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Broadband – a whole new way of life |
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Written by Tony Phelps
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Thursday, 17 November 2005 |
Last week, this column described broadband and its limited availability
in Vanuatu. This week, we consider the benefits of a broadband
connection, and why it is such a desirable service in contrast to
dial-up.
Broadband usually operates at 5 times faster or more than a dial-up
internet connection. But speed is almost a secondary benefit.
Certainly, it is beneficial to update the anti-virus application in 30
seconds instead of two or three minutes. But what if you don’t have to
do it yourself at all? Most anti-virus software can be configured to
automatically update itself, say at 2am every day, if there is an
internet connection already available. Likewise, Windows or Apple or
Linux can also be set to check for any system updates, download them,
and either notify you or automatically install them, without you having
to remember to do it.
These are just the most obvious examples of how an always-on internet
connection can change your life. Now we’re not talking about something
that will make you run excited out into the streets, it is a more
subtle change than that, but for people that depend on or make a lot of
use of computers, it is an important change. Experience an always-on
internet connection, and you will ever after detest dial-up.
When the internet is always there, you can set your email software to
check every couple of minutes for new emails, and be notified almost
the instant they are sent. You can compose and send emails whenever you
want, one at a time, instead of saving them all up to send in a batch.
Because it is convenient, you will use the internet for casual research
(more than you think you will). Because you are always connected, other
people can see that you are online and initiate chat or
internet-phone-calls with you, and you can see when they come online
too.
You can also leave information on your screen while you make use of it,
for example, checking your online banking transactions against your
cheque-book or money-management application (eg. Quicken). You don’t
have to hurriedly download and save it somewhere so that you can
disconnect and save the connection costs, and then re-connect later to
continue to the next page of transactions.
As they (may) say in the movies, “Broadband is goooood”. We await affordable broadband. |
