For many people who live in the backcountry or rural areas, it’s often difficult to find an Internet solution that works well or works at all.

For example, DSL lines don’t extend to all areas and cable broadband companies don’t service all areas either, two popular Internet services that provide existing coverage to subscribers all over the world. Those in rural areas essentially have two options to choose between: dial-up and digital satellite Internet.

While dial-up is often slow, limited in speeds and requires you to sign up with a landline phone package, digital satellite is almost the exact opposite compared to dial-up. Digital satellite offers speeds approximately twenty-five to thirty times faster than dial-up Internet.

In addition, satellite broadband does not require a phone line in order to work. As such, it often proves to be the best Internet source for individuals with no other option.

Digital Satellite Equipment

Before you can access the Internet, you need several pieces of equipment to set up your digital satellite. First, you need a 2-by-3-foot dish that sits outside of your home. Second, you need uplink and downlink modems. In some cases, you only need one modem, but the exact requirement depends on the company from which you purchase your satellite broadband package.

You also need coaxial cables, which connect the indoor modem to the outdoor dish. In addition, a successful installation of the dish outside your home requires a clear view of the south sky since digital satellites are located over 22,000 miles over the Equator.

How Satellite Internet Works

The dish that you, or the technician, install outside of your home provides the main connection to the satellite dish orbits in the sky. When the satellite company’s modem is set up inside your home, all Internet requests are sent from the modem through the coaxial cables to the dish that sits outside your home.

When the dish receives the request, it relays it to the satellite orbits in the sky. When the satellite in the sky receives the request, it beams the request back down to Earth to one of the company’s satellite hubs or receiving stations. Once this happens, the request enters the public Internet space and eventually delivered back to your modem and computer, thus allowing you to view Web pages and other Internet content.

Choosing your Digital Satellite Company

There are several companies from which you can choose to sign up for a digital satellite Internet connection. Each has its own services and features. However, most digital satellite companies — and companies contracting with satellite providers — provide the setup free of charge, especially since the installation of an outdoor satellite dish can be difficult.

Two of the major companies that offer digital satellite Internet services include StarBand and WildBlue. Other companies that offer satellite Internet include ATT, DirecTV as well as Dish Network. However, all three of these companies are simply resellers of the WildBlue satellite service. This means that you must review the packages from each company to determine the best value.

With satellite, much of the debate about which company you should sign up with comes down to price, primarily because digital satellite Internet speeds — in general — are quite limited. Though digital satellite surpasses dial-up by far, maximum speeds obtained only reach around 1.5 to 2.0 Mbps in download speeds. Upload speeds, on the other hand, are limited to only about a third to a half of what you’ll experience in uplink speeds.

Whether you’re looking at ATT, StarBand or WildBlue, each company typically has a basic package that costs around $50 to $55. For example, StarBand’s Nova 500 plan costs around $50 for up to 512MB in download speeds. The most expensive package from StarBand, the Nova 1500, costs around $100 per month and offers download speeds up to 1.5Mbps.

Bundling your Digital Satellite Internet

One of the steps you can take to lower the cost of your satellite broadband services is to bundle it with other services from ATT, DirecTV or Dish Network. For example, each of these companies offers digital TV as well as digital phone services.

You can save money by ordering DirecTV’s “Triple Play” pack that includes all three, which is a similar package offered each by ATT and Dish Network as well.

Getting Set Up

Once you order your digital satellite package, the company typically schedules an installation date so that your dish and receivers can be set up. On this date, the dish is set up outside the home and the modem is connected near your computer.

If you’ve ordered digital TV services, the receiver for this is set up and, in some cases, a separate satellite dish. If you wish to set up a wireless network if you have multiple computers or WiFi-enabled devices, you don’t need to connect the satellite modem to your computer. Instead, you can connect it to a wireless router, which allows all wireless devices in your home to take advantage of the signal.

Alternative to Satellite Internet

Perhaps the only other alternative to satellite Internet, apart from dial-up Internet, is finding a wireless broadband provider that uses WiMAX Internet technology. WiMAX technology has been heralded as the protocol that can give entire cities WiFi coverage.

Even though it has proved difficult to accomplish this, the cellular towers owned by WiMAX providers, such as Clearwire, typically emit a signal strong enough so that it reaches into your home. All you need for this to work — assuming you’re in the coverage area — is a wireless broadband modem, which can be obtained from the WiMAX provider.

All things considered, digital satellite Internet is a great way to surf the World Wide Web if you live in a rural area and don’t have any less expensive option. As a whole, though, other options like DSL or cable broadband are more cost-effective and offer greater speeds than digital satellite.

If your options are limited, though, you must consider every digital satellite company available — as well as alternatives to digital satellite — to get the best Internet deal for your home.

Getting Internet service in your home is probably one of the top priorities on your list, right after electric and other utilities. Whether you choose digital satellite, DSL or cable broadband or even dial-up, each one of these connections methods allows you to surf the World Wide Web and stay in contact with others and get all that you need to get done accomplished.

However, the monthly price tag for Internet services can seem expensive, especially if you’ve fallen on rough economic times like millions of other people.

One alternative you have to paying for your own Internet services is sharing your neighbour’s Internet over WiFi. You can do this simply enough if you have laptops and netbooks that are automatically geared for WiFi setup. For your computers without built-in WiFi, you can buy wireless adapters that plug into the USB port and instantly give the machine wireless capabilities.

In some geographical areas, however, there is both a “right” and “wrong” way to go about sharing your neighbour’s WiFi connection and we’ll look at both of these situations so you can best decide how to proceed and whether or not you really need to buy your own Internet subscription.

What is WiFi?

WiFi stands for Wireless Fidelity and operates on an unlicensed frequency. This means that if you’re sharing the WiFi connection with your neighbour’s, the WiFi signal will have to pass through walls, doors, infrastructures, electrical and household equipment and many other objects just to get to your laptop or WiFi-adapted computer.

