The History Of Broadband Speed

Ever since the birth of the internet, users have been concerned with the speed of there internet connection. Before broadband speed was an option users measured the amount of traffic via the speed of there modem. This device  was installed into the computer and used the clients phone line to access the internet and download date. Data was transferred via the telephone line and therefore speeds were limited to 14.4kbps, then 28.8kpbs, then 56K as the modem technology improved.

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Unfortunately the speed of the internet connection meant that anything but a simple text based web page would take minutes to load and users frustrated. With more and more users online and the birth of dot com businesses, broadband was unleashed. With broadband speeds of upto 512kbps, users could have a fast, rich, uninterrupted service, as users no longer had to chose between the telephone line or there internet connection. This ‘always on’ service also meant that users were no longer being charged per minute for using the internet, and most internet service providers were able to charge a monthly subscription fee.

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Internet service providers, were able to provide tools to show users the speeds available in there area, and also measure that actual broadband speed they were all able to achieve. However, as broadband speed increased so did users appetite for more information. With the birth of video, pictures and internet advertising, the need for a fast connection was vital for users to be able to allowed to ‘stream’ seamlessly. Thus, the speeds of 2mb, 4mb and upto 8mb were born. This is where the internet exploded and now we can watch full feature films, play games online, and chat to friends via VOIP to our hearts content.

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Broadband speed then took the back burner, as users turned towards there smartphones for internet access, and the birth of social media sites such as Facebook, twitter and linkedin users could tweet and poke to there hearts content wherever they were. Mobile broadband was created just to fill this need. Computers, laptops and even mobile phones could be hooked up to anywhere where a wireless router existed.

With this in mind, mobile phone operators such as t-mobile, vodaphone and o2 developed pay-as-you go broadband. A wireless dongle is connected to the computer then hooked up the nearest GPRS signal, meaning no need for an internet connection, however the broadband speeds available are slow, and the bandwith available is costly, making this an unattractive solution for heavy internet users.

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What does the future hold for Broadband speeds?. Well the idea of even faster speed is brought to the forefront again. Expected this year is the foll out of  a fibre optic solution, allowing speeds of upto 24mb. This could finally see the introduction of seamless video technology, more VOIP operators and a whole other range of applications such as cloud computing. The idea of desktop software could be redundant. Users would access all there documents and even the operating system itself via the internet.