High Speed Cable

What is the best way for me to go about getting high speed internet in my house? I searched on line and through the yellow pages, only to find that there are an uncountable number of high speed internet options out there. However, as I sifted through all of the consumer sites and user reviews, I found that SBC DSL may, indeed, be the best bet for bringing high speed internet to my home office.

According to many a review, SBC DSL is the most reliable DSL service out there. They also happen to be the largest in many major metropolitan areas in the country, or at least those serviced by Southwestern Bell. SBC DSL has a spectacular reputation among consumers for having technologically advanced products, great customer service, and good competitive prices on their service. The only drawback I could find is that several SBC DSL customers found setting up a home network to be difficult. However, by simply converting to wireless internet, you can solve that problem and still have your SBC DSL connection all over your home.

A big advantage of SBC DSL is that in most cases you can get a free modem and setup. Setup can be one of the more frustrating parts of getting high speed internet, especially if you are not technically savvy. Many companies charge a setup fee, so that savings alone can make SBC DSL attractive to you. Installation can be difficult, and there is charge for that. However, if you do it yourself they waive the fee and you will still have access to the very knowledgeable and helpful SBC DSL customer service representatives.

Many high speed and DSL internet companies will not be willing to give you a firm date as to when you can get your connection taken care of. That is another way that SBC DSL is different. Once you place an order you are given an installation date, which is as a general rule about six business days out from when you call. Such convenience and up front commitment from a company makes it easier for you to arrange your schedule around setup and installation plenty of time in advance without fear that you will have to make more last minute changes to your busy schedule.

There are a ton of high speed internet options out there today. There are cable internet, DSL companies, wireless internet over cell phone signals, and even high speed dial up connections. Each one tells you that it is the best for converting your office or home to high speed internet connection. Which, though, is the best? That is hard to say definitively as prices and services vary by area, but the one with the best reputation around is SBC DSL. By offering friendly representatives, good competitive pricing, and commitment to service, SBC DSL is a model high speed internet service. They will allow you to go to high speed without the worry of setup, installation, and whether or not you will be able to get in touch with someone the next time you have a problem with the service. That peace of mind is as valuable as anything else.

If you would like the latest information on high speed internet, or find more of my personal articles like the one you just read, visit my computing site.

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Are you shopping around for high speed internet and getting totally confused? $12.95 for 6 months, or $14.95 for 3 months? Upload speeds of 128 kbps or download speeds of 768 kbps? What does kbps stand for anyway? Hopefully this article will help you make some sense of all the promotions out there.

I compared the promotions (as of May 2006) being offered by most of the primary DSL and cable modem providers in Southern California. It’s hard to fit a giant Excel spreadsheet into a text article, but see if you can use the information I provide to at least try to compare apples to apples. The two main criteria I focused on are price and speed.

A few points to clear up first so you can be more educated in your choices:

kbps: kilobits per second

mbps: stands for megabits per second. A megabit is 1,000 times faster than a kilobit. So 1.5 megabits is equal to 1,500 kilobits.

download speed: The download speed is for downloading web pages, software, etc. and is what you probably use most of the time.

upload speed: The upload speed is used, for example, when you might upload photos to the internet (for instance to Snapfish or sending an attachment to an email), or if you have your own website and upload your own pages.

Since you are only downloading most of the time, high speed internet companies focus primarily on download speeds, which are invariably faster than upload speeds. You might want to focus primarily on download speeds as well, depending on your type of usage of course.

Also, the general consensus is that the typical download speed for home DSL (before all these promotions started coming out recently) is about 1.5 kbps. So it is worth a word of caution that the cheapest promotions may or may not be the best for you.

Several companies are offering very good prices for 768 kbps of download speed. I have been told that this speed is adequate for people who mainly use email and do light web surfing. So you have to think about how much you use the internet. Do you download music? Are you a web surfing addict?

One thing I’ll tell you is that if I, as a computer consultant, had an internet speed of 768 kbps, I’d probably be rather unhappy. But if you’re a light user, you’d probably be fine.
OK, now you can read about the different offers and see for yourself:

AT& T (formerly SBC):

Their lowest promotion prices are $12.99 per month and $17.99 per month. You also have to pay a $12.95 shipping and handling fee. (And you have to pay $49.99 up front for a modem, but you get a mail-in rebate of $49.99 as well.)
The $12.99 price is for download speeds of 384 kbps - 1.5 mbps. The $17.99 price is for download speeds of 1.5 - 3.0 mbps.

