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The Web at warp speed - a primer on fast access
Web posted December 22, 1996
By John M. Moran
It often seems as if someone slapped a 20 mph speed limit on the information superhighway. Indeed, the slow pace of communications has earned the Web a new nickname: the World Wide Wait.
Some of the slowness is due to the skyrocketing number of Internet users and the popularity of large data files, such as pictures, audio and even video.
But perhaps the biggest bottleneck has been the ``last mile'' - the figurative distance between home users and their local Internet-access providers.
Currently, most home users connect to the Internet by modem, using conventional telephone lines. For two years now, the top speed of these connections has been 28,800 bits per second (although more recently, speeds of 33,600 bits per second have been achieved).
That's a vast improvement over just a few years ago, when computers could send and receive data at barely one-tenth that speed.
Even so, today's top modem speeds are far too slow to handle the kind of advanced Internet applications that computer hardware and software makers are cranking out.
Internet telephone calls, Internet video phone calls, Internet radio stations, Internet television, interactive on-line game-playing - all strain the limits of conventional modem technology.
What's needed is a faster connection - or, in high-tech parlance, more ``bandwidth'' - between the home and the Internet.
But there is relief on the horizon. A host of new technologies promises to smash the existing speed barriers, ushering in a new era of high-speed data communications for computer users.
``Higher access speeds are part of what will make the Web into real cyberspace,'' said Lawrence Gasman, president of Communications Industry Researchers, a leading trade publisher based in Charlottesville, Va.
``As soon as some of these higher bandwidth technologies start to become available, people will start putting up Web sites and coming up with applications that will utilize that bandwidth and then some,'' Gasman said. ``That's the kind of mechanism that will drive the market.''
Which of these technologies will eventually win out remains to be determined, however. Some are in the early stages of commercial release, others are in the testing phase, and others are still on the drawing boards.
With obscure names like X2, K56flex, ISDN and ADSL, they are hardly household words. But in a world hungry for faster communications, they soon could be. Internet users are clamoring for more speed, and dozens of companies are scrambling to deliver it to them.
Here then is a look at some of the leading candidates to carry high-speed Internet connections to consumers:
56K modems
With speeds nearly double those of today's modems, a new kind of modem is the leading contender for the next generation of high-speed connections.
Several of the top makers of modems and their components - including U.S. Robotics, Lucent Technologies, Rockwell Semiconductor and Motorola - say their new modems can transmit data at up to 56,000 bits per second.
The modems reach those speeds only when sending data in one direction: for example, from the Internet-access provider to the home. Data sent in the other direction - from home to the Internet provider - would still be at the conventional speed of 28,800 bits per second.
Still, since most users receive far more data from the Internet than they send, the new modems would effectively double the speed at which users can could browse the World Wide Web, download video clips or receive audio.
Wen Liao, senior analyst for Jupiter Communications, a New York City consulting firm and publisher, said these so-called 56K modems will transform the Web-browsing experience for many users in 1997.
``If a consumer has the patience to wait about six months, you'll get a better picture about how this 56K technology will be deployed,'' said Liao, who is editor of Jupiter's Interactive Home newsletter.
Already, major on-line services such as America Online, CompuServe and Microsoft Network have announced their intention to support the 56K modems. So have computer makers like Compaq, Hewlett Packard, Toshiba and AST.
Perhaps the biggest advantage is that 56K modems can use conventional telephone connections. They don't require any special wiring or configuration. And people who have bought modems recently may find they can upgrade those units without having to buy new modems.
But there are potential problems.
For one thing, because the quality of telephone connections can vary significantly, not all users will achieve the top speeds that the modems can deliver.
For another, the X2 modem technology being promoted by U.S. Robotics is not compatible with the K56flex modem technology backed by Lucent and Rockwell. Until a standard emerges, users could be frustrated in trying to find matching modems to connnect with.
Still, companies like America Online are convinced that consumers will embrace the new 56K modems and quickly get hooked on the faster speeds.
Already, America Online has test sites in five U.S. cities and - depending on the outcome of those tests - expects to begin rolling out the 56K modems nationwide later in 1997.
``AOL has always been the company to push the envelope with connecticity speeds,'' said Matt Korn, vice president of operations. ``That enables us to present more graphical and more multimedia content to our members.''
Internet service providers are also enthusiastic.
``In the short term, I see a clear winner for the X2 modem technology,'' said Chris Lukas, president of North American Internet in Wallingford, Conn.
``Given that the large network providers and the large (Internet providers) have already signed on, from a provider's standpoint it's already been decided that it's going to be supported,'' he said.
ISDN
Even faster connection speeds are available from another telephone technology, ISDN (for Integrated Services Digital Network).
Essentially, it's a digital telephone line. But what makes it interesting to computer owners is that ISDN connections are capable of speeds up to 128,000 bits per second.