WiFi has experienced unparalleled growth since the year 2000. People of all types set up wireless networks in their home, which is especially beneficial for anyone living with more than one computer and WiFi-enabled devices. When you set up a home wireless network, the wireless router extends the WiFi signal throughout the home and allows you to use it no matter if you’re upstairs, downstairs or even outside.

Sharing WiFi and Ethical Issues

Many ethical issues arise when you think about whether or not “sharing” your neighbor’s WiFi signal is the right or wrong thing to do. As the saying goes, “there are two sides to every pancake,” and this is certainly true when it comes to the issue of WiFi-sharing.

If you’re debating about whether to take advantage of the free WiFi signals reaching your laptop from your neighbor’s home without their knowledge, here’s some food for thought.

The first issue arises when anyone sets up their home wireless network. When the network is setup, a wireless router is installed. The router emits the signal freely and there is no out-of-the-box security. In order to secure a wireless network, you must take deliberate action to password-protect your connection and set some type of WPA encryption.

The ethical dilemma arises because if an average consumer doesn’t know how to set the security — or doesn’t care to — then the WiFi signal will be left unprotected for all to see. In a sense, you can see this WiFi signal as the individual “consumer’s” invisible property and contend that he or she has the right to do with it what he will, even if that means setting no security on the network.

The second issue arises out of the sheer signal strength or radial coverage that wireless routers emit. Some wireless routers, especially the latest ones on the market today, emit a bigger overall signal that can be seen by your laptop whether you’re outside of the house or standing in front of your neighbor’s front door.

In a sense, the WiFi signal “spills” over into your territory. This is no different than if your neighbor accidentally set up a sprinkler that watered both your lawn and his. In this case, would it still be wrong to take advantage of the extra water?

A third issue goes hand-in-hand with the fact that the wireless routers everyone sets up come unsecured right out of the box. In the same way, you can crack open any laptop, netbook or WiFi-enabled device and it will be ready to find a wireless signal. This happens automatically and, in many cases, the device will connect to any unsecured signal automatically.

Since this is how technology comes prepared, we should consider whether the practice of “stealing” a WiFi signal extends to simply opening up your laptop within a certain radius of your neighbor’s front door or whether the practice isn’t so wrong after all.

Even though you can reason it out that sharing your neighbour’s WiFi connection isn’t unethical or “wrong,” doing just this is actually illegal in many cases. Though the practice of sharing the Internet over WiFi is still new, many people have been unafraid to brand it as “stealing,” just as if you were committing pirated theft.

For example, the practice is illegal in the UK. In the United States, there have been a couple specific cases of individuals being fined and jailed because they were “laptop surfing” or WiFi “piggybacking” and trying to find a WiFi signal.

The Right Way

Of course, no court or authority has rules whether it’s legitimately acceptable to share your neighbor’s Internet over WiFi if both you and he agree to this kind of arrangement. In fact, the Internet Service Provider Speakeasy has long advocated for the sharing of wireless networks.

The company believes that shared wireless networks help society at large with disseminating knowledge and providing access to information. The only caveat to Speakeasy’s belief is whether or not any illegal activities are being performed, which is the last thing on nearly everyone’s mind who tries to share a neighbor’s WiFi connection.

On the other hand, the network security firm Sophos believes just the opposite. Sophos thinks that “piggybacking” and sharing a WiFi connection deprives Internet Service Providers of revenue.
 
Nevertheless, the right way to go about sharing your neighbors Internet over WiFi would be to come to an agreement. You and your neighbor could work out payment agreements, whether that translates into you contributing to his Internet bill or simply making a donation to use his signal.

With the agreement should also include the type of router you’ll share. When you choose a router, you should choose one that has a powerful wireless signal, which — as of 2011 — would be wireless N routers.

Even though sharing your neighbour’s Internet over WiFi is considered a crime in many areas, the fact of the matter is that WiFi-sharing is an activity that is impossible to stop or prevent in all cases.

So the next time you’re deliberating whether you should press the “Connect” button if you see an open WiFi network, you need to think about the unintended consequences of that action, whether you’re truly doing anything wrong and whether your neighbor knows, and then proceed with caution no matter the decision you make.

With millions of people searching for a WiFi signal on their mobile phones, laptops, netbooks, PDAs and other WiFi devices, chances are that you’re not going to be far from a wireless reception area. This is especially true if you’re looking for a mobile broadband plan as you’ll need to connect your phone to a cellular tower owned by a wireless carrier.

The largest mobile telecommunications company in the world, as of 2011, is Vodafone. The company has markets either on its own or through subsidiaries in the United Kingdom and all across Europe, Australia, India, New Zealand, as well as Africa, the Middle East and the United States.

Vodafone is headquartered in Newbury, United Kingdom. Though the company doesn’t have a brand presence in the United States, it owns roughly 45% of Verizon Wireless, one major wireless provider in the U.S.

In addition, Vodafone placed a bid for ATT Wireless when the company went up for sale in 2004, but was unsuccessful because of a larger bid from Cingular Wireless. In other words, had Vodafone been successful with its bid, the brand and recognition of the Vodafone name would have increased in the United States.

Vodafone’s Wireless Services

As the second-largest wireless telecommunications company in the world in terms of subscribers, as of September 2010, with around 332 million subscribers, the company attracts consumers with its popular plans for prepaid mobile broadband. The company offers prepaid mobile broadband plans for both mobile phones and laptops.

Whether you can’t afford to be without your phone for a day, or even if you need internet without a phone line access at all times with your laptop, Vodafone has just about everything to keep your wireless reception covered.

Prepaid Mobile Dongles

As mentioned, a large part of the plans Vodafone offers is its prepaid mobile broadband plans for laptops and netbooks. If you’re constantly on the go and frequently visit places where you either cannot get on a free WiFi network or where you’d rather connect to a secure network, Vodafone has several prepaid mobile broadband plans that all include the use of a dongle or wireless stick.

