Ever use the Silent Sam terminal at Service Merchandise? If not, you're missing out. Go to the Silent Sam terminal. Select the item from their catalog. It will check inventory status. If its available, swack your credit card to pay for it. Then go to the pickup desk to get your merchandise. Sign the credit card slip and you're on your way. If you know what you want and you don't need to touch it before you buy it, Silent Sam can save time and hassles. It really pays off during the holiday shopping season.
Does your bank or credit union offer banking transactions via Touch-Tone telephone or computer modem? If so, check it out. Start with the Touch-Tone telephone interface and then work your way up to the computer. A number of payment destinations (like AMEX, utility companies, etc.) have online connections to banks which will post your payment in the same day you make it. Still counting on the "float" of payment via checks sent through US mail? Why not electronically pay that bill the day that it is due? If your bank balance is consistently healthy enough you can also set up automatic payments for term purchases, like cars, so that they are made every month automatically. At a minimum, online banking usually saves the price of the stamp, the effort of purchasing stamps and envelopes, and getting the letter to a mailbox or the post office.
Universal access to sufficient bandwidth to users is currently a significant problem for the world of data communications. There are several supposed leading edge solutions to this problem. From my learned opinion as a senior technologist in the data communications industry, I am convinced that technology exists today to truly solve the problem, but industry is unwilling to truly resolve the problem. They would much rather offer limted interim solutions so as to milk unjustifiable profits from those who will grab at any improvement as soon as its available. Read on, it gets better.
Today's analog or POTS (Plain Old Telephone Service) phone line can support connections at up to 33.6Kbps. Most users don't get 33.6Kbps due to the quality of the phone line to their house or office. Does the public service commission of your state define the characteristics of a voice grade analog phone line in sustained measurable terms, like SNR (signal-to-noise ratio)? If so, tell your phone company to measure your line to that standard and hold them accountable if it doesn't comply. Did you go from sharing your one phone line for voice and data to getting a separate phone line for data? Did you also notice a drop in data connection rate when using your brand new second line for data? Did you know that most residences are wired with what is known as quad wire, which supports up to two POTS connections? If your second line is not as good as your first line, your phone company probably swapped the first and second lines the last time you complained about voice quality on your first line. Your second line used for data is now running over the inferior quality line you were not willing to use for voice, let alone data. Hold the local phone service provider accountable for the quality of both of the lines. The best aspects of POTS and analog modems are that the line is cheap. It is a flat rate per month. The modems are cheap and they offset the lack of real world 33.6Kbps support with data compression. HTML is text and that compresses very nicely. Still, no answer to the universal access to bandwidth problem.
The next generation 56Kbps analog modems transfer data at asymmetrical rates, i.e. web server transmissions to your system are at a much higher rate than are transfers from your system. This is all well and good until you want to upload something or run a web server from this type of connection. The connection performance is still analog line quality limited. Another thing you need to know. The connection performance of these modems is distance limited. In other words, if your house is a few blocks from the phone company's central office (CO) and the line quality to your house is good, you'll get 56Kbps. If your house is like most then its several miles from the central office, and you are not going to get 56Kbps. Oh, I guess they did mention that detail. Did they also forget to mention that the 56Kbps asymmetrical connection may require changes at the phone company's line interface port at the central office system? I guess it just slipped their mind. Did they also mention that this 56Kbps approach only works if the destination you are connecting to is digitally connected? In other words, you ISP must be on digital lines like T1s and not on separate analog POTS lines. Guess who has digital lines? You guessed it, the major providers. Guess who has analog lines? You gueesed it, their local competition, the Mom & Pop ISP. Still no real solution to the universal bandwidth problem, but it is really good way to differentiate your major ISP from the local guys.
ISDN terminal adaptors offer one circuit or 1B connections at 64Kbps, unfortunately the ISDN digital service providers don't all support synchronized two circuit or 2B service at true 128Kbps. Don't be fooled by multi-link PPP which runs two unsynchronized 64Kbps circuits, claiming to be 128Kbps. Depending upon your distance to the nearest ISDN capable CO, your ISDN line installation may require that a line repeater be installed in your neighborhood. Installation is expensive. Sometimes in excess of $1000. Monthly rates may be expensive. Sometimes in excess of $100 per month. Depending upon the tarriffs in your state, the line usage may be connect time rather than flat rate based. Still not a solution to the universal bandwidth access problem.
ADSL, is asymmetrical, requires CO line interface changes, may not be usable for POTS, requires your ISP to connect at the CO, not via ADSL line to a nearby CO. Very good for RBOCs wanting to be ISPs. Line distance to CO limited. May require a repeater be installed in your neighborhood (expensive) in order to the get maximum data rate.
Metropolitan Area Networks or MANs. Forget it, too expensive.
Cable modems - the unreasonably asymmetrical kind which use a POTS line for outbound data and a shared cable connection for inbound data. An issue, it doesn't come completely from the phone company. Too asymmetrical. Still no solution.
Cable modems - the reasonably asymmetrical kind which use a shared cable connection for both inbound and outbound data. Requires cable plant upgrades which will take time. It looks like the big cable providers will make the changes because they can smell the revenue potential. The smaller community providers may not offer cable modems or may offer only the extremely asymmetrical type. The big issue, its not from the phone company. I like this solution as an interim. I just wish the cable companies would get off the dime and deploy the solution. At this point there are no technological barriers of which I am aware. The only barrier is an assumption that cable video customer support is not up to the task of cable data customer support. My recommendation, farm out the cable data customer support function. Gee, isn't that exactly what AT&T Turbo WorldNet is offering to do for your local cable provider? There will always be the problem of your fast cable modem attempting to connect and transfer data from a congested Internet backbone or a host destination that is connected at a lower speed. Thats life. Some say cable modems will be an ineffective solution because the line is faster than the web browser on your computer system. This is not a reason to denounce cable modems. If it were then 10Mbps Ethernet should have never been invented. There are still systems which can't fully utilize a T1, let alone 10Mbps. Reasonably symmetrical cable modems are the best interim approach.
Asynchronous Transfer Mode or ATM as the OC-3c service. This is 155Mbps over a copper (wire) to the home or office. Its symmetrical. Its full duplex. It will require line card changes at the CO. It will require a more expensive, at least initallly, phone connection. Voice, video, and data can be simultaneously sent over a single line connection. Biggest drawback is that your house must be within 100 meters of the next ATM switch hop, but they can probably put one of those in junction boxes. This is the ultimate way to go. Push for it!
Monroe Wyatt Pattillo, Jr. (MWP)
monroe.pattillo@monroepattillo.com
Site installed: 09 Jan 97 by MWP
Site updated: Sunday, 12-Jun-2005 09:40:16 EDT by MWP