Light User: If all you
want to do is browse the web and use email then any standard
service will suit your requirements.
Medium to Heavy User: If
you want to download music, films or play online gaming then
you should use a more expensive package and watch out for the
small print as explained below.
Fair Usage Policies: Most
ISP's (Internet Service Providers) have a fair usage policy.
This means that if you download over a certain amount of data
your provider will limit your bandwidth or speed. This is most
commonly experienced by online gamers and those who download
lots of movies. Some ISP's are more restrictive than others
and some will only block you during peak times. Ask the service
provider your thinking of signing up with what their limits
are. Ask for the advisors name and if the call is being recorded
as they have been known to tell a few porky's in the past! You
don't want to be in an 18 month contract with a broadband service
that doesn't suit your needs.
Port Blocking: Some ISP's
block certain ports that will kill download speeds. The most
common ports that are blocked are those used by peer to peer
software such as Lime wire and torrent applications that are
used for downloading media. So even if you have got a phone
line that can support an 8Mb+ connection speed you will still
only download at a snails pace! Ask the service provider your
thinking of signing up with if they block any ports. The worst
known for this at present is BT Broadband. In Dorchester town
centre, within 500 yards of the exchange on a BT telephone line
supporting 6Mb+ it takes over 5 minutes to download one 5mb
music track using peer to peer or bit torrent software.
Slow Downloading: Bit torrents
and peer to peer software work by pulling small 'packets' of
data from many sources (or seeds) and then rejoining the files.
This is a long and tedious process that can take hours or even
days to complete just an 800Mb movie file while all the time
killing your bandwidth. While your file/s are downloading, using
the internet just to surf the web will become slow or in some
cases, plain impossible. This method however is free, or should
be. Don't be fooled by applications such as Lime Wire or BearShare
offering a high speed service for a fee. The difference will
be minimal.
Fast Downloading: The best
way to download with the internet is in binary format from another
computer that contains the whole file or files you want. There
are many companies offering these services and they are known
as 'News Servers' and run on the 'Usenet'. A News Server will
have what is known as a 'Server Farm' which is masses of computers
with terabytes of data storage. For a small monthly fee (about
£5 - £15) a News Server will allow you to connect to their service
and download at your full broadband line speed. A 4.7Gb DVD
movie file on a 5+Mb enabled phone line takes around just 2
hours to complete! This process takes a little learning though
but has been the best way to download since the first computer
communication was sent over a telephone line. Below is some
advice and our recommendation on where to start.
Our Best Rated News Server is

Our Best Rated News Client is

Our Best Rated Usenet Search is
Our Best Rated ISP is