The way this works for prepaid is pretty simple: you pay a specific dollar amount, obtain the dongle and connect it to your laptop. Once your data usage runs out, you can refill it or buy more data usage for additional fees, just as you can do with a prepaid mobile phone.

Plans and Prices

Vodafone is actually quite reasonable with its prices for prepaid mobile broadband dongles. For a $50 prepaid dongle, you can buy 3GB of data usage and have 30 days to use it. In effect, you’re purchasing a $50 prepaid wireless plan for your laptop. For many people, 3GB is more than enough to get through the month.

In general, 3GB allows you to surf the Internet for around 4 to 5 hours each day of the month, visiting general websites, uploading photos and downloading a moderate amount of songs and videos.

The other plan, which costs around $80, entitles you to 6GB of data usage for the same service period of 30 days. As you can get around 4 to 5 hours of Internet surfing time in with the $50 plan, Vodafone’s $80 prepaid dongle plan should allow you to surf anywhere from 8 to 10 hours each day of the month. In addition to your data usage, both prepaid plans also give you the free dongle to use with your laptop.

As an alternative to the prepaid mobile dongle, Vodafone also offers a plan with its pocket modem. Vodafone’s Pocket WiFiTM modem is a small device akin to the mobile MiFi device offered by other service carriers, which lets you connect your laptop — and usually several other WiFi-enabled devices — wirelessly to the Internet.

The device is often advertised as giving you a mobile hotspot as that is essentially what it does; it gives you a small WiFi radius throughout which you can use your laptop and other wireless devices.

This prepaid pocket modem plan is a little more expensive, however. The prepaid plan costs $100 upfront and only gives you 3GB of data usage and 30 days to use it. This may not be enough, especially if you want the pocket WiFi modem if you’re a heavy Internet user and have several WiFi devices to use with it.

Vodafone’s Month to Month Plans

You can also pay for a Vodafone month-to-month plan if you want something more than a prepaid mobile broadband plan, but don’t want to commit to a 12- or 24-month contract with the company. The month-to-month plan combines the benefits of a contract plan with the freedom of a prepaid plan.

You choose a month-to-month plan, and then you have the flexibility to upgrade during the month or stop and start as needed. With these plans, you can either opt to buy a Vodafone dongle — or you can use your own unlocked modem.

The month-to-month mobile broadband plans can be a little less expensive than the prepaid plans. However, some of these may be more beneficial for “light” users and others who know they won’t use the full amount a prepaid plan can offer.

For instance, you pay $15 for the least expensive of the Vodafone month-to-month plans, which gives you 1.5GB of data usage and a month of service time. A step up from that would be the 4GB plan with a month of service that costs around $30.

As you can see, Vodafone offers several options that can be suited to fit your needs as well as the needs of many others. From inexpensive month-to-month mobile broadband plans that cost just $15 per month to larger prepaid plans that cost around $80 to $100, Vodafone appears to have options for all kinds of budgets.

With free dongles being included with most of the company’s prepaid plans and generous amounts of data usage allowances, it’s easy to see why Vodafone continues to flourish in terms of revenue and subscribers.

The number of dial-up users continuously shrinks, pushing the popularity of broadband Internet upwards. The appeal of a broadband connection is simple: you have an “always on,” high-speed Internet connection where you can download and upload files, stream media over the Internet and surf altogether much faster than you ever can with a dial-up connection..,

Unlike dial-up Internet, however, you have many different options and packages to choose from when signing up for a broadband package. For starters, you need to choose the type of broadband you want to subscribe to: cable, DSL, satellite or even wireless broadband. You also need to determine the speeds you want to pay for.

Dial-up Internet traditionally only has one 56k speed that you pay for, but a broadband Internet subscription opens up several different possibilities.

The Broadband Modem

When it comes to paying for speed in your broadband connection, the most important issue is that your broadband modem supports what you’re paying for. The broadband modem is the first piece of equipment you need for your broadband connection, apart from your computer.

The broadband modem is essentially the digital link between you and your Internet Service Provider. It essentially transforms the signal from the outside to a signal your computer can translate. Whether you have cable, DSL or even satellite, the modem connects to the outside phone line, cable or satellite source so that you can get the connection indoors.

The majority of Internet Service providers give you the broadband modem equipment for free or charge you a small “lease” fee while you subscribe to the Internet package. However, you also have the option of buying your own broadband Internet modem from a retail outlet or electronics store.

Broadband modems are made by all the major different brands; a few popular ones include those by Motorola, D-Link, 3Com and Zoom, among many others. For cable Internet connections, any DOCSIS-compliant modem should generally be compatible with your Internet Service Provider.

Before you purchase a broadband modem on your own, however, it’s always best to confirm its compatibility with your Internet provider. You also need to examine the specifics of the modem and make sure that stated speeds are great enough to support the amount of speeds you’re paying for from the Internet company.

When you get ready to set up your broadband modem, you are generally provided with all the essential hardware to connect it to your computer. All the broadband modem needs is its power cord along with an Ethernet wire.

The wire gets connected from the modem’s “Internet” port to a port on the back of your computer. The port on the rear of your computer goes to your network interface card, which helps your computer communicate with the modem, thus providing you with an “always on” Internet connection.

The Wireless Router

Though a wireless router is not a requirement for a broadband Internet connection alone, this is a must-have piece of equipment if you intend to share your Internet connection with the laptops, Smartphones and other wireless and WiFi-enabled devices in your home.

The wireless router essentially takes the Internet signal from the broadband modem and sends it through the air in the form of radio waves after it’s set up. When you turn on your laptops and other wireless devices, the wireless network interface cards look for the signal from the router.

