Internet Information

Understanding what is involved with setting up an Internet account can be a confusing experience. Dial-up, broadband, modems and ISP, what do they all mean? This section provides some answers to those questions:

What will you need to access the Internet?

To access the internet you will need:

a personal computer equipped with the necessary browser software,
a modem,
an account with an Internet Service Provider (ISP),
a way of connecting to the ISP, which is typically through your telephone line

Please note: This software is often available free of charge on CDs from ISPs. This software will guide you through the installation steps.

What is bandwidth?

This is the term used to describe the speed of your Internet connection and it is expressed in bits per second (bps). A standard dial-up connection offers speeds of up to 56 kilobits per second (kbps). Higher bandwidth or 'broadband' connections, for example DSL, offer speeds of 512kbps and above.

What services are available on the Internet?

In its simplest form you can use the Internet as an information tool. You can read the daily newspaper or look for information on almost any topic of interest. With electronic mail (e-mail) the Internet can also be used as a way of communicating directly with other e-mail users. You can also do your banking, view and pay your telephone and other bills, buy items such as CDs, book a flight and even pay your motor tax online.

What is a browser?

Browser software is basically a computer programme that allows you to navigate the Internet and view web pages.

What is a modem?

The modem is a piece of hardware that connects to your computer, or is built in to your computer, which allows your telephone line to connect to the Internet.

What is an ISP?

To access the Internet you will need to make a connection to an Internet Service Provider (ISP), who does not necessarily have to be your telecommunications provider. The ISP is essentially your gateway to the Internet. The ISP sets you up with an account, provides you with a personal e-mail address and will generally provide technical support if you are having problems accessing the Internet. ISP's offer different tariff options designed to suit the different levels of usage on the Internet.

Click here for a full list of authorised ISPs in Ireland.

What is a dial-up connection?

To date, most people connect to their ISP using a dial-up or narrowband connection. This means that every time you want to connect to the Internet you make a call via your computer to the ISP.

Most standard dial-up modems support connections at speeds of up to 56kbps. However, this also depends on the speed of your telephone line. For faster dial-up you can also avail of ISDN. Most ISP's offer a range of tariff plans to suit your internet usage.

What is broadband?

Broadband basically means faster access. With Broadband you do not need to dial up to your ISP, it is 'always on'. You can use broadband connections to access the Internet at speeds that are significantly quicker than dial-up connections. Click here for more information on broadband.

How much does it cost to access the Internet?

It varies depending on the type of access you require and charges will differ across the different Internet Service Providers so shop around for the tariff that best suits your needs. Click here to get more information on tariff options available.

What is the best way to access the Internet?

This depends on how you intend to use the Internet. If it is just for quick emails, to pay a bill or to do your online banking then dial-up may suit you. However, to access more sophisticated content such as video, games and music, broadband may be a better solution.

More and more residential consumers are using broadband to access the Internet. The result is that there is an increased range of broadband offers available.

Click here to access ComReg's consumer guide on getting connected to the Internet.

Who can help me to set up the Internet?

Most ISPs offer technical support to help you set up your computer to access their service. When choosing an ISP it is worth checking what times support is available and if there is a charge for support.

Can I get more information from ComReg?

ComReg has published a consumer guide entitled - "Get Connected" (PDF Download, 118Kb), which will assist you in understanding the technology, terms and acronyms used when discussing the Internet.

Did you Know?

46% of all households in Ireland now have access to the Internet. The most common products purchased on the Internet are airline tickets, concert tickets and books.

Broadband Speeds

BroadBand

Broadband is a method of connecting to the Internet. It is called broadband as it provides a high-speed Internet connection when compared with older methods of connecting which were generally termed narrowband.

