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Various Broadband Connection

Broadband, also known as broadband internet access, is a high data-transmission rate Internet connection that make use of two of the most popular consumer broadband technologies – cable modem and DSL. With any of these technologies, your Internet connection could easily transmit data faster than 56 kilobits per second (the highest speed of a traditional dial-up modem).

The popularity of broadband internet access radically increased in many countries starting 2000. These kinds of Internet access can surf hundred times faster than conventional dial-up modems, thus the name “high-speed Internet”.

Commercial broadband Internet commonly has 256 kilobit per second, which is about the slowest broadband speed for connections advertised worldwide. However, since there is no standard bitrate defined by the industry, the term “broadband” could imply also low-bitrate transmissions or others call “narrowband”. Consequently, some consumers turn out to be disappointed about the promised Internet speed of their connections.

The Technology Behind Broadband Internet Access

The most important assessment you have to make is the kind of broadband internet you want. There are various technologies behind broadband access and you should understand these technologies to fully appreciate this service. Things you have to think about include cost, speed requirements and your location, whether home or office. Since there are many choices for high-speed connections, you should be able to know how each one works and find out which service can benefit your work or lifestyle the most.

Some Internet service providers use multi-linking technologies that achieve a faster surfing speed by doubling the speed of dial-up modems. However, if you wish to subscribe to this feature, you should have two dial-up accounts, two telephone lines, two modems and the ISP provider for multilinking. This is the oldest kind of technology and was used way before DSL, cable broadband and other higher-speed connections were available.

The most common technologies for broadband in many countries are DSL and cable modems.

The most common broadband internet is Digital Subscriber Line (DSL). This technology works by using your phone lines to transmit digital signals directly, without having to convert to analog signals. DSL offer higher data rates and allows you to connect anytime without using your phone line, making it available for incoming calls. There are many kinds of DSL, but asymmetric digital subscriber line (ADSL) is probably the most popular for subscribers.

Cable is another type of broadband internet, which uses the fiber networks to give your cable television at home and use them for internet access. Meaning, you get to divide a given amount of bandwidth for a neighborhood. The limitation of cable internet is that some condominiums and buildings do not have cable installed. When this is the case, it could take time to install your internet subscription because building codes and other legal issues should first be done.

Satellite is the kind of broadband internet that is frequently recommended as an alternative for DSL. However, satellite internet is more expensive because you will need an antenna or a dish to receive data signals from the provider’s satellite.

Other new technologies, such as optical fiber and VDSL are now adding to consumer’s choice for higher-speed Internet connections. Although fiber-optic internet services are used lately, the technology had played a vital role in allowing consumers to connect to broadband Internet using a more cost-effective solution even over larger coverage.

The biggest challenge in broadband is to offer the service to customers in any area, even with low-population densities. Since setting up the broadband Internet access in a particular area could cause many thousands of dollars for equipment alone, many service providers do not have the network in some rural areas for fear that they will not recover the costs.

Although some local Internet providers provide these solutions, many have limitations and drawbacks. The most common problem for rural Internet providers is that these companies usually depend on the quality of local telephone companies.

In some locations that have no DSL or cable Internet, Wi-Fi networks serve their Internet needs. In other countries, high-speed mobile Internet access, such as HSDPA, EV-DO and stationary-broadband WiMax are used.

With today’s modern world where businesses and even home-based employees rely on the Internet for everyday communications and worldwide access, broadband and other high-speed technologies present consumers and businesses a expedient way to hook up to the net.

Regardless of what you choose, you can really see the difference of dial-up from broadband internet in terms of speed, reliability and performance once you plugged your computer on.

Mobile Internet For Your Car

So, you just finished watching MTV’s “Pimp Your Ride” and you need to add a little something different to make your car stand out from the crowd. What can you do? How about adding Mobile Internet to your vehicle. It is not as hard or expensive as you might think.

Here is what is needed

Mobile Router:

This is similar to a typical home router with one exception. It uses a Sprint Mobile Broadband Card to provide the internet, allowing you to use it anywhere, even in motion! It converts a Mobile Broadband Card into a Wi-Fi signal that up to 5 laptops can use at the same time. One of the best options for this would be the CradlePoint PHS300 or the CTR500 Mobile Router. Why? These are some of the smallest (about the size of a wallet) mobile routers on the market and are well under $200. The PHS300 is even battry powered so you don’t even need to plug it in! For the other models, just plug an inverter into the cigarette lighter and the unit is now powered up and ready to surf the internet, even while driving down the road at 75 MPH. Of course, that would be for the passengers to enjoy, not the driver!

Mobile Broadband Service:

This is the increasingly popular Mobile Internet service that Sprint, Verizon and others are now selling. For just $59.99 a month, Sprint and Verizon offer high speed internet access anywhere in the USA. These services can be used directly in a laptop for one user, or in this case, directly into the Mobile Router so that multiple users can tap into the same card at the same time.

