Laptops All-in-One Desk Reference For Dummies- P52: Okay, I’ll admit it: I’ve got a strange biography. I’ve been a writer all my life. My first semi-pro job was sports editor of my high school newspaper. (Go Commodores!) After college I was a political reporter for daily newspapers in Ohio and New York (I covered four national nominating conventions and two Presidential campaigns) and a correspondent for The Associated Press. And then, in 1983, I gave in to my inner geek and became the first Executive Editor of PC Magazine, back in the days when most people asked, “What is a PC?”. | 484 Hello Operator Modem Madness You can also add a WiFi wireless router to spread a signal throughout your home or office allowing you to bring your laptop from room to room. Figure 1-2 The Linksys CM100 modem works with most cable systems and links to a router or computer by Ethernet or USB cable. Courtesy of Linksys Even though a router subdivides access to a single connection the chances are you may never notice an impact. The incoming signal is very fast and the chances that any two machines will make a major demand on the system at the exact millisecond is very unlikely. Before you add cable Internet service to your home or office make sure you re getting a high-quality cable television signal. You re going to be using the same incoming cable you already use if it s less than acceptable for Moe Larry and Curly it s not going to be very good for YouTube. Insist that the cable television connection be brought up to specifications the company may have to add an amplifier at the street or in your home to improve a weak signal. The downside of cable modems Most cable Internet offerings are unbalanced meaning that the download stream of web pages audio video and e-mail is given a bigger piece of the pipe than the upstream signal which might include a request for a website an order for a pizza or a transfer of funds in your banking account . Hello Operator Modem Madness 485 This generally makes sense although if you intend to send large amounts of graphics or video you may want to look for a broadband service that gives you more speed for uploading. For most users much more data comes downstream to your laptop than goes upstream. Here in my office I use a cable modem for the Internet. I typically receive a download signal that ranges from about 5 to 7 Mbps more than 100 times faster than a dial-up modem and an upload speed that ranges between about 280KB and Mbps. Why do I report a range of speeds for downloading and uploading Because the speed of travel is .
