Wi-Fi, Broadband, ADSL, 3G

[Pippa]

Hi Everyone,

I’ve heard about Wi-Fi, Broadband, ADSL, 3G etc, but have no idea as to what it really is . We have a Vodacom 3G card in South Africa, but I am not sure whether it is regarded as Broadband or ADSL… ?

I often see some Coffee Shops (in South Africa) that advertises “WiFi”, but I believe that one has to buy a voucher from the waiter in order to get “WiFi” access. Someone mentioned to me that some parks in Australia have “WiFi”; does this mean that one buy access to the “WiFi” or is it freely available to any one who’s got a WiFi enabled computer?

My parents have ADSL with Telkom at their house, with all sorts of cables, which I hate – it always looks untidy .

I’ve heard of the term broadband, but will appreciate it if someone can explain it to me. Does it mean that if you have broadband you will have connectivity regardless where you are or is it similar to ADSL, just without all the cables?

The Vodacom 3G works perfectly for us , as we often travel and just pack the card wherever we go. Is there a similar product like the Vodacom 3G in Australia? We are planning to take our Vodacom 3G card (without the simcard) with us to Australia and would like to buy local Australian sim card for the 3G card. Would this be possible?

I understand that one can subscribe for a package which includes Foxtel, internet and a fixed line. If so, where do you go, once you land in Australia and what would you recommend.

I will really appreciate it if you can shed some light on the above.

Bye, Pippa! X

[Dedrei]

Hello daar

Broadband = ADSL, die terme is net bietjie anders hierso as in SA, maar dis eintlik dieselfde ding. In ons huis is die bedrading regdeur die huis al klaar, so al draad wat ons het, is van die router in die muur telefoon prop en die draad van die router tot die pc. Maar alles weggesteek agter die boks.

Basies is Wifi, wireless internet. Jy het nie drade en kabels en dinge nie. Meeste ouens like van wireless by die huis ook hê, dan kan hulle die laptop en pc connect met die internet sonder enige kabels en dinge. Mens kry ook die 3G kaarte in Aus. So basies kan jy net Wifi gebruik as jy in 'n area is wat Wifi enabled is of by die huis. 3G kaart is heeltemal mobile, soos julle ken en gebruik.

Foxtel en Austar is die DSTV van Australië. Foxtel kry jy meer in die stede en Austar dalk meer in die regional australia. Want ons hierso in Cairns kry nie Foxtel nie, net Austar.

Dit smaak my Telstra, offer jou Foxtel, mobile & foon pakkette en sommer broadband ook. Optus doen dieselfde. Jy kan hierso die opsies kyk vir Optus http://personal.optus.com.au/web/ocaportal...s&site=personal

Jy kan dit online appy of jou local Telstra/Optus shop visit, jy kry hulle gewoonlik in jou naaste shopping centre.

Hoop dit help bietjie

Groete daarso

xx

[Bob]

Oh Boy,

where to start?

1/. in the "old days" there was only dial-up.

Eventually, we all got sick of staring at the screen for minutes at a time, waiting for the next page to download, and when eventually the Internet Providers offered all us happy Vegemites a faster download speed, we jumped at the chance.

2/. This was because the technology was to use a broader bandwidth to send the data to your computer . . . . hence the term "Broadband".

They still used the old copper phone lines for this, but at a different frequency much like AM and FM on your radio.

You could use the phone and still be on-line, due to the different frequencies not interfering with each other.

This was ADSL

It was quicker than the old dial-up.

We got broadband at 256 Kbs instead of the old dial-up speed of 56Kbs / second.

3/. Then cable was introduced and this was faster still.

Little pulses of light were shot down the cable to give us perfect photos, or pages or whatever, we wanted to send, at a lot faster speed again.

This gave us up to 8 000 Kbs (or 8 Mbs) / second, so was leaving the old 256 speed for dead!

4/. Next technology discovered you could still use the old copper wires to download at super fast speeds . . . . as quick as cable.

This was ADSL 2

5/. With all this broadband available for your PC computer at home, we had heaps of people with lap-tops.

With Broadband at home on your PC, the computer companies began putting broadband modems into lap-tops, too, to give broadband speed, and they didn't need to be hooked up to a modem at home.

You could just go to a "hot spot" and pick the signal up.

These hot-spots were in internet cafes, at work, in shopping malls, etc. and wherever people with laptops were likely to hang out during lunch breaks, etc.

This is "Wireless" connection . . . or "Wi-Fi", because there were no wires attaching your laptop to anything else.

Wi-Fi only works, through the little broadband modem built into your lap-top, over a very short distance, like in a office or cafe.

It won't work all over town.

6/. If you want your lap-top to work all over the place, you have to get a "card" or USB modem inserted into your lap-top to pick the broadband signal up all over town.