As with broadband modems, there are several you can choose and it’s important to buy a router that will support the speeds from your Internet Service Provider. For example, if you’ve purchased a 20Mbps subscription from the Internet company, your actual Internet speeds will suffer if the router only supports up to 10Mbps.

Most modern routers today support fast speeds so that you don’t need to worry about incompatibility with your Internet provider, but it can be an issue, especially if you’ve subscribed to super-fast speeds from the Internet company and want to take full advantage of it.

Related to speed and performance is whether you’ll buy a wireless G router or the latest wireless N router. Simply put, wireless N is a newer and more efficient standard than wireless B or G standards. First, wireless N routers support three to four times the speed of a wireless G router, which means you’ll be able to take full advantage of the speeds your ISP offers.

Second, wireless N routers experience less interference, meaning that you’ll achieve a greater overall performance on your network. Overall, choosing a wireless N router over a B or G-rated router would probably be the better decision, especially if you have newer equipment and you’re just getting started with a broadband connection.

Like broadband modems, there are many different brands you can choose from. All the major modem brands also manufacture wireless routers, including Linksys, Netgear, D-Link and Motorola. If you’re buying your own broadband modem, it’s a best practice to also buy the same brand of wireless router so you can be sure the hardware supports each other.

Connecting the Equipment

Once you have both the broadband modem and the wireless router, you’re ready to get set up. If you only have one computer to connect to the Internet then the only step you need to take is to connect the broadband modem equipment to your computer. However, if you’re setting up a wireless network with a router, the modem needs to connect to the router.

When you do this, you connect the Ethernet wire from the “Internet” port on the broadband modem to the port labeled “Ethernet” or “Internet” on the router instead of connecting it to the computer.

Then, you can also connect separate Ethernet wires from the extra ports on your router to as many computers in your home that do not have built-in wireless cards. Otherwise, you need wireless USB adapter on these computers to actually receive the signal emitted by the router.

Overall, getting your broadband Internet connection up and running doesn’t take a whole lot of work with careful planning when signing up with an Internet Service Provider. After you pay for your subscription plan, you simply need your broadband modem, wireless router and, if needed, wireless adapters.

Once you connect the hardware, you should instantly be able to tap into your service provider’s Internet source and surf the World Wide Web.

Having the ability to take the Internet with you no matter where you go is becoming increasingly important for many people.

The Internet allows you to stay connected to the outside world, stay in contact with your family, friends and associates, and get whatever work or tasks done that you need to get accomplished.

If you need mobile Internet, chances are you’ll need an Internet connection no matter where you are, whether a library, shopping mall or coffee shop, hotel, outdoor plaza or even in your car driving down the road. Accessing the Internet in these public spaces, however, can have real consequences and means you need to think about the security of your connection method and what data you’re transmitting.

Taking the Free Route

Perhaps the first and most convenient method for accessing the Internet in public spaces is to simply use the free WiFi hotspots and networks that you come upon in your travels.

Whether you have a laptop or netbook with wireless capabilities, it will immediately search for a wireless signal once you turn it on in the presence of a WiFi hotspot. If the strength of the wireless signal is strong enough, your laptop will automatically connect to the network assuming it’s not protected by encryption.

If you’re laptop or netbook doesn’t automatically connect to a network while you’re in a public space, the first thing you should do is check which connections or wireless networks are in range. In a Windows laptop, you can do this by clicking once on the wireless bars in the bottom right corner of the screen.

The first thing you should look for is any recognizable names among the networks to identify which one you should connect to. For example, connecting to the Internet means that the name of the network may be a variation of the name of the library in which you’re using it.

If you see a recognizable network name, you can hover over it to see whether it uses WEP or WPA encryption. If the particular wireless network uses this type of security, you must ask the network administrator or person responsible for the password. Otherwise, you can simply click on the name of the wireless network and click the “Connect” button to authenticate to the network.

Subscribing to Private WiFi Hotspots

Instead of going the free route, you can also pay a subscription fee to a company that offers private WiFi hotspots in and near other public spaces. Two of the major companies offering private WiFi hotspot subscriptions include T-Mobile and Boingo Wireless, among others.

These companies require you to pay a small subscription fee in order to connect to the Internet where the company maintains cellular Internet towers near and among public spaces. Once you pay the fee, which range from around $10 per month for an unlimited plan to around $8 for one-time usage if you plan to use the network for only a 24-hour period.

Once you pay the subscription fee, Boingo or T-Mobile gives you a software program that sniffs out whenever your laptop or mobile device is in range of the private hotspot. Since it’s a private network, you don’t need to be worried about the same data transmission issues as you do if you were connecting for free in a public space.

Boingo and T-Mobile, among other private hotspot companies, typically maintain thousands of hotspot locations across the country so you have ample time and space to use the service while you’re on-the-go.

Setting up Mobile Broadband

The other major option you have for accessing the Internet in public spaces is a subscription to a mobile broadband package. You can pay for mobile broadband from a major wireless carrier, such as Cricket, ATT, Verizon Wireless or Sprint.

Before you sign up, you need to decide whether you want mobile broadband for your laptop or mobile phone, as wireless carriers generally offer both options.

For your laptop or netbook, the service provider will usually give you either a USB modem or PC Card so that you can get access to the company’s cell towers. For your mobile phone, you need to pay for a data package that allows your phone to access Mobile Web. The cost for mobile broadband packages for laptops or mobile phones depends on the speed and amount of data usage you pay for.

Personal Hotspot

Some carriers also offer personal WiFi devices that you can take with you wherever you go. This personal WiFi device, branded as “MiFi,” is a rectangular device no larger than a credit card or mobile phone itself.

The device detects a wireless signal from the carrier’s cellular towers, which then makes it available for you and the WiFi-capable devices you use within a small personal radius. This personal hotspot device usually allows you to connect up to five WiFi devices, which means you can share it with friends or family if you wish.