Examples of a broadband connection

Broadband	Narrowband
Fixed Line (also known as DSL broadband)	Dial-up (Using a basic phone to dial up the internet with access speeds up to 56k bit/s)
Cable (provided via the cable network, fibre based)	Basic Rate Integrated Services Digital Network (B-ISDN) - A network based on the existing digital Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN) which provides digital links to customers and end to end digital connectivity between them
Fixed Wireless (wireless connection, no land line required)	GPRS General Packet Radio Service. Which is a packet based service implemented on GSM mobile phone networks. Along with EDGE, which offers higher data rates, are colloquially referred to as 2.5G.
Satellite; provided via a satellite connection, which can be bi or unidirectional, in that a land line may be used for the return path.
Mobile Broadband (on the move broadband, no line required)

Who can supply broadband?

You should log onto http://www.broadband.gov.ie to get an indication of what broadband services and providers are available in your area.

What speed do you need?

The amount of data you transfer depends on what you do. If you are new to broadband you will most likely be a light or medium user using the internet for general surfing, email use and occasional downloading of music and / or video clips. If a few people in your household share the connection then you may be better off with a medium-usage connection.

If you use the internet for a number of hours each day and download extensively then you should be looking for a product with a large download capacity and high download speed. Downloading lots of music, viewing a lot of video content or running streaming applications such as internet radio will dramatically increase your usage.

As a guide you can view approximately 20 pages on the internet for each megabyte (MB) of download, while an average four minute MP3 (music file) is approximately 4 MB and a five-minute movie trailer can be as much as 30 MB

What are the terms used when referring to speed?

Download speed

This is a measure of how fast your connection delivers content to your computer when you move files from the internet on to your PC

Upload speeds

This is the measure of how fast content is delivered when you send files from your computer or local area network to others using the internet.

kbps, kb/s or k
This is the kilobit per second transfer rate, i.e. multiples of a thousand bits (b) per second And should not be confused with capacity (used to measure file size) which is measured in Bytes (B) with each byte containing 8 bits.

Transfer Rate
Transfer rate, also referred to as‘speed’ or throughput; which is the speed at which data can be transmitted between devices. If you require large data downloads then the highest data transfer rate is most desirable.

Latency
In a network, latency, is the time delay to get from one designated point to another, generally the time for the data downloaded from a server on the internet to reach the user. Low latency is crucial for broadcast (streaming) applications and gaming.

What is the difference in speed?

The maximum speed the product is capable of technically achieving can differ from the actual speed achieved, depending on many factors e.g. time of day, contention ratio etc. Broadband products typically come in a range of download speeds. The higher the download speed the faster it is to open web pages, download files etc. More sophisticated uses of broadband such as online gaming typically require higher broadband speeds.

To put this in context if you have used a 56k dial-up connection, 512k is nearly 10 times faster whilst an ‘8 meg’ (8Mbps) service is about 140 times faster.

What affects the speed?

Ideally the line speed should equal to the advertised broadband line speed but as all data transfers are transmitted over broadband line there are other factors that impact speed for example:

Contention Ratio: This indicates the number of users that may share one line with you. If your service has a contention ration of 20:1 for example, it means that you share the line with 19 other users. The ratio may vary so remember the lower the ratio, the more likely the experience will be better. The contention ratio is not stated for mobile broadband products because it depends on how many users are in a particular mobile broadband area at a given time.

The distance from the exchange or base station: This could be the most crucial factor to affect what speed you are capable of getting as throughput declines exponentially with the distance from the base station. The nearer to the exchange or base station you are, the better the access.

Equipment, internal wiring and software: Other areas that may affect your speed are the actual quality of your modem, internal cables and software such as; anti-spam firewalls and anti-virus programmes as well as the actual configuration of your computer. It is known that some wireless modems can have a negative effect on the speed you get and in some cases the loss can be significant. In addition, the quality of the internal cables that connect the modem to the computer can reduce speed. If there are several people within the household sharing the same connection to the internet at the same time, this also can reduce your experience.

Redundancy: the amount of the ‘theoretical throughput’ that is used for housekeeping functions including, IP addresses, error correction etc. This is typically about 10%.