We encourage all ACCCC members to take advantage of the benefits of the internet as a communication medium.  Just as you need a telephone to make use of telephone services, you need a computer to make use of the internet.

While veteran users know what the internet is, novices often have no idea of what it is or where to start.  The internet is simply an electronic means of sharing information.  If you have never used a computer before, why should you start now?  Well, the most compelling reason is that the internet is now the best way of getting information ranging from government services to banking to finding out the rest of the lyrics to the song that keeps running through your head.  For people who enjoy listening to the radio, the internet makes it easy to listen to stations from all over the world.  It also lets you listen to your favorite radio program's audio archives.

Handy things you can do once you have internet service:

The following article was written to help computer novices understand computer jargon when they decide to get internet service or to upgrade their internet service.

What do you need?

You need three things to start cruising the information superhighway:

Computer

Pretty much any computer will do.  While you can dust off the old 486 (the designation of an older type of CPU or brain in a computer) that you got for your kids back in the early 1990's, you will find that you will enjoy your internet experience with a more modern computer.  If all you are interested in using your computer for is the internet, even the cheapest computer you can find at your local computer store will work just fine.  Equip it with the largest monitor (computer screen) that you can  afford.  Older machines with older software (the programs that run on the computer) will likely require a little bit more computer expertise to make them work properly.  However, this shouldn't really be a problem as most people usually know someone who is at least a little bit tech savvy.

Before you start spending any money on upgrades and repairs, you might find that it's cheaper to buy a new computer than to repair or upgrade your old one.  Have a look at Getting Gouged by Geeks before you spend a nickel.  It really pays to learn how to make your own repairs and upgrades.  It might be a bit time-consuming (there's tons of information on the internet) but at least you get to work inside and you don't get your hands dirty.

Internet Service

Internet accounts are accessed in a variety of formats, which are characterized by their connection speeds.  The important consideration for internet users is how many bits per second (bps) can be transmitted to your computer and this is known as bandwidth.  A bit is essentially one letter, so bits per second is approximately how many letters per second can be transmitted down your internet connection.  Because a bps is quite small, connection speed is often discussed in terms of thousands of bits per second (kilobits per second or kbps) or millions of bits per second (megabits per second or Mbps).

Broadband?

If you connect to the internet with a phone line, the computer must convert digital information to analog information or sound waves and it does this with a modem (modulator-demodulator).  Traditional phone lines provided by Public Switched Telephone Networks (PSTN) provide Plain Old Telephone Service (POTS) which only carry analog signals and this are limited to 14,400 bps (14.4 kbps).  Some phone companies also offer Integrated Services Digital Network (ISDN) service, which is a combination of copper cable and fiber optic technology that allows for greater bandwidth than POTS at a rate of 128 kbps.  ISDN does not have a distance limitation like DSL because it is essentially a digital telephone line but the bandwidth decreases while the phone is also in use.  Unfortunately, Bell Canada only offers ISDN as a business service and makes it very hard for the home consumer to find out more.  

Broadband can mean different things to many people.  For many, it is generally considered to be any connection speed 256 kbps or higher.  To others, broadband is really anything higher then 56 kbps because the "band" refers to the frequencies used by the data transmission.  Voice and 56K use "narrowband" frequencies where the "voice" segment of the phone line reside, which in turn limits data to a maximum speed of 53,000 bits per second. "Broadband" uses a wider band of frequencies, separate from the voice frequencies.  Since it's a wider band, you can stuff more data down it.  The cable companies offer broadband service that takes advantage of unused bandwidth on their cable television networks.

Although faster than 56 kbps dial-up service, ISDN is still not broadband because it uses voice frequencies.  While there are two basic kinds of ISDN service in North America: Basic Rate Interface (BRI) and Primary Rate Interface (PRI).  BRI is the most common for home internet service and uses two data channels rated at 64 kbps per channel plus one 16 kbps channel for signaling and control.  PRI is more common for business and uses 23 64 kbps data channels and one 64 kbps  control channel to carry 1.544 Mbps.  You lose bandwidth to use the phone on BRI service because you drop one data channel while making a voice call.  The higher speed (compared with 56K) is due to each data channel being digital.  If you're one of Bell Canada's rural customers, you can forget about getting Bell's ISDN service.

