Rev It Up Longing for faster Internet access? Check out these new and upcoming options.

Interest in the Internet has reached a fever pitch. Growingnumbers of individuals and companies are posting Web pages. Andthese pages are increasingly sophisticated: Instead of just text,they're likely to contain multimedia and video elements, andeven connections to a company database.

But all the bits and bytes required to transmit this informationcan really bog down computer performance. To improve performancewith these new applications, you need a bigger pipeline to shufflebits and bytes between your computer and the Web. In other words,you may need a faster modem--if not now, then most probably withinthe next year or two. (Of course, some performance problems are dueto excessive traffic on the Web. If you can't get on at all; orif you access a Web site, see that there's a text-only versionof the page, call that up, and still experience poor performance,there may just be a lot of Web traffic.)

How can you speed up access? You have several options, dependingon your time frame. New modems that were in development at presstime, and should be on shelves by the time you read this, promiseto transmit at speeds of up to 56.6 Kbps (kilobytes per second), upfrom the current 33.6 Kbps standard. Another option is upgrading toISDN (Integrated Services Digital Network) technology, which offersdata transfer speeds of 128 Kbps. (ISDN service is not available inall areas, however, and is more expensive and more complicated touse than non-ISDN modems.)

Within the next few years, you'll have the option ofswitching to newer, even faster technologies that are on thehorizon. Cable modems, which are being BODYed nationwide, run overcable TV lines and will be able to receive data at speeds of up to6 Mbps (megabytes per second) and upload data at speeds of 640Kbps. Eventually, these modems will be able to receive data atspeeds of 10 Mbps. Another upcoming technology, ADSL (AsymmetricalDigital Subscriber Line), will have speeds similar to the cablemodem.

Good Connections

Several modem vendors, including U.S. Robotics, Rockwell,Diamond and Motorola's Information Systems Group, have newmodems that should be available by the time you read this and willtransmit data at 56.6 Kbps, nearly double the rate of today'sfasBODY modems.

The speed boost will be most noticeable when users access ordownload data from the Internet as opposed to uploading informationto the Web. For example, Motorola's architecture can provide56.6 Kbps speeds from Internet service providers (ISPs) to usersand 33.6 Kbps speeds from users to ISPs.

If you want options for upgrading, Cardinal Technologies'Cardinal Voyager is a 33.6 Kbps modem that is upgradeable to ISDNand will also be upgradeable to 56.6 Kbps when that technologybecomes available in the next few months via software downloadablefrom the Web. The price ranges from $149 to $199, with the ISDNupgrade at $79; prices for the 56.6 Kbps upgrade were not availableat press time.

In The Fast Lane

ISDN has been around for years but has only recently becomepopular, thanks to the explosion of interest in the Internet. ISDNspeeds allow you to download files in about a quarter of the timeyou could with a 28.8 Kbps modem.

Why would anyone use a 56.6 modem when ISDN is available?Because ISDN, to put it bluntly, can be a pain in the neck. It ismore expensive than other means of connecting, and depending on theknow-how (or lack of it) of your local phone company, setting it upcan be a slow, hassle-filled process.

To get started, you need to order an ISDN line from your localtelephone company, connect a digital modem to your PC, and orderISDN service from your online service or ISP. Here are thedetails:

Order the line. You'll first need to find out whetherISDN service is available in your area. It's now an option formost city and suburban dwellers in the United States. But even ifISDN is generally available, it may not be available in every areaof your city. For example, some areas of Phoenix don't haveaccess to ISDN service. Availability in rural areas is even morespotty.

Ask your local phone company whether it offers a service calledISDN basic rate interface (BRI). This service provides two 64 Kbpschannels that can behave as a single 128 Kbps data pipeline. TheBRI does not require any special wiring, but the phone company mustconfigure the switching equipment. ISDN service costs up to $300for installation, with monthly service charges ranging from $35 to$100, depending on which region of the country you're in.

If many users in your company want ISDN connections, SiemensBusiness Communication Systems offers a service called OfficePointthat allows several users to share ISDN BRI lines, thereby loweringthe per-user cost.

