DID YOU EVER click on a link to a Web site and then sit there, staring at a blank browser screen, waiting for the page to appear?
Or maybe you've clicked on a link to a video or audio broadcast online, then waited an eternity while a picture of a blank TV screen displays a cryptic message that says "Buffering."
Dial-up Internet customers live with these delays every day. But as millions of Americans switch to high-speed service - half the nation's Internet users have it today - they're discovering that broadband isn't always as "broad" as they expected.
Don't get me wrong. Broadband on its worst day is a lot better than dial-up at its best. But there are plenty of bottlenecks and glitches - some the fault of broadband Internet service providers and others just facts of life on the Net.
If you're thinking of switching from dial-up to broadband, or thinking of switching from one type of broadband to another, it's a good idea to know which is which - and do some research to find the service that's right for you.
First a word about moving data over networks. All digital information moves as a stream of electronic ones and zeros. Whether it's the text of an e-mail, a photo of Aunt Rhoda or a Britney Spears video, it's stored and transmitted in these tiny pieces, known as bits.
The speed of a network is known as bandwidth, and it's measured in bits per second. This is a little different from the terminology we're used to, which measures the size of computer files in bytes, kilobytes (thousands of bytes) or megabytes (millions of bytes).
It takes roughly 10 bits to transmit a byte, and you'll see Internet speed advertised in kilobits per second (kbps), meaning thousands of bits, or megabits per second (mbps), meaning millions of bits.
What does that mean in real life?
Well, consider that this column runs about 60,000 bits, while the text of Moby Dick runs about 12 million bits - about the same as the digital photo of the kids I like to show off. An episode of The West Wing recorded by my TV-capture software runs 2.7 billion bits. Do some simple math and you'll realize that anything longer than a basic e-mail requires moving a lot of bits.
Dial-up Internet connections, which use standard phone lines, have a maximum theoretical speed of 56 kbps for downloading (from the ISP to your home) and about 33 kbps for uploading (from your home to the network). That's at least 100 times faster than the first modem I bought 20 years ago. And for basic Web browsing and e-mail it's fine - if you have a little patience.