Let's put connection speed into perspective.  Streaming video (an internet movie) can  require about 6 Mbps but can be done with as low as 56kbps.  Often, downloads give you a choice of bandwidth (56k, 100k, 300k).  Video conferencing (talking on the internet with a video camera) requires at least 384 kbps or preferably 768 kbps.  Listening to streaming audio (an internet radio broadcast) without broadband is doable because internet radio is available with speeds as low as 8 kbps but is more commonly available in the 20-36 kbps range.  However, low bandwidth streaming audio can still sound a bit choppy even with the very fastest dial-up connection.  Very high quality streaming audio currently requires 100-200 kbps.

Besides streaming audio and video, file downloads are another consideration for connection speeds.  Manufacturers often place their catalogs on the internet and these are available to anyone who wants to see them.  A catalog can easily be anywhere from 1 MB to 50 MB in size and you will need to download a large catalog overnight with dial-up.  Photos are commonly placed on discussion forum postings as part of a discussion and will download automatically as you attempt to view an individual discussion topic.  A 1 MB photo will take about 1 minute to download at 128 kbps or about 3 seconds at 3 Mbps (3000 kbps).  You might think "I'm retired, I can wait", but that 1 MB photo could take well over 5 minutes to view if you have dial-up service.  There are literally millions of photos on the internet and several photos are often placed in discussion topics.  Do you really think you have that much time left?

Before you get too hung up about connection speeds, remember that there are other factors that affect how fast web pages appear on home computer.  Obviously, the internet connection speed is a major factor.  Other factors include the speed of the web page's host computer (web server), how many people want to view that file at the same time as you do, and how many people are tying up your ISP's computers.  Don't expect that everything you want to do on the internet will be lightning fast all the time once you get a super quick internet connection.

Dial-Up

Dial-up access is the cheapest but slowest format and ties up your phone line.  If you only need internet access for email, this is probably your most economical option.  However, if you spend any time at all on the internet, dial-up's slow speed quickly becomes very annoying.  The fastest dial-up modems are marketed as 56 kbps but users are very lucky to connect at anything over 50 kbps if they are close (within 5 km or 3 miles) to the telephone company's central station.  The central station is where the phone company's fiber-optic cable network connects to the copper lines that end up at your house.

As an improvement to dial-up service, Slipstream has some new technology available that can quite effectively accelerate dial-up to anywhere from 5 - 9 times, which becomes competitive to basic and lite DSL offerings, but is a lot cheaper.  Merge Internet offers it as X7, but many ISPs now offer accelerated or "highspeed dialup" service.  It's great for general browsing, but won't speed up most downloads.

DSL

The phone company and most private ISPs (such as Net Access, Vaxxine, Merge) offer broadband through the PSTN's twisted-pair copper phone lines (ordinary phone lines that come to your house) with their Digital Subscriber Line (DSL) service.  DSL carries a digital signal over the unused frequency spectrum available on the twisted pair cables running between the telephone company's central office and your house.  DSL is not available to a rural customer (or anyone else) who lives more than 5 km from the central station.  However, for those have access to DSL, Bell Canada offers a variety of download speeds starting from 128 kbps up to 5 Mbps.  Private ISPs simply resell this service.  If Bell doesn't have it for your home, then neither does any of the other ISPs.  As each customer has a dedicated line to the central station, the connection speed remains relatively constant even at peak times.

Cable

The cable companies offer broadband service through their coaxial cables by taking advantage of the  unused bandwidth on their cable television network.  Cogeco offers three packages with nominal download speeds ranging from 300 kbps to 10 Mbps.  Cable is generally available only in urban areas so rural customers can pretty much forget about this service.  Because users in a cable neighborhood share the available bandwidth provided by a single coaxial cable line, the connection speed varies depending upon how many people are simultaneously using the service.  Watch how fast your connection speed drops when the kids come home from school!