Those prices are good for a 1-year contract, but beware. If you don’t call AT&T before the year is up (I believe they send you a letter to remind you), the price goes up to $50/month. Once you call, though, AT&T will offer you whatever promotion they have at the time. There is a $99 termination fee if you break your 1-year contract.

Summary of AT&T prices:
Lower speeds: $12.99
Faster speeds: $17.99
Other fees: $12.95 shipping and handling,
$99 termination fee.

Verizon:

This company is offering a base price of $14.95 for download speeds of up to 768 kbps and upload speeds of 128kbps. The first month is free, however there is a $19.95 shipping and activation fee. This $14.95 offer is good only if you order via the internet though (a little Catch 22 there). If you call and speak to a live person instead, it’ll cost you $17.99 a month. Ha!

For heavier internet users, Verizon has another, slightly more complicated promotion. For download speeds of up to 1.5 mbps, you get the first month free. Butttttt, for the second and third months it will cost you $21.95, and $29.95 for months 4-12. (Where’d they come up with that plan?) Upload speeds are about 384 kbps.

These Verizon promotions come with one-year contracts and a $79 termination fee if you break it. You also need to call before your term is up to get decent rates for the next 12 months. (for the second offer you can stay at $29.95.)

Summary of Verizon prices:
Lower speed: $14.95
Faster speed: $21.95-$29.95
Other fees: $19.95 shipping and activation fee.
$79 early termination fee.

AOL:

AOL doesn’t have its own high speed infrastructure per say. It provides AOL service but uses AT&T or Verizon to deliver it in the Southland.

The price is $25.90 per month for a one-year term. After that year, Verizon customers are still charged $25.90 per month, while the service with AT&T goes up to $29.99 per month. The speeds are generally 768 kbps for download and 128 kbps for upload. With Verizon there is a shipping and handling fee of $19.95 and a $79 early termination fee, just as if you’d went with them without AOL. AT&T (as shown above) asks for a $99 early termination fee.

Summary of AOL fees:
$25.90 for 768 kbps download speed
( for other fees see AT&T or Verizon fees.)

Earthlink:

Earthlink: This company is offering a promotion of $12.95 for the first six months in certain regions of the country, with a price of $29.95 after that. This promotion is for decent speeds: 1.5mbps for download speeds and 128 kbps for upload speeds. They also charge a $19.95 shipping fee, and $149.95 if you break your 1-year contract. (So I’d guess you’d better be sure you want to stay with them!)

Summary of Earthlink prices:
Faster speed: $12.95-$29.95
Other fees: $19.95 shipping fee,
$149.95 early termination fee.

DSL Extreme:

DSL Extreme offers a promotion of $12.95 per month for customers with SBC phone service. That promotion offers speeds ranging from 384 kbps - 1.5 mbps for download, and 128 - 384 kbps for upload. Those with Verizon can expect to pay a little more, $14.95 per month. Speeds with Verizon are 768 kbps for download and 128 kbps for upload. These prices don’t include $15.43 for the shipping and handling of the modem.

As with the others, you’re in for a 1-year contract. But if you renew before it expires, you can lock in the price DSL Extreme is offering returning customers at the time. That price is not yet determined:

Watch out, though. The early termination fee if you decide to end the 1-year contract is a whopping $250!

Summary of DSL Extreme prices:
Lower Speeds: $12.95-$1495
Other fees: $15.43 for shipping and handling of modem,
$250.00 early termination fee.

I also talked to a couple of companies that offer cable modem:

Comcast:

The prices for cable modem tend to be a bit higher, but the two cable companies I called offered faster speeds than the DSL promotions I looked at.

Comcast is offering a promotion of $26.95 for the first three months with download speeds of 4mbps and upload speeds of about 386 mbps. But after your honeymoon the price goes up to $45.95 if you have cable TV with them or $56.95 if you don’t. One good thing - there is no contract, so that means there’s no early termination fee.

You also have to either buy a cable modem at an electronics store (Comcast doesn’t sell them) or rent one for $3 a month. So be sure to include that fee in your calculations!

Adelphia:

To begin with, Adelphia offers a basic package which happens to be very basic. Both its upload and download speeds are 256 kbps (kinda slow if you ask me). This package’s price is $24.95 per month.

The company also offers a more reasonable package that costs $24.95 for the first three months, then goes up to $43.95. The speeds with this package are pretty fast - 4 mbps for download speeds and an upload speed of 384 mbps.
As with Comcast, Adelphia’s packages are month-to-month, with no contract and no termination fee. But, also like Comcast, you have to either purchase your own modem or rent one for $3. Also, you don’t need to have Adelphia TV cable service to get those prices. The prices are the same for both cable TV and non-cable TV customers alike.

