily available, and equipment became affordable. We started sending and receiving faxes first through dedicated machines then through our computers. As our technical savvy expanded so did our speeds and our needs.

Local phone companies installed special dedicated lines, called ISDN lines. These lines could transport data 5x faster than a 28.8 modem and you could talk on the phone while sending the information. The price was prohibitive for all but business clients; but the door was opened to service the public at large. With the introduction of 56k modems, prices became economical and hence the new American Pastime.

Yet, again we grew impatient in the slowness of transfers and disruption of service and again new technology expanded with us.

So now, along with the maze of wires and cable bringing electricity, telephone and TV services into my home is the shiny new hook up that connects me to a maze of computers over the Internet. Here I am soaring at 512k per second…picture it…512,000 bits of information streaming through every second. If you can't picture it, go to www.computingcentral.com/topics/bandwidth and click on How Fast. This wonderful graphic will demonstrate the difference in speeds and the effort is well worth it.

I am so happy at 512k and I'm going to enjoy this feeling as long as I can since I know the impatience will return.