Asking the question what is broadband can bring up a number of memories of the days of internet past. Yes, at one time, there was only dialup internet and it was far from the most appealing internet system devised. It was slow and the connections were not always reliable. It required the use of your telephone line so anyone trying to call you would be stuck hearing a busy signal. Then, along came broadband access and that was the end of the age old archaic days of weak internet service. Yes, broadband was a dramatic and remarkable improvement over the traditional method. That is why it is still in use to this very day.

Defining What Broadband Actually Is Vs. What Dialup Represents

So, what is broadband exactly? It is a form of internet service that employs a high data rate. When you utilize dialup internet, you will be limited to 56 kbit/s which is an extremely slow speed that makes downloading and uploading very difficult and tedious affair. When broadband first appeared on the consumer marketplace, it was much faster (over double) the speed of the traditional dialup variety. This leads to many people making the switch from the traditional internet speed to the much faster and more reliable broadband method. Currently, the speed of broadband can run upward of 768 kbit/s which not only makes dialup a distant second in terms of speed; it also puts broadband much closer in speed to its nearest competitor cable internet.

The Issues of Cost

Of course, the cost of broadband is more than dialup. However, since broadband has grown in popularity over the past 5 years, more and more people have become subscribers to it. This increased demand has certainly led to a reduction in the monthly price. Also, there are several different broadband services in operation now. As a result, they are all in competition with one another for consumer dollars. This has also led to a decline in the price of service since deal and discounts are commonly offered to entice customers. If there was one pricing drawback when it comes to broadband service, it would be the need to sign a 12 month service contract which is what many services require. However, if you have no intention of cutting off your internet service, such a contract should not prove problematic.

The Service Providers

However, when people ask what is broadband, they might understand that the speed of the system defines it, but there are many different "name brands" of broadband internet service providers. While it is great to see such choice and variety, the choice may not be as much as some assume. That is to say, not all broadband services are available in a particular area. As a result, a customer will be limited to what a particular geographic region will actually have access to. Thankfully, mostly all broadband providers are quite excellent so this should not prove to be problematic for anyone looking to acquire broadband service.

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