Chapter 3 • Telecommunications and Networking 83office machine to the Internet. This differential in upload
and download speed is not usually a problem, because
users typically do not send as much data tothe Internet as
they receive fromthe Internet. Furthermore, the DSL
line is dedicated to the single user, so these speeds are
guaranteed. As an example of the costs, installation of
Qwest 7 Mbps High-Speed Internet with Windows Live in
a Phoenix residence costs only $50 for the modem. This
service provides speeds up to 7 mbps for downloading and
up to 896 kbps for uploading. The monthly fee is $41.99 if
the user has Qwest basic phone service, and the fee
includes a home Wi-Fi network.
A cable modem connection is very competitive to DSL
in both price and speed. In this case, the service is obtained
from the cable television company, and the data are transmit-
ted over the coaxial cables already used by television. These
cables have much greater bandwidth than twisted pair copper
wires, but traditionally they transmitted data only in one
direction—from the cable television company to the home.
Reengineering of the cable television system was necessary
to permit the two-way data flow required for Internet connec-
tions. Current download speeds with a cable modem range
up to 28 mbps, with upload speeds considerably slower (up
to 2.5 mbps). However, cable modem speeds might be
degraded because users are sharing the bandwidth of
the coaxial cable; as more users in a neighborhood log into
the Internet, the slower the speed of the connections
becomes. As an example of the costs, installation of Cox
Communications Preferred cable modem service in Phoenix
costs only $60 for the cable modem. This service provides
speeds up to 13 mbps for downloading and up to 1 mbps for
uploading. The monthly fee is $46.95, which does not
include cable television service. For home Wi-Fi networking,
there is a one-time charge of $90 for up to four computers.
The third alternative, a satellite connection, tends to be
a more expensive option than the first two alternatives, but
for customers in rural areas it might be the only choice.
Satellite broadband connections can be one-way or two-way
service. For one-way service, the customer must contract
with a wired ISP for the uplink at dial-up speeds, while the
satellite supports the downlink at speeds up to 10 mbps. For
the downlink, the satellite transmits data to the computer via
a satellite dish at the customer’s home or office. The two-way
satellite service transmits and receives signals directly via the
satellite without needing a ground line to support the connec-
tion for the upstream portion of the broadband service. As
one example of a two-way satellite service, HughesNet
Home service (from Hughes Network Systems) provides
download speeds up to 1 mbps and upload speeds up to 128
kbps for a monthly charge of $59.99. As another example,
HughesNet Elite service provides download speeds up to
2 mbps and upload speeds up to 300 kbps for a monthly
charge of $119.99. These services are available from any
location in the United States with a clear view of the southern
sky. For either service, a 24-month commitment is required,
and the installation fee is $300 (including the purchase of the
satellite dish and modem).
Wireless to the home may be delivered via a city-
wide or neighborhood Wi-Fi network, a WiMAX network,
or a cellular 3G wireless connection. The data transmission
rates vary considerably for these wireless options, and so
do the costs—but usually in the $30 to $60 a month range.
Fiber to the home is a newer alternative that is available
only in a limited (but growing) geographical area. Verizon
Communications is the largest provider of fiber to the
home service, which it calls FiOS Internet Service. Where
available, Verizon’s fiber to the home service varies from a
fast 15 mbps download/5 mbps upload service for $49.99
per month (if the user has a Verizon home phone) to a
much faster 50 mbps download/20 mbps upload service for
$139.95 per month. These plans require a two-year
commitment. Better pricing is available if the customer
agrees to a bundled package including Internet access, TV,
and home phone.
In the battle to provide high-speed Internet access in
the United States, cable modem connections forged an
early lead over DSL, but DSL came back strong to take the
lead over cable for several years. Then cable once again
forged in front in 2009, with 41 percent of broadband users
choosing cable, 33 percent choosing DSL, and the remain-
der split among satellite, wireless, and fiber. Even as this
jockeying for the lead between cable and DSL continues,
the number of users in each of the access categories contin-
ues to grow every year. Overall, 63 percent of adult
Americans have broadband Internet connections at home,
a 15 percent increase over a year earlier (Horrigan, 2009).
Even with this strong growth, the United States is far
behind several other nations in the proportion of house-
holds with broadband service—in fact, the United States is
not even in the top ten! In 2009, the Netherlands led the
world with 38.1 broadband subscribers per 100 inhabitants,
followed by Denmark, Norway, Switzerland, and Korea in
the top five. By contrast, the United States had 26.7 sub-
scribers per 100 inhabitants and found itself in fifteenth
place (OECD, 2009). Furthermore, the United States came
in eighteenth in average connection speed, at 4.2 mbps,
compared to 11 mbps for Korea and 8 mbps for Japan
(WebSite Optimization, 2009). In addition, the price per 1
mbps of download speed is much higher in the United
States than in many developed nations (Holahan, 2008).
Why isn’t the United States up to speed in broad-
band? In part, it reflects the fact that many parts of the
United States are sparsely populated, where it is more
difficult to deliver a broadband connection. It has been