As you can gather, there is more than one way to access and surf the Internet in public spaces. Each method offers its own advantages and disadvantages. For example, taking the free route and connecting to any available wireless network while you’re on-the-go may be the most convenient, but it is also the least secure.

Paying for a subscription to a private hotspot may be secure, but you may be limited as to the number of public spaces which you can find an Internet signal.

While it may be the most costly, paying for a data plan for either your mobile phone or laptop seems to be one of the best options, especially if you need to get online not only while you’re in public spaces, but also while you’re on-the-go on a train, plane or even automobile.

When it comes to ordering a broadband Internet package from a service provider, the three different types of services that will come to mind include DSL broadband, digital satellite and cable Internet.

Depending on where you live, one or more of these may not be an option. However, DSL broadband is one of the more popular services as virtually anyone that has the ability to pay and receive phone service from a local phone provider is able to sign up with a DSL Internet package.

A similar option to regular DSL broadband is dry loop DSL. This type of service, which is also known as naked DSL, gives you the option of paying only for the Internet without the necessary phone service charges.

One of the reasons dry loop DSL is a popular plan option is because of the increasing interest and widespread use of cell phones. Many people are already using cell phones as a home landline replacement, which means that paying $30 to $40 per month for a separate phone line for the sole purpose of getting DSL broadband is a waste of money. In addition, DSL subscribers who choose dry loop DSL can usually fare much better, cost-wise, over the long run.

How Dry Loop DSL Works

When you sign up for a typical DSL broadband package that requires a phone line, you get a modem that gives you a connection to the outside copper line and an indoor phone line that gives you a dial tone so you can make and receive calls. In years past, these two have become inseparable with companies claiming that one service could not be offered without the other.

However, recent FCC regulations have practically forced companies to unbundle the DSL Internet service from the phone line. Though dry loop DSL still uses the outdoor copper wire to deliver the Internet, the phone line portion is separated so that you don’t receive a telephone dial tone.

Companies that offer Dry Loop DSL

Qwest Communications was one of the first companies to start offering dry loop DSL voluntarily without FCC interference. Following Qwest, Verizon and ATT are two of the major nationwide providers of the dry loop package. Though paying for this type of Internet is slightly more expensive than a “bundled” option with telephone, you’ll still save some money over paying for a phone line subscription.

For example, Verizon’s website offers price comparisons for the dry loop DSL services that you can also bundle with a phone line. Verizon advertises a $30 rate for the lowest dry loop DSL package that, if bundled with a home phone service, will cost only around $20.

When looking for a naked DSL subscription, you’ll also quickly notice that companies offer tiered pricing structures to go along with the amount of broadband speed you want to pay for. For instance ATT offers a $30 DSL Direct Pro package that gives you up to 3.0Mpbs download speeds, but you can also pay just $5 extra if you want to boost those speeds up to 6.0 Mbps.

Verizon offers similar packages, but its most expensive package for dry loop DSL costs $55 per month, which gives you between 10 to 15Mbps download speeds.

Advantages and Disadvantages

One of the clear advantages you have if ordering dry loop DSL is the fact that you don’t pay the phone service you don’t need. If you use your cell phone as your primary method of voice contact, you can keep this phone and not worry about the telephone line installation.

The substantial cost savings that you can incur by cutting out a basic phone plan can really add up. For example, ATT’s Direct Elite dry loop DSL plan is $35 and, bundled with home phone, is $25. However, with the bundled package, you must still pay an additional $20 to $25 for ATT’s “Complete” home phone plan.

By choosing the dry loop DSL, you get a net savings of around $15 per month even though the dry loop plan is more expensive than paying for DSL broadband Internet when bundled. This adds up to approximately $180 per year in savings, a substantial amount for many residential consumers.

On the other hand, not having a phone can be a disadvantage if you need to make emergency 9-1-1 calls and don’t have your cell phone or if you need to set up a fax machine. Even though you can still sign up for a VoIP service provider if you want to make and take calls using your DSL broadband connection, VoIP can often be unreliable, thus giving you a poorer call quality than you would get with a traditional phone line.

Alternatives to Dry Loop DSL

If you don’t want to pay for a telephone service and only want Internet, there are several alternatives to dry loop DSL that you can choose. For starters, some dry loop DSL providers, such as Verizon, offer fiber-optic Internet connections as an alternative to DSL.

Fiber-optic connections provide super-fast Internet speeds; you can obtain faster download speeds with fiber optic than with any regular or dry loop DSL plan, cable Internet or even satellite Internet plan. For example, Verizon advertises three different tiered fiber-optic plans, including plans that give you up to 15, 25 and 50 Mbps download speeds, though these plans are typically much more expensive than a DSL package.

You can also get speeds that are faster than DSL with cable or digital satellite. Though slower than fiber-optic, cable and satellite both can enter your home without a phone line connection as dry loop DSL can. With satellite or cable, however, you may be required to purchase either a TV subscription or another of the company’s telecommunications products.

Making the Decision

Overall, the decision about whether or not to purchase dry loop DSL for the home or business comes down to price and whether you need the benefit of having a landline phone. Ordering a phone subscription gives you a stable landline phone from which to call and also lowers the price you’ll pay for the DSL package since you’re bundling it.

However, subscribing to dry loop DSL gives you the option to use other telecommunications services (e.g. cell phone or VoIP) as your primary method for voice contact, allows you to pay only for an Internet package and gives you the same DSL speeds that bundled packages offer.

Keeping your data safe has never been as important. Whether you’re worried about becoming an identity theft victim, others’ stealing your passwords, crackers and hackers getting the information inside your system or a virus attacking your computer, there are literally any number of ways a computer is vulnerable on a WiFi network.

Though the vulnerabilities are great, there are also plenty of options that you have to stay secure using WiFi.

WiFi Networks and Public Hotspots

The two places where you need to be concerned with WiFi security are on your own home network and on public hotspots. With your own network, you need to be concerned with others’ tapping into your home connection if you use a wireless router.

