Now, let’s look at the various ways in which you can connect to the Internet from your home PC or LAN.
There are two different methods of connecting to the Internet today. The first is called Dial-up or Narrowband, and the second method is called Fast Access or Broadband.
Narrowband access to the Internet is a slower method of connecting in which typically a 56Kbs (or 56 Kilobits per second) modem is used. The individual dials up to his/her ISP, obtains an IP or Internet Protocol address after authenticating into the service through their account and surfs the Internet at a slower speed than users of Broadband. When the individual is through surfing or checking their email, they disconnect. If they dial into their ISP again later, the IP address they obtain from their ISP will be different and will not remain fixed. Connection to the Internet from a Dial-up prospective is much simpler than with Broadband and requires only a telephone line, dial tone, and an internal or external dial-up modem for your PC. Since the IP address changes with each user session, the PC is connected to the Internet for short periods of time and usually never when the PC owner is not at the PC.
Broadband access to the Internet, however, is a much faster method of connecting in which a DSL (Digital Subscriber Line) or Cable Modem service is used to make the connection. Typically today, a Broadband connection is anywhere from 50 to 150 times faster than a 28.8 Kbps connection and requires either telephone service and DSL modem as well as a NIC (Network Interface Card) internally installed in your PC or a connection from the modem is made via USB port in the PC; or, requires a Cable TV service, cable modem, and NIC. Unlike a Dial-up customer, a Broadband customer has an always-on connection to the Internet. This means that the IP address that is assigned to the PC does not change as in the case of a Dial-up user but remains fixed for a specified time period of time (typically 12 to 24 hours) prior to changing. The connection is never broken unless manually disconnected by the Broadband user. In some cases such as business rather than residential customers, the IP address may even be static or fixed (usually an additional cost to the customer) in which case the IP address will never change but remains the same for the user while surfing the web. This type of PC user is most vulnerable if proper security measures are not employed since a would-be intruder could record the IP address of the PC user and always be able to connect to his or her PC and LAN when desired. An IP address in cyberspace is analogous to a house address at your residence or more appropriately your telephone number. Your activities while connected to the Internet can be traced directly to you through your IP address.
A major distinction between DSL and Cable Modem service is that one is more secure then the other and one is less likely to result in a reduced “bandwidth” as more customers are added to the service than the other. DSL is more secure than Cable Modem connectivity since DSL is based on the telephone service you receive into the home. Today, pretty much no one has a “party line” which is a shared telephone line that used to be quite commonplace 50 years ago. Since the POTS or (Plain Old Telephone Service) as it is often referred to is private, then your DSL service is also private. Moreover, since DSL is private, as more customers are added to the service, the total “bandwidth” or amount of network carrier available is not affected since everyone has their own equal amount of network bandwidth. This is not true of Cable Modem service in which everyone shares a common, non-private network and as more people are added, less bandwidth is available to each. It is because Cable Modem service is non-private and shared that the security risks on a Cable Modem network are higher and you as a user of the service are more vulnerable.