From dialup to VDSL

K C Meera
24 December 2002

Dialup has many disadvantages, especially in India, where local calls are expensive. About 20 years ago, local telephone calls were billed per call, and not on the time taken per call. Today, however, telephone costs send the cost of dialup access through the roof.

Apart from that, dialup connections through modems and telephone lines are very slow, which means you cannot enjoy the full range of media available on the Net. Cable has several advantages over a dialup connection. In India, cable is cheaper than dialup for heavy users. However, cable is shared bandwidth between users; a lot of your speed depends on how many users are on your node.

The digital subscriber line (DSL) telephone service is more reliable and not dependant on the number of users on the node, but it is typically more expensive than cable, thus more suited to corporate customers.

A fibre-optic connection is the best and fastest possible connection that anything can give you. But it is expensive, complicated and difficult to maintain.

As you browse, so shall you choose: As a customer, the connection you choose depends on what your Internet use profile is.

Moderate use, browse, email and chat: Dial-up modems are the best solution, as they are the cheapest deal in the market.