Tutorial 4: From Dial Up to DSL

Technology is a marvelous thing, and though some of us haven’t lived long enough to witness all the astounding leaps technology has taken, I think we’ve all seen how rapidly technology can change and improve on itself over time.  One such technological change that I’ve witnessed within my own personal experience has been the leap from the dial up Internet connection to high speed Internet.  In this tutorial, I am going to recap my family’s upgrade from dial up to high speed DSL (digital subscriber line).  I’ll discuss the pros and cons of dial up versus DSL and some of the steps involved with switching from the one Internet connection the other.



Photo taken by me 4/17/11



First, though, let’s make sure we all know what I mean by dial up and DSL.  According to Chapter 9 in my ISM 3004 textbook, a dial up line is “a temporary connection that uses one or more analog telephone lines for communications. (482)”  On the other hand, a Digital Subscriber Line is a digital line that connects over a regular copper telephone wire at a much faster rate than a dial up line (484).  An important similarity to note between these two connection lines is that both use telephone lines to enable communication; however, dial up and DSL are different in what they offer to the user as we’ll see next.

Some of the pros and cons to using a dial up connection are as follows (http://internetprovidersphone.com/pros-cons-of-dial-up-internet-service/):

                Advantages

·         Cheap

·         Accessible almost everywhere

·         Simple to connect (no special requirements)

                Disadvantages

·         Does  not allow simultaneous access to Internet and phone line

·         Very slow speeds

·         Typically disconnects if user is inactive for too long

·         Requires a connection to a service in order to use

Some of the pros and cons of a DSL connection are listed below.  Note that many of the advantages for DSL are the opposite of the disadvantages for dial up (http://www.dsl-isp-guide.com/ pros_cons_of_dsl.htm).

                Advantages

·         Rapid connection speeds

·         Reliable connection

·         Allows simultaneous use of Internet and phone line

·         Easy to install

·         Good security

                Disadvantages

·         Can only be accessed in populated areas

·         Gets slower connection speed as the distance from the provider’s base and the user increase



Photo taken by my sister and distribted here by me with
permission on 4/17/11



After having experienced both dial up and DSL, I can honestly say that the scales tip in DSL’s favor in my book.  As a child, I remember the long waits for downloads on the old dial up connection, but probably the most frustrating thing of all was not being allowed to use the computer for long periods of time because it tied up the phone line.  When my family finally upgraded to DSL, I had to adjust my whole Internet mindset.  Somehow I had to wrap my mind around faster connection speeds and unlimited (figuratively speaking, of course) access to the Internet.  Honestly, this particular change was no burden for me.  In the following paragraphs, I’ll outline a brief description of how you too can have the advantages of switching from dial up to DSL.  The steps outlined below were drawn from “How to Switch from Dial-Up to DSL” by Jack Gorman.  To install DSL, you simply. . .

Photo taken by me 4/17/11

1.       Contact the phone company and request the change from dial up to DSL

2.       Install the DSL modem

3.       Join the modem to the computer

4.       After plugging in your modem into a power plug, turn the modem on

5.       Set up the DSL filters on all other phones in the house

For more information on how to install DSL, follow the link below to Jack Gorman’s article.

http://www.ehow.com/how_7408513_switch-dial_up-dsl.html

In conclusion, I’ve learned from personal experience and additional research that DSL is, in most cases, the superior Internet connection relative to dial up.  We’ve covered the advantages and disadvantages of using DSL and dial up, and we’ve looked into five brief steps on how to install DSL in your home.  I hope this tutorial will help provide the tools you need to make an informed decision on whether or not to switch your Internet connection from dial up to DSL.  I can say from personal experience that such a switch is worth it.

Acknowledgements:

http://www.ehow.com/how_7408513_switch-dial_up-dsl.html

http://www.dsl-isp-guide.com/pros_cons_of_dsl.htm

http://internetprovidersphone.com/pros-cons-of-dial-up-internet-service/  

Shelly and Vermaat. (2010). Discovering Computers 2010: Living in a Digital World. Cengage    

     Learning. pages 482, 484.

Photos taken by me and my sister and distributed with permission.

Secure Email Project

For my secure email project, I learned to send a digitally signed email and an encrypted email.  Secure emails are a great way to protect your data, and I enjoyed the chance to learn about this protection measure.  The screen capture below shows my Thunderbird inbox where I sent the two emails, and the following link and summary offer an additional example of secure emails. 



Screen Capture of Thunderbird Account Inbox created by me.



http://markets.on.nytimes.com/research/stocks/news/press_release.asp?docTag=201101250735BIZWIRE_USPRX____BW5455&feedID=600&press_symbol=294724&scp=3&sq=secure%20email%20for%20businesses&st=Search

As many businesses have discovered, secure email is a useful and important tool for guarding company and customer data.  A recent New York Times article (see link above) talks of how Highmark, Inc. secures company emails through the encryption services of Zix Corporation.  The article states that though Highmark had apparently been using a different secure email provider for some time, the company recently made the decision to employ Zix Corp’s services for three of Highmark’s companies.  The main reason for the switch lies in Zix Corp’s ease of use.  Since Highmark Inc. is a trusted healthcare provider and a licensee of the Blue Cross Blue Shield Association, data protection is a must.  As the article explains, Highmark fully realized the necessity of secure email communications, and the company also understood the importance of having security measures that were not overly burdensome to employees and in the way of productivity.  Thus, Highmark turned to the ZixCorp ® Email Encryption Services for more reliable and simplistic protection.  The article concludes with a brief description of Highmark Inc. and ZixCorp.  I personally found the article both interesting and informative.  I was shown yet another example of how important secure email is to organizations and how the right kind of secure email provider can make all the difference in protecting data efficiently.