Laptop:

This one is quite obvious, but there are two ways to connect the laptop to the Mobile Router. One is with an Ethernet cable direct from the router to the computer. The second way would be to just connect through wi-fi. As long as the laptop has built-in wireless, as all newer laptops do, the laptop will find the wi-fi signal the Mobile Router is producing.

Extras:

If extra range is needed on your Mobile Internet set-up, or if the vehicle is often in remote areas there are two products that can greatly increase your performance. The first is an external Antenna. All the current Mobile Broadband Cards have ports to attach these antennas, enabling a more powerful antenna to boost the signal and thus the performance of the card. Amplifiers are even more beneficial. These devices add up to 3 watts of power to the Antenna, which can turn a very weak signal into an average or even strong signal. Not only will these add-ons help your performance, but they will add a bit of the “WOW” factor when people are admiring your unique vehicle.

Mobile Internet Satellite Broadband – chapter 3

Back in 1999 when we beta tested the first wireless mobile office with satellite broadband Internet we had something that no one lese had. Today you can buy these systems for $5,500 fully installed on any RV. We probably had $10,000 in the first system and we had mobile satellite number 34. Today there are thousands of systems out there. Continuing the beta testing story of the first broadband satellite internet system.

It appears the Canadian based companies for obvious reasons are gaining fast while the US companies were hampered by the FCC in the last few years, forcing communications to move out of the country, yet the customer bases will be here and many of these companies will have 50K subscribers in no time, and the US mighty powerhouses will end up with all the technology and hardware through acquisitions or set up new systems in the coming years with higher capabilities. But do not count out the GM Hughes Team, Craig McCaw (he is a lifer when it comes to passion of the industry) and of course Lockheed and Microsoft. Teledesic, and the other recent alliances and projects prove that the world will be more than united and on the same page it will be doing so in real time. Expect the human rights violations of yesterday to disappear in all nations, religion to be put in check and knowledge to be the universal truth. I would like to thank; John Kettlewell, Jon Haugan, Steven Genuser, Stacy, Allen, Steve Ford WB8IMY, Michael Tavern, Frank Morring, Kim Komando and a few other writers, researchers and industry insiders for all the data in our research. We have scoured over 20 magazines for the last year for bits and pieces of the puzzle and personally visited all kinds of people around the US for this input.

We at WashGuys are sitting on the latest and greatest technologies on this Planet. We will always be on the leading edge of anything that makes us great. And when we say us, we mean all of the US, but of course this costs the big bucks and we like out electronic toys, but it is not for everyone. Okay back to the talk. TracNet is another purely Internet Based satellite service and has download speeds of 400kbps, but since it is not directly two way it’s upload speed is 14.4 Mbps on a cell phone or at 9600 through the satellite, bummer, but it works no matter where you are in the US. Truck drivers like this one a lot. It also works about 100 miles from the coastline in a boat and is good on yachts. Many high-end motor homes have this system too. TrackNet uses the 802.11b wireless standard WiFi; this is at 11Mbps, same as an Ethernet network. The cool thing about this system is you can be outside on the grass in a park doing you work as long as you have the server in your car with the Trac net antenna set up. Of course you need some space for all this but the size of this technology is getting smaller and the price is coming down too. Right now this system costs about $6K. It uses the ExpressVu Bell Satellite and it requires a 14-inch antenna. Let me know if you want to see what the dome looks like. This will cost an additional $3,000. Cost is $ .99 per minute and after 900 minutes it is only $ .79 per minute. MotoSat System, 12Kbs on down load and 1.28Kbs on uplink all satellite, no cell phones unlimited use for $79 per month. Hell you can even watch TV on the damn thing.

Got to love the diehards from GM Hughes Spin off. What’s the catch? A 39 inch antenna, not exactly transportable or brief-casable. DataStorm it is called. Our WashGuy Command Center antenna is 42 inches high and 39 inches across in an ellipse shape. We believe the next wave of technology is where it is at however and predict this to be in place where WiFi is sitting on top of every billboard in the US for uplink and the antennas are 5 inches high and self tracking the downlink from the satellite and with this technology and user codes each company can help America track terrorists and once a terrorist is coded like a whale that has been tagged, you always know where he is. When will this be? Not long. Give it three, maybe four years or so tops, five if the FCC does not see it’s obvious value.

Another system, which may enter the market, is GE Capitals Americom Communications Unit. Our founder met the president of Americom once, about 8 years ago, interesting guy. Societe Europeene Des Satellite (SES) added these satellites to its 28 owned and 13 satellites that it has an interest in. Why? To have a piece at the broadband seamless global conductivity market. This was talked about in April 2 issue of Aviation Week and Space technology. This means that SES will also control AsiaSat and Embratel’s Brazil StarOne. Other articles to tell the history of this whole thing are; Nov 13 2000 AW&SPT and AW&SPT of July 24,2000. SES maybe the most profitable in the entire sector due to the contract backlogs of 6.4 Billion as of June 2001. So now what will they do with others entering the markets? It appears GE was smart to sell and now needs to get back into the game somehow. I see the coming of a new age. Where information, innovation, security, safety, will change the world. And just imagine the power it will give to all the research going on in the World. Very cool. Car Wash Guys are in close contact with these technologies so we can put a small antenna on every until and address the entire company and every crew in it every morning of everything going on by way of satellite video conferencing. WOW, we are almost here.