Wireless

The only practical alternative to dial-up service for rural customers is wireless internet.  Lastmile, Neigbourhood Wireless, and Bell offer wireless internet services in the Niagara area.  Lastmile offers only one level of home internet service with a download speed of around 1,000-1,500 kbps, which is commonly achievable but could easily go much lower (or higher) depending upon system congestion.  Upload speeds are about same as download speeds, sometimes much higher.  Although the Lastmile customer antennas actually communicate at 11 Mbps, the nature of radio communication effectively results in service better than Bell's Basic DSL.  Neighbourhood Wireless's advertised download speed for home internet service is are about 750 kbps.  Bell doesn't market their wireless internet service for home use and they expect their average download speeds to be between 400 -700 kbps.  For each system, users must be within range of the ISP's transmitting internet antennas and must also have an antenna installed at their house.  The antenna must be in the line of sight of the ISP's antenna and this sometimes requires a antenna tower (50-70 feet tall) to clear the tree line.  The Lastmile antenna itself costs around $400 and the tower can set you back another $400 or more.

Satellite

An alternative for remote locations is satellite internet.  Two companies so far offer options  for residents of the Niagara area: Southern Ontario Satellite (SOS) of Thorold, ON and Audiosaurus of St. Catharines, ON.  SOS offer the Hughes DirecWay system whereas Audiosaurus offers the Telesat Xplornet system. 

DirecWay Home Service plan quotes download speeds up to 700 kbps, with typical speeds of about 500 kbps to 600 kbps during peak times. Upload speeds, which are capable of reaching 128 kbps, are typically 70 kbps to 80 kps during peak hours.  SOS charges $80/month for the service and $399 for parts and installation is extra.

Xplornet Home Service plan quotes download speeds starting of (up to) 512 kbps with upload speeds of up to 128 kbps.  MSRP is $399 plus installation but includes a $100 credit.  They want you to sign up with a contract so they hit you with a $49 system access fee (annually?) if you don't.  They quote $55/month for internet access.

You pays your money and you takes your chances

With both DSL and cable internet, the service becomes a bit cheaper if the subscriber also buys the company's other services such as cellular phones and television.  Another thing to consider when buying the service of either one is whether the additional services included are of value to you.  These additional services could include parental controls, personal web space, multiple email addresses, security services, and maximum bandwidth usage.  Be very careful with Cable and DSL bundling.  The big companies design their bundles to trap people in their tangled webs and often involve 1 -2 year minimum contracts.  As for big companies, let's not forget that Bell is famous for their lousy customer service.  If it looks like a really good deal, it might very well be too good to be true.  Caveat Emptor!

Internet companies have been known to oversell their products, ie., promise high speed and deliver low speed.  CBC Marketplace's Speed Bumps story illustrates this scam.  The internet companies plays with with words by promising UP TO speeds rather than guaranteed speeds.   Subscribe to the lowest speed option of broadband internet you need because there appears to be a good chance you still be getting low speed service even though you've paid for high speed.

Internet Software

Most people use Microsoft (MS) Windows-based operating systems with their computers.  This isn't an endorsement of Windows but simply a reality.  Windows comes equipped with an internet browser (the program for viewing internet content) known as Internet Explorer.  Alternatives to Internet Explorer (IE) include America OnLine (AOL) (which is also an ISP), Netscape Navigator, Mozilla Firefox, and Opera.  IE works quite well for most people. AOL requires an AOL subscription.  Netscape used to be IE's major competitor but now seems to be a source of annoying popups (annoying ads that pop up as you view web pages) and possibly even dangerous spyware.  Firefox and Opera are excellent alternatives to IE.  Always try to run the latest versions of these programs.  Firefox has become the Merge Internet webmaster's browser of choice because he finds that much less prone to the hacks and exploits hackers use against IE to install viruses and spyware on your machine.