©2006 by Kara Glover

Feel free to reprint this article in newsletters and on
websites, with resource box included. If you use this
article, please send a brief message to let me know where
it appeared: kara@karathecomputertutor.com

Kara Glover is a Computer Tutor and Troubleshooter. You
can find her free tips, articles, and tutorials at her website:
http://www.karathecomputertutor.com

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Let’s just skip the intro and get straight to it. This tutorial is for the Windows XP Operating System. If you don’t have it I recommend you upgrade to it.

This portion of the tutorial will apply to people with Comcast High Speed Internet. For other Internet Providers I will include another tutorial specific to those.

Let me start off by saying that despite what Comcast might tell you, you do not have to have Comcast come and set up your wireless network. In addition, you do not need to pay them an additional monthly fee in order to have a wireless network in your home or to have additional computers on your home network.

Let’s talk a little about where to buy the equipment . In most walk in retail stores you are going to pay about 20% to 30% more than if you order online (with the exception of Walmart, but the one near me is always out of stock of the wireless products I need.) If you feel more comforatable buying from a retail store because you can easily return something that is defective or that you don’t like, keep in mind some retail stores will take back a defective product for a full refund within 14 to 30 days, but some will tell you to ship the defect to the manufacturer for a replacement. If the item is opened and you simply don’t like it, most retail stores will take it back within 30 days but you will have to pay a restocking fee, which is usually 30% to 50%. My point here is that I don’t see too many advantages to buying wireless equipment at a retail store.

I order almost everything online unless I need to test it first or I can’t wait a few days for it to ship. I don’t mind waiting a few days in order to save 20 - 30%.

Equipment

There’s a lot of different equipment you can use, but what I’m going to list here is what I’ve found to be the best, and is what I use myself. If the text is blue it means you can click on it to be taken to a page where it can be ordered online, either from Amazon or Buy.com, both reputable online retailers.

The following portion of the tutorial applies to the following: I have a Desktop Computer that sits near the cable modem.

First you will need a Wireless Router. I recommend the Linksys Wireless-G Broadband Router.

If you are connecting a desktop computer to your wireless network and the desktop computer is sitting near your cable modem, your desktop computer will need to have an ethernet card. How do you know if your desktop computer has an ethernet card? If you bought your desktop computer within the last 3 years chances are it has one already. Best thing is to get behind the computer and look. If you have one you will have a port in the back of your computer that looks similar to a phone jack port but bigger. If you do not have this then you will need to purchase one. The
Linksys LNE100M EtherFast 10/100 PCI card will do fine.

To install this card you will have to unhook your desktop computer and open the case. Before you start to panic let me tell you, in most cases it’s really not that hard. In most circumstances the hardest part is opening the case.

The first thing you need to do is open your computer case. Since each computer maker makes a different case and in turn a different way to open the case, I cannot list the steps for all manufacturers. In addition for just one computer maker, the way cases are opened differs from model to model. If the computer is a Dell or HP then the instructions on how to open it should be online on their website in the help section. It may take a little digging to find it but it’s there. Sometimes a case is designed well enough that it can be opened simply by unscrewing the two round screws and pulling it off.

Once the case is off it’s time to take a look inside.

The slot that you are looking for looks like this picture to the right. You may have several open slots like this or just one. Take a look at the slot and then take a look at PCI Ethernet card that you bought. As you can see the Ethernet PCI card is shaped to fit nicely into the PCI slot in your computer.

There will probably be a small metal cover covering the PCI slot. Holding this cover on will be a screw. You need to unscrew this with a Phillips head and take off the cover. Once you’ve done that align the ethernet PCI card with the PCI slot. Once you have it aligned it will take a small amount of force to get it to click in, just make sure you have aligned correctly. There is only one possible way it can go in.

Once you have the Ethernet PCI card in put the cover back on the computer and hook your computer up again.

There are other options for wireless adapters that do not involve opening the case but I don’t recommend them as they can cause more headaches then they are worth.

Laptop Computer that is fairly new

If you are trying to connect a laptop computer that was bought after 2005 you most likely have wireless capability already so there is nothing you need to add to your laptop. You can check for sure by doing the following:

Click on Start > Control Panel > System > Click on the Hardware tab > click on the Device Manager button in the middle of that window > You will see a list of your hardware here, find the one that says “Network Adapters > Click on the Plus sign next to Network Adapters > This will show all the network adapters on your computer > If you see something with the word “Wireless” or ‘Wireless Adapter” then you are in good shape, your laptop has a wireless adapter.

