August - September 2001 Edition

High Speed Internet Access   Fair Lawn residents and businesses now have several choices for fast access to the Internet with a connection that doesn't tie up your phone line.    Zdena, a Radburn resident who uses a high speed Internet service, told Fair Lawn News, "I am connected to the Net all the time, so I don't have to wait to sign on (that alone used to take up to 5 minutes), and the speed of the connection makes it as easy to use the Net as it is picking up the phone or opening a book."   Joel Ringer, owner of Fair Lawn’s Team Infosys, told Fair Lawn News that high speed Internet services can transfer information at ten times the speed of normal dialup service.   For home use, Mr. Ringer recommends service via cable modems, ADSL (Asynchronous Digital Subscriber Lines) or satellite.     Cable and ADSL services are priced about the same, $30 or $40 per month and sometimes a charge for installation and/or a modem.  Satellite service is approximately $70 per month.  Mr. Ringer noted drawbacks with each of the alternatives:     Cable   “Cable is like the George Washington Bridge.  At 4:00 in the morning, you can go the maximum speed, but four hours later, you are crawling…No one knows how bad congestion is going to get on cable service.”     DSL:  "With DSL, users are dependent upon the whims of the telephone infrastructure, which varies minute by minute”.   Satellite:  In order to use a satellite service, users need a clear sight to the southern sky, because the satellite is positioned over the Equator in the Pacific Ocean.  Satellites are fast and reliable for e- mail and browsing web pages, but they do not work as well for interactive games because the signal has to go 22,000 miles from Fair Lawn to the satellite.”    Mr. Ringer said that businesses that want more reliable high speed Internet connection should consider paying for more expensive telecommunication services.  The best service he said is the $1,200 per month T1 connection, which is “like having Verizon continuously monitor a wire that goes directly from their switching station to your office.”   For more information, contact Cablevision about cable modem service and DSL Reports about general high speed connection information.