By definition, a wireless router doesn’t come with its security protections turned “on” as soon as you open the box and set it up. You must configure the security options separately.

The same is true of public hotspots. Public hotspots are areas where you can usually access the Internet free of charge. A hotspot is essentially a pocket or space in which you can get a WiFi signal with your laptop or mobile device. These can be found in airports, restaurants, hotels, shopping centers, libraries, coffee shops and other spaces where Internet access is offered for free.

Though some WiFi networks may be more secure than others, you still need to worry about data integrity and proceed with caution when surfing the Internet. For example, a hotel’s WiFi network that it offers to guests may be more protective against outsiders than a hotspot found in an airport.

Packet Sniffers – Why they’re Dangerous

Even though the public WiFi network you’re surfing on may require you to enter a password to authenticate to it, this doesn’t mean that potential hackers cannot surf the same network by getting a hold of the same password. Indeed, a malicious hacker or cracker is able to literally sit on the same network you are, assuming you’re in a public space, and watch the data being transmitted through the use of a packet sniffer.

A packet sniffer is a specific piece of software that network administrators can use to troubleshoot network traffic. However, this software can be used with malicious intent, especially if it’s set in “promiscuous” mode, which allows the software to capture all packets being sent and received from the entire network instead of from one computer.

When it’s used in this way, hackers and malicious surfers can easily see usernames and passwords you enter as well as other information that’s transmitted from your computer.

Staying Safe on a Public Hotspot

One of the first steps you can take on a public WiFi hotspot is to set the network location to “Public.” Available on Windows 7 operating systems and personal firewall software, setting the network location to “Public” means that file and printer sharing will be turned off while you’re on the network.

Generally, most firewall software and Windows operating systems will instantly recognize that you’ve connected to a different network and then ask you whether you want to set the connection as a “Public” or “Home” network. At this point, you select “Public.” However, you can also access this area — in Windows 7 and Vista at least — by opening the Network and Sharing Center and clicking on the network icon to which you’re connected.

Installing a Personal Firewall

The next step you need to take to prevent others’ from getting information out of your computer is to install a personal firewall. Though you may have antivirus software that continuously scans your computer, this is generally not sufficient. You can purchase paid personal firewalls like the McAfee Personal Firewall Plus or download free firewalls like ZoneAlarm.

A personal firewall monitors both inbound and outbound Internet traffic and the information that gets sent from and received by your computer. It lets you know of any attempts by software or malicious programs to try to take over your computer and scan for information, at which point the firewall automatically blocks the malicious software or program.

Surfing Tips for Hotspots

Aside from making sure that you have the proper protections with software and firewalls on a public WiFi hotspot, you can also change your surfing behaviors to make sure no hackers or crackers even have the chance to get their hands on sensitive data.

For example, it’s always a good idea to stay away from banking websites and websites where you may have to enter your banking or credit card numbers while you’re on a public hotspot as all of this information can be fair game if you’re dealing with an experienced hacker.

Another important tip is to select “No” when your browser asks you if you want it to save your usernames and passwords. Though you might want your browser to save this type of information on your secure home network, you don’t want this information saved at WiFi public hotspots.

In addition, if you’re thoroughly concerned with the security of usernames, passwords and other information you don’t want seen, you need to only visit websites that use HTTP and SSL encryption. For example, sites with “http://” before the name are not secure, but sites with “https://” use secure protocols for encrypted communications.

As you can see, there’s a lot to think about if you’re going to stay secure using any WiFi hotspot where the potential for crackers and hackers with malicious intent exists.

Unfortunately, many people do fail to think about how data is transmitted over the World Wide Web and how much of this information can easily be seen with tools that network administrators use. However, this is the way sensitive data can be obtained, identities stolen and computers hacked.

To stay safe on any WiFi network, especially on public hotspots where practically anyone can surf, you need to take appropriate security software precautions by installing firewalls and making sure your computer is configured for a “Public” location. You also need to take several Internet surfing precautions to make sure you don’t voluntarily and inadvertently give away important information.

Voice over Internet Protocol is a service that you can use if you want to take advantage of your existing Internet connection to make and receive phone calls. VoIP technology can be used by both individuals and commercial businesses.

No matter who it’s used by, VoIP allows you to save money. You can essentially bundle VoIP with your broadband service so that you don’t have to pay a separate fee to a local phone company.

Choosing a VoIP Service

There are several VoIP broadband phone services that you can choose from. Each company offers a different service package, depending on your needs. Basic monthly plans for VoIP broadband phone services usually range anywhere from around $10 to $30 per month or more.

Calling plans, depending on the specific service provider, usually include an unlimited number of minutes to anywhere within the United States and most offer low-cost calling plans if you need to call other countries.

Vonage

Vonage is one of the first companies that set out to offer VoIP services to residential consumers. Vonage offers several different monthly plans, including a Vonage Lite plan that gives you 200 minutes of outbound calling minutes, a Basic plan with 500 outbound calling minutes, Vonage World and Vonage Pro. The plans range from $10 for the Lite plan all the way to $35 for the Vonage Pro plan.

The Vonage World offers the best value as it gives you an unlimited number of local and long distance minutes anywhere in the U.S., Canada and Puerto Rico. With Vonage’s Basic and Lite plans, even though you’re limited to the number of outbound minutes you have, you can talk as long as you want — for free — as long as it’s an inbound or Vonage-to-Vonage telephone call.

Magic Jack

Magic Jack is another VoIP provider that uses your broadband Internet connection to give you low-cost calling plans. Underlying magic Jack is a simple adapter device that connects to an available USB port on your computer. The device usually costs around $40 and is a one-time charge.

You can buy the magic Jack adapter online from the company’s website or from a retail store like Wal-Mart or Target. When you initially purchase the adapter, you’re given a free year of local and long distance calling. However, you pay $20 annually to use the magic Jack service.

