further and further every day. With Local Area Networks spanning into Wide Area Networks and globalization happening to every small business with a connection to the Internet the need for alternatives is growing. Technology and hardware are increasing faster than people with the skills to support them are. With this the ways to connect and expand into the Internet are improving as well as the speed of connections. There are many ways to gain access onto today’s Internet and discussed here are going to be three common ways such as the modem, the cable modem and Microsoft’s WebTV. These three describe represent the novice, the intermediate, and the advanced. One of the most common ways to connect to the Internet is the modem or the dial-up adapter. It is the most prevalent of the three and was one of the first pieces of hardware used to connect to the Internet. The modem is very similar to a telephone in which the computer when instructed will dial up a telephone number given to you by your ISP (Internet Service Provider) and establish a connection between you and your provider allowing you access to the Internet. The modem has made some advances from itâ

Interference caused by sending upstream data won’t really affect your household appliances. Another problem is that as the amount of end users on your node increases the slower your connection may become. If the Cable Company continues to add more end users they’ll need to add more amplifiers and routers to separate the signals. This is all assuming you have access, the major problem with cable modems are locations. If you find yourself in an area that doesn’t support Internet Access through cable there is nothing you can do about it short of moving. It’s very costly for a cable company to install Internet Access through a cable modem and even though the idea is catching on I’d be patient if you find yourself in an area without it. Another small drawback is the price, typically the average monthly cost can range from between 40 dollars and 60 dollars with a 100-dollar installation fee. Add to that the cost of purchasing your NIC which is another 40 dollars and your can see how the cable modem is exceeding the price of your common 56K modem. In my opinion it’s worth while investment for the intermediate to advanced user. If you were to install the cable modem and connect it to a small network you can have multiple users on one Internet connection with no significant speed loss. In the long run you’ll see how the cable modem is superior to that of the dial up adapter. Both of the two previous methods to connect to the Internet involve one key element and that was the computer. Fortunately Microsoft along with other manufactures such as Sony created a system that applies for the novice. WebTV which is designed to work without the computer had it’s own method of connecting. You still use your telephone line to connect to the Internet and you will still need to contact your local ISP for service. To purchase the box that connects to your TV prices will range from around 100 dollars to 200 dollars plus your 25-dollar monthly charge from your ISP. There is also the additional 60-dollar charge if you wanted the optional keyboard. The advantages of owning WebTV are that there’s no need to purchase a computer if you wanted to gain access to the Internet. Unfortunately the disadvantages of WebTV far exceed the advantages, given the design constraints WebTV achieves a high degree of usability and friendliness. But the constraints are so severe that even this great design ultimately fails to provide an optimal web user experience. Some of the constraints involved are navigation, screen size, and some of the options offered by WebTV. Since there’s no computer there is no mouse, so in order for the user to navigate through the screen the user must go through a series of clicks and arrow keys. It would be the equivalent of using your computer without a mouse except now everything is contained on one remote control and your monitor is your television set. Another problem is the screen size, WebTV has a small screen size that shows a limited amount of information compared with a traditional computer screen. This is particularly true given the need for WebTV to use large fonts because of the poor d

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