People often ask the silliest questions. A common one in the CPU world harkens back to the world of Broadband; people want to know what it is, what’s involved and how they learn more. All of which are fairly simple to answer.

Broadband refers to telecommunication where a wide band of frequencies is transmitting information. Due to the broad in broadband a wide range of frequencies may be transmitted at once, allowing more information to be transmitted in the same amount of time.

If we’re trying to run a broadband test, it’s important to establish two key things: 1) what is the bandwidth or the size of the signal you’re trying to send? 2) And across which medium are you traveling?

For example a Morse code frequency across a radio channel is very narrow; speech is a bit broader; music broader still. So you can imagine all the information and the size of the bandwidth that must be a broadband internet connection! This is the reason your computer has a modem; for the sending and receiving of your internet connection.

One type of broadband computer network is what’s known as a LAN or local area network. Wireless LAN’s cover a small area like a home, office, or small cluster of buildings. Small networks are building up around this premise with the ability to share files and communicate with other members in the network. LAN’s defining characteristic is the higher transfer rates, limited geographic range, as well as the absence for the need for telecommunications lines.

WAN (wider area network) is a computer network which covers much larger geographic territory, up to and including across continents. The biggest and best known WAN is the Internet. WAN’s are typically built for a single organization and are private outside that organization. Other WAN, built by ISP’s assist in connecting an organizations LAN to the Internet.

In broadband terms the internet backbone could be called it’s WAN. If you’re looking for cheap broadband you’ve got many options. You can pirate the info and then it’s free; this is by nature the least expensive option for broadband connection, however it’s also the least reliable and is subject to disconnection, redirection, public network going private, or the most cutting of all the above, a network users just moving.

Broadband internet service is a thing of the future yet it lives in the present with so many choices that are now. Making sure you shop around and get the best option for your needs is paramount before signing a service agreement because once you go broadband, you never go back.