Via Talk

Via Talk is a VoIP service provider that you can use to literally replace your traditional landline monthly phone plan. Via Talk offers several different low-cost packages that range from about $10 to $17 per month.

For the first three months of service, Via Talk gives new customers a special introductory rate of only around $8.50 per month before the service price increases. You can choose either a Lite plan or Unlimited plan with Via Talk; the Lite gives you 2,000 minutes of calling within the U.S. and Canada.

Skype

Following not so far behind Vonage is Skype, a VoIP service provider that offers one of the lowest-cost calling plans of all VoIP services. Whereas Vonage requires you to set up a hardware adapter, Skype’s services depend entirely on your computer for calling other people. There are other ways you can make calls with Skype as well, but they were originally branded as a computer-only calling company from which you could make calls to other people who have Skype.

From there, they’ve branched out to offer monthly plans so that you can call not only other Skype users, but traditional landline and cell phones as well. To use Skype, you can either buy Skype Credit or purchase a monthly plan, which costs only around $3 per month for an unlimited plan. Skype allows gives a discount if you can pay annually instead of on a monthly basis.

Ooma

Ooma is one of the hardware-based VoIP services. This is a service that advertises that you can save $930 on your phone bill over a span of 2 years. Depending on the Ooma device model you buy, you’ll pay anywhere from $220 to $300 up front. However, that is a one-time charge. From there on out, you won’t have to pay any monthly fees to Ooma, with the exception of around $3 per month for federally-mandated surcharges and fees that you’d pay for any phone service.

The Ooma device is essentially an adapter that you can connect to any regular phone, which then allows you to make free calls anywhere for the rest of the time you own the Ooma device.

Getting Setup

Once you choose your VoIP broadband phone service provider, you must initially sign up and pay the fee to the company you choose. The basic way that many VoIP services work is through the use of an adapter, such as with Vonage, Ooma or even magic Jack.

The adapter is responsible for turning the phone signals and you voice into packets of data, which then gets routed through your Internet connection and sent to the other person with whom you’re talking.

You connect the adapter to your computer, broadband Internet modem or wireless adapter, depending on the adapter model you have. Once that’s done, you connect a regular telephone to the adapter and are able to immediately start making calls.

Another way you can use VoIP services is through the use of specific IP phones. These IP phones connect directly to a USB port or other port on your computer and contain the built-in software necessary to route your calls over the Internet. Examples include desktop IP phones that Skype offers.

All things considered, setting up your VoIP broadband phone service isn’t difficult, and perhaps choosing a VoIP service provider is the most daunting task you’ll face. However, the increasing number of VoIP companies ensures that you have options to choose from and low-prices among the competition.

Voice over Internet Protocol is definitely a money-saver and allows you to quickly cut ties with your local phone company.

Voice over Internet Protocol is becoming increasingly popular today. This technology essentially allows you to replace your traditional landline phone with a method for connecting your calls right over your computer..,

Whether you want to call a friend on their computer, another landline or even cell phone, the limits to what you can do with VoIP calling are pretty much endless. Perhaps the best advantage of using your computer to talk is the fact that you can save the monthly fees and charges normally associated with your local phone company.

Though you may love the way VoIP is able to “magically” connect your call right through your computer, it’s also important to understand how this technology works. With a normal telephone, the phone company sends analog signals over a circuit.

With VoIP, which is how most services connect your call through your computer, the VoIP provider, converter or service converts your voice signals to digital signals and uses your present Internet connection to send the call data.

There are several different ways you can use your computer to talk to other people. There are hardware-based VoIP services that require you to set up hardware on your network, software-based services that only used software, as well as other VoIP services that use a combination of the two methods.

Messenger-based Calling

One of the most popular methods of calling using your computer is Skype and Windows Live Messenger. When you sign up for Skype or Windows Messenger, you create a specific username and are able to chat with other friends who also have downloaded the messenger or application.

All you need to make a call with your computer is a headset as well as a webcam if you want to make video calls. Calls using these applications are completely free. You can also do the same thing with the Yahoo Messenger application.

With some messenger-based VoIP services, such as Skype and Yahoo Messenger, you can also make calls to people who are not in your contact list. This method typically costs money as the service will route your call to a landline or cell phone instead of another computer. So before you make a call, you need to pay for credit from either Skype or Yahoo.

Calling plans are typically very reasonable, however. For example, Skype only charges $2.99 per month and this allows you to make unlimited calls with your computer for free to anywhere in the United States or Canada. With the Yahoo Phone Out option, you have to purchase prepaid credit, but the cost for calls to phones in the United States is only about two cents per minute.

Google Voice

Google Voice is a service that allows you to call landlines and mobile phones directly from your computer from your Internet browser within Google’s Gmail service. You don’t need to download any extra software; you only need to install an inconspicuous browser video or audio plug-in.

Within Gmail, all you must do is connect a headset in order to take advantage of the calling features. You can click the “Call Phone” option, type in the U.S.-based phone number that you want to call on the Web-based dial-pad and be connected instantly for free.

Of course, to sign up for Google Voice to begin with you need either a landline or cell phone number as this service was originally intended so that you can manage calls from all your phones. As of January 2011, however, Google Voice’s Gmail calling feature remains the best option for calling another landline or cell phone for free using your computer.

SoftPhone Applications

There are some VoIP services that allow you to make free or low-cost calls using your computer by way of a desktop computer application. For example, iCall and VoxOx are two such applications that allow you to make calls to any United States phone number for free. With both of these VoIP applications, you can get an inbound phone number which other people can call. When you receive a call, the application “rings” on your computer.

To call out, you dial a number on the applications softphone. All you need with these applications are a headset to start making phone calls. Other VoIP services that use desktop computer softphones include PC-Telephone, CallCentric, PC2Call and Globe7.

