Re: Computer
I agree with everything already said before. Go cable or DSL if you can get either and are willing to go the extra cost. If you can't get either, ISDN is an option, but it is more expensive when you compare the speed you get to what you will pay. About once a year or so, a company will typically offer specials that have free installation, or a free router, or some other freebie. If the offer isn't running when you're ready to upgrade, ask for it anyway. Most times you'll get the freebie.<br /><br />Verify your cable company does not have a shared network. Some small cable companies still use shared networks and you can see/get to all of the other cable network users in your area and they can see/get to you. This only still exists in a very few (small?) cable companies, it used to exist everywhere.<br /><br />Also note that cable is shared bandwidth. That means that your access speed will slow down a little every time another cable user gets put on that same length of cable. This is usually a noticeable problem, but not a bothersome problem, but be aware it can/will happen.<br /><br />DSL is probably a better way to go. It uses your existing phone lines and you typically have options on how fast a connection you want (faster = pay more).<br /><br />One other consideration - Cable goes through your cable TV company provider, DSL goes through your phone company provider. If Internet access is important and your provider goes down, so does your Internet. In my area of Oregon, for phone service, you have either Qwest or Verizon. You don't get to pick, you get one or the other depending on your neighborhood. Qwest is well known for long outages and poor customer service.<br /><br />* * * Get a real firewall for either. There are some devices out there that the manufacturers call firewalls that are NOT real firewalls (about $99 retail). If it only does NAT (Network Address Translation) and offers no/little other protection, get something else.<br /><br />On the AOL front.... A very few years ago, I had a buddy (Joel) using AOL; I never have. When Joel sent me an email, it took about 5 seconds to get from his computer to mine. (Pretty good!) When I sent Joel an email, it took about 3 days (yes, DAYS) to get to him. In doing some traces we found that it hit inside AOL in about the same 5 seconds, and then bounced around between AOL servers for awhile (a long while) before finally getting to him. We were able to repeat this at will sending from different non-AOL ISPs and email addresses. He complained to the AOL folks, but as far as I know it was never resolved.<br /><br />There are a lot of folks out there that use and love AOL, so AOL has to be doing something right. As for me, from home, all I need and want is vanilla 56k modem Internet connectivity, without any bells and whistles. So I dont use AOL. I also pay a lot less too.
<br />secure networks is a whole other subject.