Christy |
12:30 AM |
The number of Internet service providers has grown over the last decade.
Families now have many different options. There are significant differences
between some of the plans currently available. Additionally,
technology is changing every year so that certain service metrics do
not mean what they once did. Families who are trying to choose the right
Internet service for the home will want to look at several areas when
considering different plans.
One of the first considerations when choosing an Internet service
for the family should be speed. Speed is measured in megabits per second
(Mbps). The most important number is the download speed. This can range
from 5 Mbps to numbers as high as 175 Mbps. Speeds below 10 Mbps are
good for families that do not use the Internet for more than checking
email or reading news. Higher speeds allow for seamless streaming media.
Families with multiple computers that are used at the same time will
want the highest download speeds possible. High upload speeds are valuable
for families that play online games or use video chat.
Many Internet plans have monthly limits on the amount of data that
can be sent and received. Limits below 10 gigabytes per month are mostly
good for light Internet usage but will quickly run out if people watch
movies, listen to music or make large downloads. A family of four using
the Internet every day could easily exceed 30 to 50 gigabytes in a month.
Families who are heavy Internet users will want to look for services
like those at
http://www.bell.ca/Bell Internet since there is
an option for unlimited access with no data limits.
Another consideration should be whether bundled services are
available with the Internet connection. It is now common to find companies
that offer phone and television service along with Internet. Plans like
those at
http://www.bell.ca/Home Phone cost less each month
than it would to maintain different services for phone, cable and Internet.
An advantage of bundled services is that everything is handled through
one bill each month.
One final thing to look at when choosing an Internet service
is the type of support provided. It is best to look for a company that
offers live technical support over the phone. This makes it easy to
deal with installation and connection issues in the future that affect
performance. It is also helpful to choose a service that has chat, forums
and knowledge bases online so that non-critical problems can be addressed
more casually.