And that is the story of our Beta Test Project and we are glad to be a part of Communications History and we have now tested the satellite system in every city in the United States over 10,000 people. Think about it.

Mobile Internet Satellite Broadband – chapter 2

We were the first beta testers of a Mobile Command Center with full Internet Access in 1999. Our mobile command center was also the first unit with WiFi and Internet Mobile Access.

The next generation of this system of Broadband Satellites was introduced in 2004. And the next wave of technology almost exists for the 10 times that speed. Looks like Moore’s Law may just apply to Satellites, however with the former practice tries by Motorola and the incompetence with the FCC we saw previously we may find that there are significant obstacle to over come still.

The biggest gripe back then was the Iridium pricing of $134.50 per month and the ridiculous cost of $1.34 per minute. Of course GlobalStar proves that they are worse at 150 per month and 1.39 per minute and International calls at $1.79. The cool thing about Inmarsat is that it is 20 years old and still has the 9.6 kbps data speed and sometimes you can get the 64 kbps. Inmarsat A is ancient and 18,000 ships have the maritime Global distress system aboard. GMDSS. If you look at most all commercial ships you will see the antennas on top that can run fax machines, Telephones and various data interfaces. Previously they ran below deck Telex systems. This system as you would guess is purely analog which has much advantages in weather conditions at sea. Inmarsat B is a whole different story with it’s digital technology, you can definitely get 64 KBPS all day long for broadcasting audio streams, video (a little jumpy), and voice and fax transmissions.

The pricing of data transmission due to speeds can save users up to 40% simply because it takes less time per minute to down and upload data. Of course the hardware runs about $ 10K, but for what it is that is not bad considering the original costs of data transmissions. Now here is the new deal Inmarsat C, two way data communications, terminals are portable and small, brief case style. Costs for terminals are only $4K approx. and everyone in the TV business has one or more. Inmarsat also has a system for voice, which needs only a little antenna of 9.3 or more inches and comes in a small dome. These were recently featured in Popular Mechanics in Nov 01. Trac Phone antennas for boats, RVs etc are expensive at $6,500 but work well. This is also known as the SatCom system mobile. It is a briefcase laptop system and is only 5 lbs. Costs only $3,000. People call it their brief case phone. It uses a SIM card for multiple users a system if you will remember never took off in the US like the smart card phones in Europe. Remember the PCS Phones had that little slide in cards, but they were too expensive for mass production in cellular technology. Inmarsat F77 is another innovation of 2001. ISDN and mobile packet data service capabilities. Delivering Fax, phone, voice and data. 64kbs, Absolutely and without a problem. Almost trouble free, this is nearly fully operational. We are almost there. This technology takes advantage of the B-GAN services that will be provided by the Inmarsat 4 being launched in 2004.

This will be cool. US Based ComSat Mobile, a division of Lockheed Martin Global Telecommunications has announced it’s cooperation with Fleet F77 in the first half of 2002. Ah ha, now we are getting somewhere ? Says the people at Stratos, who are arrogant Canadians. Why is this so cool? It means that users can send and receive data but only be charged for the data sent and received. Serf the web in broadband from anywhere or even a remote log cabin on vacation, emails and web browsing for about $89.95 per month all in real time with about 2-3 second delays for distance or in another system the one we have now it will be a half second delay with even higher speeds (I will talk further about this in a minute). Internet based systems like this means we can track every ship, truck, terrorist school bus in the country real time, just like they now track all the aircraft as we saw on TV during the 9-11 act. We watched charts of the US with every single aircraft flying.

Imagine the system capabilities for efficiency, safety, storm and weather watching, and safety of our people. I am really liking this a lot and everyone in America will be safe and the President can have his missile defense program because we will be able to track everything that moves which is not cloaked and right now that is everything that we know about. We can even track stealth bombers by frequency disruption patterns from cell phones. We win. Guess what these systems have a built in safety switch so important transmissions get there first for instance a ship in high seas in trouble, DEA transmitting while profiling a smuggler, or mayday distress calls. So if you are surfing or on line sending emails it will be delayed until the safety priorities are taken care of and at those speeds and numbers of users and the forthcoming Craig McCaw’s Law I predict to replace Moore’s Law for satellites that will not be more than a nano second by 2005. In other words you will assume a solar flare or even a thunder cloud.

Orbicomm is another data source with no voice capacity and handles two-pager and alphanumeric operations using a small network of LEO Satellites. Another web site we found of interest to you if you are using any of these technologies.