Free Browser-based Services

There are many other smaller VoIP services which you can use to make free calls directly from your Internet browser. A couple of these services include FreeBuzzer, EvaPhone, as well as iCall. These services allow you to use the Web-based softphone to dial numbers and call phones throughout the country or world as long as you have a headset and broadband connection.

The primary advantage of using these services is that you don’t need any extra software so that you can make calls whether you’re at your personal computer or another computer at a different location. Most browser-based VoIP services, however, either limit the number or time-length of the calls you make or make you watch advertising before you place the call.

Extra Calling Features with VoIP Services

No matter which specific VoIP service provider you sign up with, you might receive any number of different services for free. A major benefit of VoIP calling is the fact that the extra services that you pay for from a traditional landline phone company are provided for free — or for a minimal amount — from a VoIP company.

For example, caller ID, call waiting, voicemail, three-way calling and call forwarding are all services that you may pay extra for from a regular telephone company, but are all services that are often provided for free when using a VoIP service. For example, Google Voice not only stores your voicemails, but also transcribes them and sends the messages to your email inbox.

As you can see, there are many ways to call other people using your computer. Many VoIP services are completely free if you’re calling other people’s computers directly, and many have rock-bottom prices if you’re calling landlines and mobile phones. By using VoIP with your broadband connection that you already pay for, you can literally decrease your phone bill by making calls with your computer.

The traditional way to make and receive calls is to use the regular Public Switched Telephone Network, or PSTN. This has been the primary method for phone calls for decades on end. A new wave in the efficient use of Internet technology, however, has been responsible for an increase in the number of VoIP services offered to consumers.

VoIP stands for “Voice over Internet Protocol.” You can use VoIP services in any number of ways to make and receive telephone calls as an alternative to the traditional way of making calls.

Simply put, VoIP services use your computer and Internet connection to connect your call to the other person. The introduction of VoIP services to the telecommunications market has not only created competition among VoIP providers, but a fear among traditional telephone service providers.

However, some national providers like AT&T have started to compete in the VoIP world, which also means that consumers have an increasing number of choices to decrease their phone bills.

How VoIP Works

Voice over Internet Protocol technology works opposite the way regular telephone services operate. With a regular telephone service, analog signals from your telephone travel across a circuit of wires and switches. During your conversation with another person, the circuit remains continuously open so that you’re able to talk.

Even though traditional phone networks today digitize your voice, it still must be carried over a circuit of fiber-optic cables and transmitted over a distance to the other person. The transmission rate for a traditional phone is much more inefficient that that of VoIP. Since the entire circuit is used and switched for the duration of the conversation, there’s a lot of transmission data that’s wasted because of dead air and random signals.

In contrast to regular phones, VoIP works by using a procedure called packet-switching. With VoIP conversations, the idea is that only the important information is transferred over to the other person. With any normal phone conversation, one person usually talks and the other responds, meaning that only half the connection is being used at any given point during the conversation.

Voice over Internet Protocols converts your voice into digital signals, converts them into packet data and sends the data over your Internet connection. This creates a more efficient system for routing calls than keeping a continuously open circuit that may waste data and signals.

The Benefits of VoIP

As you understand VoIP services, it’s easy to see the benefits that VoIP has over traditional phones. Since VoIP packet-switching transmits much less data than a PSTN circuit-switched system, this means that twice or even three times the number of calls can be made with VoIP using the same amount of data transmission that a regular phone line uses. This translates into a cost savings for the VoIP service provider, who passes on the savings directly to the consumer in the form of lower prices.

A major advantage of VoIP services is that it isn’t using any newer technology than that of Internet Protocol. Since computers and the Internet already use packet-switching to communicate with each other over networks, the technology is already present to implement VoIP services on any computer that has an active Internet connection. The only thing that may be needed is an adapter to convert analog signals into digital, and these are generally provided by the VoIP service provider if you don’t have one.

Methods of VoIP Connections

Perhaps the simplest way to use VoIP services is through your computer to another person’s computer. Most VoIP service providers give special software called a “soft phone” so that you can tell your computer to dial a certain phone number.

When making calls via your computer to another person’s computer or to another landline or mobile phone, you need this “soft phone” as well as a headset to make the call.

Other ways you can use VoIP services are through the use of an ATA adapter or IP phone. An ATA is an analog telephone adapter, which was referenced above. This simple hardware device typically connects to your router and to the regular telephone which you intend to use with the VoIP service.

The adapter converts the analog signals from the phone into digital signals and then uses your router and/or active Internet connection to send the signals. An IP phone, likewise, does the same work. However, special IP phones use Ethernet wires to connect to your computer or router instead of RJ-11 connectors that regular handset telephones use.

Disadvantages of VoIP

Though VoIP has many advantages and can be used to benefit many different people in all sorts of ways, there are drawbacks to these services. For starters, VoIP is dependent on electrical wall power, whereas a regular phone is only dependent on the power driven through the phone jack by the phone company.

If you’re power goes out for some reason, you have no access to your VoIP services. On the other hand, power outages typically cause no interruption to a local phone service.

Another disadvantage is the fact that emergency 9-1-1 calls can not ordinarily be made with a VoIP service. Unlike a regular phone number that’s associated with a geographical location in order to route your call to the nearest emergency center, the same doesn’t happen with VoIP call transmission.

Finally, VoIP services are susceptible to the same types of interruption that your broadband Internet is susceptible to. If you’re broadband connection disappears or hiccups, you’ll experience difficulty with VoIP calls.

Altogether, Voice over Internet Protocol has definitely created an atmosphere favorable to consumers. With the ability to make calls using your already present Internet connection, you can virtually eliminate the need to use any regular phone service whatsoever.

With the price of VoIP calls half the price or less of traditional phone service packages, it is also more affordable for many people as well. Though there are some disadvantages, many people — especially those trying to find ways to save more money — can benefit from a VoIP telephone service.