If your laptop is older and you do not have a wireless adapter then you will need to add one to your laptop.

Let’s talk for second about what kind of adapter to get. Most laptops have what’s called a PCMCIA slot in them. If your laptop did not come wireless ready I recommend you get a wireless adapter that goes into your laptop’s PCMCIA slot. The Linksys Wireless-G Notebook Adapter will do fine. The instructions that come with this product are pretty good and will tell you step by step how to install and load the software. In a nutshell you are going to load the CD into your cd drive and follow the instructions to load the software for the adapter. Once the software is installed you will shut down your computer, slide the card into your laptop’s PCMCIA slot and turn the laptop back on.

Once you have the appropriate adapter installed for your computer you are ready to move onto the next step.

Installing The Linksys Wireless Router

The following directions apply to the following: I have a Desktop Computer that sits near the cable modem. In addition the desktop computer is hooked up directly to the Comcast Cable Modem.

If there is an Ethernet cable going from the Comcast Cable Modem to your desktop computer, disconnect this from both the computer and the modem. If it is a USB cable disconnect it from the computer and the modem.

In the wireless router’s box you should find its power supply as well as an Ethernet Cable. Take them both out. Plug the power adapter into a power outlet.

Take the Ethernet cord and plug it into one of the Ethernet ports in the back of the Linksys Wireless Router (plug it into any of the ones on the back except the one that says “Internet” over it.)

Take the other end of the Ethernet cord and plug that end into the Ethernet adapter that you put into your desktop computer. Now power up your desktop computer. Once it is powered up, open up Internet Explorer, or if you use Firefox open that up.

An Internet Explorer window comes up and it says “Page Cannot Be Displayed”.

In the Internet Explorer address bar, type in the following numbers exactly like this

192.168.1.1 and then press Enter on your keyboard.

If your computer is talking to the Linksys Wireless Router you should get a window asking you for a username and password. Leave the username blank.

Go down to the password field and type in admin

Then press the enter key.

You are taken to the Linksys set up screen. This is where changes are made to the routers set up.

Look towards the top, you should see something that says Host Name and Domain name. Just above this you should see a drop down menu. By default it probably says Obtain an IP automatically.

If it has “Obtain an IP automatically” there already you do not need to do anything. Just exit the window.

If it does not have “Obtain an IP automatically” click the arrow for the drop down menu and choose “Obtain an IP automatically”.

Scroll down towards the bottom until you see a “save” button. Click save. You will be told that Settings are successful and you will be returned to the Setup screen again.

That’s all you need to do on the router status screen for right now. Exit the window.

Connect Your Comcast Cable Modem to the LinkSys Wireless Router

By now you have your desktop computer connected to the LinkSys Wireless Router by way of an Ethernet cable.

Now you will need to grab another Ethernet cable.

Plug one end of this Ethernet cable into the Comcast Cable Modem. (There should only be one possible port for it to go.)

Plug the other end of this Ethernet cable into the LinkSys Wireless Router in the port that has the word “Internet” over it.

Now you have a cord going from the computer to the Linksys router, and another cord going from the linksys router to the Comcast modem.

You desktop should now be able to get onto the Internet. Open up Internet Explorer again and surf the Internet to check.

Connect Your Laptop to the Wireless Network

The following section applies to the following: I have a laptop and I want to connect my laptop to my wireless network. My laptop is fairly new (purchased after 2005) and it already has a wireless adapter inside it. I checked in Device manager as noted above and I found something that said “Wireless”.

This should be fairly easy if your LinkSys Wireless Router is running correctly.

Boot up your laptop. When the laptop boots up you should get a pop up window saying that it found a wireless network called “linksys”. It should connect to the wireless network automatically. If not then you need to Right-click the network connection icon in the notification area (area near the clock in bottom right hand corner), and then click View Available Wireless Networks.

In Connect to Wireless Network, under Available Networks, click the wireless network that you want to connect to (the one called “linksys”)

Click Connect. You should now be connected to the internet.

If your laptop is older and you had to add a PCMCIA wireless card to your laptop to give it wireless capability, the steps to connecting to your wireless network are much lengthier. In this case your best bet is to consult the online documentation and follow the steps outlined in it.

Carlos Cabezas writes regularly about home technology at http://www.HighTechHomes.tv/blog. His business, High Tech Homes, helps work at home professionals, families and small businesses with their technology issues.

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