Fast Receding Dial-up Connections

Remember connecting to the internet using your phone line and a modem? You had to click on the connecting icon on your computer and then sit for a while tapping your fingers, waiting for the establishment of the connection, while the modem croaked away in the background. Those were the days of the dial-up connections. These connections however, do still exist in certain rural and sparsely populated places, which have not been graced by a broadband connection yet.

These dial-up links are the slowest, while also being the cheapest internet connections. During connection establishment, your computer dials a number through your phone line, to the ISP’s server, using the modem. At the ISP server, verification of the connector’s identity is performed. Once this is successfully done, the internet connection is established and the server sends back a signal to your computer, indicating the same. This signaling is referred to as ‘hand shake’. Once this connection is established, you can surf the net, check emails and so on.

The phone line transmits only analogue signals. Hence, the modem, which actually is short for modulator-demodulator does the following

• converts the digital signals from your computer to analogue signals while transmitting through the phone line

• converts the incoming analogue signals back to digital signals.

A similar modem is present at the server side too, to serve the same purpose. Therefore, dial-up connections involve this overhead functionality. Since your regular phone line is used for connecting to the internet, the charges will be equivalent to your phone call charges. A big disadvantage here is that, your phone line will be engaged throughout the duration of your internet access. Unless you disconnect the internet connection, you will neither be able to make out-going calls, nor receive in-coming calls. Any person who tries to call on your phone line will hear a busy tone.

The speed that is achieved by such dial up connections is about 56kilobits per second. This is a theoretical value. Practically, much slower speeds are attainable, as there are several factors governing the data download rates. These speeds are like pebbles next to the mammoth broadband speeds. Moreover, there are service providers who charge by the minute. When web pages take long to download, you will end up paying more.

The ADSL (Asymmetric Digital Subscribers Line) and mobile broadband connections have replaced dial-up connections in most parts of the world. Though these connections are relatively more expensive in comparison with dial-up connections, they are more preferred. This is because, they offer much higher access speeds. An ADSL connection offers speeds ranging from 256kbps to about 8Mbps, while mobile broadband offers speeds in the Mbps range. Recent tests by Vodafone in Spain, have had their mobile broadband attaining a speed of 20Mbps as well.

ADSL and wireless broadband connections do not use the same phone line used for making calls, for internet connectivity. Hence, you can make phone calls even when online. Moreover, they transmit data digitally, which eliminates analogue to digital and vice-versa converting overheads. No noisy modems are involved either. With the pace at which ADSL and mobile broadband connections are spreading across the world, dial-up connections will soon face extinction.