Making Your Home Ready for High Speed Internet
- Decide on the type of service you want. There are different advantages to each of the different varieties of high-speed Internet. Cable Internet has great download speeds but tends to slow down at peak traffic hours. DSL, or digital subscriber line, has exceptional uploading speeds and can often be bundled with your telephone service, but the farther you are from the terminal, the slower it gets.
Fiber-optic service is gaining a reputation of being stable and fast, but it's difficult to find an area where it's available and affordable. Satellite service is one of the more widely available services but is also quite expensive and can be affected by changes in the weather. - Get the three basic pieces of equipment needed for your high-speed connection. You need an Ethernet card on your computer. If you're not sure if you have such a card, check your device manager under network adapters and look for "Ethernet NIC."
An ethernet cable is a must in order to connect your modem to your Ethernet card. An Ethernet cable looks similar to a phone cable, but the jack head is about twice as wide. The cable itself is wider as well.
You also need a high-speed modem. You may already have a 56k fax modem, but it won't cover a high-speed connection. Your Internet provider can tell you what modem works best for its service, or you can purchase a modem directly from your provider. - Consider if you're installing a home network. If you've decided to create a home network, there are two basic options: wired and wireless.
If you're creating a hard-wired network, you'll need a convenient location for your network router. Plan where to lay your Ethernet cables and pre-install the cabling so you can set up your network as soon as your service starts. Make sure you have the proper lengths of Ethernet cable and that you can lay them safely out of the way of foot traffic.
If you've chosen a wireless network, install your router in a central location. The closer you are to the wireless router, the better your connection to the network. A central location for the router ensures the best possible coverage throughout your home. - Call your provider and schedule your installation. If you feel capable of performing this service yourself, request directions and give it a try. Your Internet service provider will have a customer support staff to help if you need to troubleshoot.