Connect a digital modem. ISDN, or digital, modems, suchas U.S. Robotics' Sportster ISDN 128K Terminal Adapter, startat about $250. These "modems" are actually networkadapters and require an NT-1 unit to complete the connection. Whenpurchasing your modem, make sure it includes an NT-1 unit.

Many digital modems come with ports for attaching analog modems,fax machines or phones. This allows you to use one 64 Kbps channelfor your computer and the other for your phone and fax, rather thanhaving to get two or more separate phone lines for all yourequipment. It's especially important to have analog support soyou can reach people or online services that don't support ISDNmodems.

Obtain an ISDN connection. Make sure your ISP or onlineservice supports ISDN. Internet ISDN service is widely availablefrom national and regional ISPs. Among the major online services,The Microsoft Network and CompuServe are the leading supporters ofISDN.

Wired For Speed

In the long term, cable modems connected to cable TV linespromise to provide far faster access speeds at a better price thanISDN. Cable technology should allow you to receive data at speedsranging from 500 Kbps to 30 Mbps, and send data from your PC atspeeds ranging from 96 Kbps to 10 Mbps--all for less than $50 permonth. For example, a cable modem will allow users to download a 72Mbit short animation clip or video in 18 seconds, compared with the21-plus minutes needed when using ISDN.

This technology is not available commercially and probablywon't be for another year or two, but there are a number ofpilot projects underway. Communities where cable modems are beingBODYed include Sunnyvale, California, where Tele-Communications isBODYing @Home Network; Greater Akron and Canton, Ohio, where TimeWarner's Road Runner trial is in progress; and Elmira, NewYork, where Time Warner is BODYing LineRunner. Both of TimeWarner's products offer original content as well as access tothe Internet and e-mail.

Although the vast majority of U.S. homes are already wired forcable, there are a number of technological hurdles cable companieswill have to overcome before cable modem technology can becomewidely available. One major problem is that today's cableconnections are only one-way and people using cable modems requiretwo-way interactivity. Cable operators will need to allocatespectrum on the cable for "upstream" signals so you cansend data from your PC back to the Internet. Because all homes oroffices in a neighborhood share one transmission channel, if yourneighbors do lots of downloads, your performance will suffer unlessthe cable operator provides additional capacity or channels.

Because cable modems are a new technology, they are relativelyexpensive and there is little standardization, meaning cable modemsfrom different vendors are incompatible. If you move to anothercity, you'll need to get a new cable modem from the local cableoperator. Efforts to standardize cable modems are underway,however, with the several industry consortia already working on theissue and some individual vendors starting to work together toensure their products will be compatible.

Still, with the cable industry in need of a major overhaulbefore its technology can successfully deliver Internet services,cable modems are not yet ready for prime time.

In The Future

Another new technology on the horizon is ADSL. Originally,AT&T developed ADSL to transmit movies over the Internet, butthe technology was ignored until the Telecommunications Act of 1996freed local phone companies to provide cable TV and othernontraditional services.

Offering speeds of between 1.6 Mbps and 8 Mbps per seconddownstream and 640 Kbps upstream, ADSL's big advantage is thatit can be used over the same copper wire you use for yourphone.

Unfortunately, the widespread application of this technology isbeing held up by litigation by the local phone companies, whichwant to maintain control over the local connections. Customers willeither have to wait for their local phone companies to offer theservice (US West, for example, has announced plans to do so), whichwill probably be quite some time because phone companies need tomodify a lot of equipment, or wait for the courts to give largerlong-distance companies, such as MCI, access to the local wires sothey can offer the service.

There are a number of options for speeding your access to theInternet. ISDN is the only one available today. In the future,however, you can look forward to continued improvements in speedand reductions in price for high-speed Internet access.

Contact Sources

Cardinal Technologies Inc., 1827 Freedom Rd., Lancaster,PA 17601, (717) 293-3000;

Siemens Business Communications Systems Inc., (408)492-2000, (http://www.siemenscom.com);

U.S. Robotics, (800) INSIGHT, (http://www.insight.com).

Cheryl J. Goldberg is a former editor of PC Magazine and hasreported on the computer industry for more than 14 years. Write toher in care of Entrepreneur, 2392 Morse Ave., Irvine, CA 92614. Youcan also reach her via CompuServe at 70641,3632.