The Internet Providers offer monthly plans for you to have your own card or USB modem (Telstra, Optus, Vodafone) and you can surf the net with your laptop at home, at work, on the bus or train . . . everywhere within a much greater distance.

To add to confusion, because your lap-top has no wires attached with this set-up, to pick Broadband up, this is also called "Wireless", but is not "Wi-Fi' (which only operates within a cafe or office building, etc.)

7/. Telstra has been investing in cutting edge technology in the past couple of years to keep ahead of the pack.

It has the next generation of mobile phone towers and wireless internet towers up and running and has now just about covered 98% of Australia.

This is great if you want to take your lap-top up to Alice Springs in the middle of the Outback and still get broadband reception with your card or USB modem plugged into your lap-top.

You can still surf the net and download your emails just about every town and whistle stop in Australia!

Optus and Vodafone signals die out once you leave the capital cities, as they haven't invested in the latest generation of towers.

You can even see somebody talking to you if they have a mobile phone with a camera and are hooked up to Telstra's "Next G" mobile network.

Imagine looking at your mate's face on your mobile screen as they call you on your phone in Melbourne and they are talking 5 000 kms away in Perth?

This is "3G" . . . . the 3rd generation of mobile phones.

Sooner or later, we'll all be yacking away to people on our mobiles all over Australia, looking at them on your mobile phone's screen.

My mate has one of these 3G mobiles and it is magic!

Welcome to the 21st Century!

Welcome to Australia!

Edited June 19, 2007 by Bob

[Jongman]

Hi almal

Wifi is nie net wireless internet nie. Dit is n netwerk wat opgestel is dmv n wireless router. Dit beteken dat jy die internet kan gebruik as jy deel is van die netwerk. Meeste koffie winkels of internet winkels het n netwerk wat net n sekere radius dek. As jy in die koffie winkel inkom, kan jy deel van hulle netwerk word en dan deelneem aan netwerk aktiwiteite bv internet.

n Mens kan ook Wifi gebruik om dokumente van een rekenaar an n ander een te stuur (jy benodig n wireless netwerk kaart) of jy kan games speel. So dis nie net n internet diens nie.

Hoop ek was duidelik

Fred

[JacquesV]

Hi there,

The term "Broadband" encompasses most of the talked about technologies above from ADSL, WiFi, Wi-MAX to 3G.

It's a term that merely means faster data/internet access.

ADSL and ADSL 2+ are fixed line broadband technologies meaning that you'd have to have a copper phone line installed to your house/office to be able to utilize this functionality together with an ADSL router.

Pros - Fast. Anything from 512Kbs to 24Mbts and upwards.

Cons - Fixed location therefore not mobile.

WiFi works in much the same way as what ADSL does, in fact in most cases the backbone (connection to the internet/ISP) is via ADSL or something similar (ISDN ect). All WiFi allows is for you as the customer, at a coffee shop to create wireless connection with your laptop/mobile device to their wireless router which in turn is connected to an ADSL line. Most ADSL routers these days offer both Wifi and wired connections simultaneously. Therefore you could have the same setup at home.

Pros- Provides accessibility to the general public in consumer areas like coffee shops ect.

Cons - Range is limited. Usually within 20-30m of the wireless router or access point. AND you're limited to a max of 6.75 Mbytes/s (54 Mbps). Some proprietary routers like Netgear can double that up but all devices connecting to the router then need to use a proprietary device capable of that speed to fully utilize it. Further more it's not a true mobile solution as in most cases you wont be able to go home and connect to a WiFi spot there if nothing is configured. I.e. There aren't things like "WiFi Towers" all over the country side like in the case of cellular companies providing 3G. A business generally decides to setup a hotspot/access point on their premises for use by their customers only. Once you leave the area your connectivity to that hotspot dies.

This is where newer technology like Wi-MAX comes to the forefront. Wi-MAX works in much the same way as what cellular providers work with their base towers scattered all over the residential and country side. It's an instant wireless connection over distances of 20km (line of sight) to the towers.

Pros - Slightly slower speeds than ADSL. No copper cables needed to houses, farms, remote areas. Laptops are now also coming out with Wi-MAX modems built into them.

3G, as explained previously, is probably currently the best "mobile internet" offering on the cards if that's what you're looking for. As cellular coverage is wide, throughout most countries, it offers the best mobile coverage solution.

Pros- Most mobile and versatile offering for the person on the run.

Cons - Generally costs more for data and general subscription fees compared to fixed line offerings (or at least in SA...not sure of Oz)

All in all if you're looking for total mobility I'd say 3G is your best bet currently until Wi-MAX really explodes and there are enough towers throughout your areas.

I hope I didn't confuse anyone

I'm by no means a specialist in the field...more just a small passion of mine to keep up with techonology due to my line of business

Keep well.

Jacques

Edited June 20, 2007 by Jacques & Natz