While not strictly internet software, email software is required to access email with your personal computer.  However, it is possible to sign up for web-based email such as Hotmail and Yahoo but you need to be on-line (connected to the internet) to write your emails.  Windows includes Outlook Express with IE and it works quite well.  If you have MS Office installed on your computer, you will likely also have Outlook, which could be considered to be the full-featured version of Outlook Express.  Pegasus Mail and Eudora are email programs that have been around a long time.  Mozilla Thunderbird is the companion email program to Mozilla Firefox.

Normally, your ISP includes at least one email address with your account.  It is quite easily to add more email addresses from organizations you may belong to such as ACCCC.  It is best to set up your PC-based email program to automatically check all of your emails (normally done every 5 or 10 minutes) while the program is running.  This will negate the need to continually keep logging into your web-based email to check your mail.  Be very careful about posting your email address on publicly accessible internet sites as this can result in spam (junk email).  Use web-based email addresses for this purpose as these addresses are quite easy to acquire and close.

What Else Should You Have?

When you finally get on the internet, there are a few other things to get to make your experience even more enjoyable.  Computer stuff is generally put in two categories: hardware and software.  Hardware are the physical things that are a part of your computer or are attached to your computer.  Software are the programs that run on your computer.

Hardware

Printers

Besides the computer itself, a few more items will make your internet use more enjoyable.  A printer is the first thing you should get.  This allows you to put onto paper an email you want to discuss with others or the directions to a car you just bought on eBay.

Scanners

Scanners are quite handy and these devices are like cameras that take a digital photo of a piece of paper.  Often, a printer and a scanner is built into one machine to do the work of a printer, a scanner, a photocopier, and a fax machine.

Digital Cameras

A digital camera is the next item to get.  Besides often taking better pictures than film cameras, the digital camera allows you to share photos on the internet.  You can scan a paper photo into a digital format but the result will not be nearly as good as a photo taken by a digital camera.  Many companies offer internet support for their products and emailing photos to them is an excellent way of getting your point across.

Networking & Firewalls

People who have more than one computer at home can easily connect them together with a hub or a switch to form a home network.  The difference between a hub and a switch is too technical to explain here but suffice it to say that they accomplish pretty much the same thing.  With modern operating systems (like Windows 2000 and Windows XP), home networks are extremely easy to set up and are an excellent way of sharing one internet account simultaneously.  D-Link and Netgear make some excellent economical products for setting up home networks.  I can't recommend Link-Sys due to my experience with their poor customer service and unreliable products.

When the hub or switch is equipped with a plug for connecting to an internet modem, the device is often called a router or a residential internet gateway.  For internet security purposes, a router shields the home network from internet attacks.  A device that does this shielding is known as a hardware firewall.  For this reason, it is wise to run a single computer through a router so that it too can be protected by a hardware firewall.  Routers are cheap nowadays and are extremely easy to install.  Dial-up users would have to also have an external modem for internet access when using a router.

Software

Anti-Virus

All computers should be protected by anti-virus software.  Norton and McAfee are two well known anti-virus programs that are available for purchase.  A free (for home users) anti-virus program that works extremely well is Avast!.  All good anti-virus programs regularly update themselves with the latest virus alerts.

Anti-Spyware

Web sites often place small files called cookies on your computer when you visit them.  These cookies allow the site to identify you when you visit them again.  This is useful for the internet user because this allows you to stay logged into your favorite internet forum without having to enter your username and password every time you visit.  However, unscrupulous web sites use these cookies and even install secret programs (obviously without your permission) to monitor your internet usage or worse.  Free anti-spyware programs like Spybot-Search&Destroy and Microsoft Anti-Spyware are good ways of fighting spyware.  Webroot SpySweeper is no longer free but it's probably the most effective sweep program out there.  The demo version requires a subscription before it will remove anything.  Ad-Aware is another very good anti-spyware program which is still free for basic home use but is available with more features for a nominal amount .  If you computer seems to be running slow, download and install Ad-Aware or Spybot-S&D and chances are that you will notice a dramatic increase in your computer's speed.