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The Internet can literally bring the world to your computer. But as the Internet evolves, it brings a lot more than just words. It brings kinetic images and sounds that enhance your surfing experience. But these features come with a cost. Their complexity can slow your Internet experience down to a crawl. The bottleneck is your telephone line. Synonymous to a garden hose, a standard modem can only push a stream of data at speeds up to 56 thousand bits-per-second and it gets that speed only under ideal circumstances. What is needed is a bigger hose. But larger hoses cost a lot more money, usually a lot more. A T1 line for example, can cost thousands of dollars a month. But alternatives are changing all that right now.

The first commercially successful big hose or more correctly referred to as a broad band service is the cable modem. However, cable modems are a shared resource so as more and more people access the network at the same time, speed begins to slow down. But the cable industry proved that people want faster Internet access and are willing to pay for it. Cable companies typically charge between $35 to $70 a month for cable modem service. The resulting response of the phone company to cable modems is spelled ADSL. Asynchronous Digital Subscriber Loop is how the Internet should be accessed. With its dedicated downstream speed (Internet data coming to you) of 1.5 million bits-per-second speed, images literally snap onto the screen, video and sound come alive without incessant interruptions. And dedicated service in this case means it's not shared with others. The ADSL link to your Internet Service Provider (ISP) is yours alone. ADSL is between 50 to 100 times faster than a 56k modem. To put this another way, a 56k modem would take at least a half hour to download a ten megabyte file. ADSL can do it in under 60 seconds.

Another nice feature is how easily ADSL can be installed. Those who have the added expense of an extra phone line dedicated to a modem can give it up. ADSL shares your existing single phone line by operating at a higher frequency than your plain old telephone service. This means you can be online and still use your phone's normal functions. You can make and receive phone calls while simultaneously accessing the Internet. It's a surfer's dream come true.

The other really nice feature of ADSL is that it's always connected to the Internet. And since ADSL is always on, you don't have to wait to be connected anymore. Just use any Internet software. For example, run your web browser and you're instantly online looking at your home page. Run America Online's program and you're instantly there. No more dialing up, no more whistles, hash noises, beeps or clicks. The Internet is always there. You don't point and click on anything. It's wonderful.

As with anything new and wonderful, demand for ADSL is big and getting bigger. Phone companies everywhere are racing to adopt the ADSL technology. If you live in a highly populated part of the country, your chances are a lot better than someone out in the middle of nowhere. But even if you are a dazzling urbanite, you still might find yourself on an ADSL waiting list. If you are too far away from your phone company's central office, for example, you might not qualify for ADSL. The best way to find out if ADSL is available to you or when it will be available in your area is to call your local telephone company. But one thing's for sure. This is a no-brainer. Most pay about $20 to $30 a month to their ISP for Internet access. Some companies such as Telocity are now offering ADSL for $49 a month and that includes the ISP service, the ADSL modem, multiple email addresses, a few megabytes of space for your own web site and access that's between 50 to 100 times faster than you have now with your measly 56k modem. If ADSL is available in your area, get it. And consider yourself lucky to have it.

Telocity www.telocity.com (408) 863-6600