And unlike technologies that work only in the laboratory, ISDN service is readily available statewide from Southern New England Telephone, said Bob Bailey, SNET's product manager for ISDN.
``Technology is progressing, but right now you've got your plain-old telephone service and ISDN. As far as true reliability, right now that's all there is,'' Bailey said.
Despite its wide availability and high speed, which is up to five times faster than current modems, ISDN is still having a hard time making inroads as a way for consumers to connect to the Internet. (Critics have joked that ISDN really stands for ``It Still Does Nothing.'')
Part of the problem is cost: An ISDN connection costs $50 or more a month. Also, there are per-minute charges ranging from 3.5 cents to 1.5 cents, depending on whether the line is used during business hours. ISDN modems can be expensive (although the price is falling), and for now, relatively few Internet providers offer ISDN accounts.
So, with other fast-connection technologies waiting in the wings, Jupiter's Liao said ISDN may have missed an opportunity to become a mass-market presence.
``ISDN is an existing technology that is here and now, but it's difficult to set up ... and the pricing can be complicated,'' Liao said. ``You really have to want that higher bandwidth to go through the hassle of getting that.''
``We feel that the window of opportunity is really closing now for ISDN and that the telcos really lost their opportunity to market that,'' she said.
Cable modems
Cable-television companies are racing to re-engineer their systems to carry Internet traffic as well as sitcoms and sports.
Among the leaders is Tele-Communications Inc., a Denver-based cable company that has teamed up with a cable-Internet service called at Home Network.
Cable modems and at Home's own national high-speed network allow the service to offer consumer Internet access at speeds simply unavailable by any other means commercially available today.
``It's the fastest consumer Internet connection in the world,'' said David Bagshaw, at Home's senior vice president. ``The speed that we're getting is completely changing the way people are using the Internet.''
With connections that are 50 to 100 times faster than a 28,800-bits-per-second modem, users are able to download large software programs, video clips and other big files in seconds.
Instead of measuring speeds in thousands of bits per second, at Home delivers speeds of 8 million to 10 million bits per second - enough to download even gigantic files in seconds.
``I've been talking to users who told me that they had to go out and buy more disk drives in order support their habit of downloading files over the Internet,'' Bagshaw said.
That speed comes at a price: about $40 a month. There's also a $150 installation fee that includes the cost of a special computer-network card that is installed in the user's computer. A cable modem comes as part of the service.
Among the advantages of cable Internet connections is that the telephone line isn't tied up while the user is surfing the Web. Also, the Internet connection is available at all times, so the user doesn't have to wait while the modem dials out and establishes a connection, as is customary with conventional Internet accounts.
But although some companies, such as TCI, have begun providing their Internet services, others may not have it available for months or perhaps years.
Satellite access
Some users are heading into outer space to get faster Internet connections.
DirecPC, a sister technology to the DirecTV system for receiving cable-television broadcasts, uses a small satellite dish to capture information from the Internet. Speeds of up to 400,000 bits per second are achievable.
Like the 56K modems, those speeds travel in only one direction: from the Internet to the user. The user continues to send data to the Internet over a conventional modem connection.
But the user typically sends very little data compared with how much is received. (For example, the request for a Web page might take up only a few bytes of data, while the Web page itself might consist of tens of thousands of bytes.) The result is a fast and seamless connection.
The sophistication of the technology carries a considerable price tag, however. The DirecPC satellite dish and software retails for about $700. There's a $50 activation fee, along with a monthly access fee of about $10.
In addition, a variety of membership plans set additional fees based on when you're Web surfing and how much you download. One such plan, the ``Moon Surfer,'' charges about $40 a month for unlimited access during nonbusiness hours. (If you have to connect during the business day under this plan, the charges switch to 80 cents per megabyte downloaded.)
ADSL
This is one of the most speculative but also one of the most promising new high-speed technologies. But for now, at least, it remains largely in the design and testing stages.
ADSL stands for Asymmetrical Digital Subscriber Line. In brief, it is another kind of digital telephone connection.
What makes ADSL - and similar digital phone connection schemes - so powerful is that it promises to vastly increase the speed of existing telephone lines.
In theory, 6 million bits per second would travel from the Internet to the user. The same connection could also carry 640,000 bits per second from the user to the Internet.
What's more, an ADSL connection uses a part of the telephone link that is not used for voice communication. So a user could be surfing the Net at warp speed while talking on the phone.
No pricing is available on ADSL connections because the technology is still being tested. Nor is there a timetable for the technology's becoming widely available.
Gasman, of Communications Industry Researchers, thinks cable modems may eventually win out over ADSL because of cable's potential for higher speeds. But both technologies will probably co-exist for quite some time, he added.
``We do think in the long run that cable modems are going to win out,'' he said. ``But it may be a 10-year race.
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