Broadband communication expands our opportunities for entertainment, e-commerce and work at home, health care, education, and even e-government. It can make the Internet more useful to more people. But it all hinges on higher capacity in the "first mile" or "last mile" that connects the user to the larger communications network. That connection is often adequate for large organizations such as universities or corporations, but enhanced connections to homes are needed to reap the full social and economic promise. Broadband: Bringing Home the Bits provides a contemporary snapshot of technologies, strategies, and policies for improving our communications and information infrastructure. It explores the potential benefits of broadband, existing and projected demand, progress and failures in deployment, competition in the broadband industry, and costs and who pays them. Explanations of broadband's alphabet soup â€" HFC, DSL, FTTH, and all the rest â€" are included as well. The report's finding and recommendations address regulation, the roles of communities, needed research, and other aspects, including implications for the Telecommunications Act of 1996.

Get hooked up without getting tangled up in cords, wires, cables or techno mumbo. With Wireless Home Networking For Dummies, you can go wireless without going mad. It shows you how to plan, install, secure, and use a wireless home network for PCs or Macs. See how easy it is to share your Internet connection, files, folders, printers, and other peripherals. Put your gaming console on your wireless network and play multiuser computer games—­even online. With lots of helpful diagrams, screen shots, and step-by-step instructions, this guide: Gives you the info you need to make wise wireless buying and connecting decisions Covers the latest security issues and hardware as well as today's wireless standards, including Wi-Fi/802.11 (a, b, g, e, and i), Bluetooth, UWB (Universal Wide Band), WiMAX, and ZigBee Tells you how to use an inexpensive networking kit to connect your gaming console to a broadband Internet connection and speed up your commands; that’s often a matter of virtual life and death Discusses alternatives to wireless networking, including Bluetooth, HPNA, and Home Plug Learn how to network your entertainment center for all kinds of options. Whether you have a $300 TV set or a $25,000 home theater system, you can wireless enable almost any type of A/V equipment. Then you can use your PC to store audio and video tracks for playback on your TV and through your stereo, stream movies from the Internet and play them on your big screen, load pictures from your digital camera on your PC and view them on the TV, and more. This book will show you how to make your home entertainment system much more entertaining, with: Info on plugging into wireless with wireless A/V adapters The latest on wireless media servers like the Sonos Music System The scoop on the ultimate home theater PC (HTPC) that plays CDs and DVDs, acts as a PVR (personal video recorder); lets you play video games on the big screen, and more Tips for buying wireless bridges, along with some specific products and their Web sites Find out about how to go wireless wherever you go, with info on public wireless hot spots and types of free and for-pay networks. Delve into the whole-home wireless revolution and see how you can add smart home devices to your network, connect to your car or your home security video monitors, use your cell phone as a remote control, and more. Wireless Home Networking For Dummies even gives you a look into the not-so-distant future and the wireless wonders in the works!

This book outlines everything people need to make the move from a dial-up connection to an always-on DSL or cable Internet connection that is up to forty times faster than a standard modem connection Nielsen estimated there were thirty-nine million U.S. homes with broadband access in April 2003 Gaskin explains available broadband options, shows how to pick the right one, describes wireless alternatives inside and outside of buildings, details how to connect more than one computer to a home broadband connection, and provides information about securing your wireless network This new Desktop Edition format provides need-to-know coverage of all topics related to broadband home networking in an easy-to-use format that will appeal to novices and techies alike Offers a useful customer service FAQ and a Web directory appendix that lists Web sites for additional utilities, tools, games, and more

Broadband Last Mile: Access Technologies for Multimedia Communications provides in-depth treatments of access technologies and the applications that rely upon them or support them. It examines innovations and enhancements along multiple dimensions in access, with the overarching goal of ensuring that the last mile is not the weak link in the broadband chain. Written by experts from the academic and commercial segments of the field, the book's self-contained sections address topics related to the disciplines of communications, networking, computing, and signal processing. The core of this treatment contains contemporary reviews of broadband pipes in the classes of copper, cable, fiber, wireless, and satellite. It emphasizes the coexistence of these classes within a network, the importance of optical communications for unprecedented bandwidth, and the flexibility and mobility provided by wireless. The book also includes perspective on the increasingly important topic of network management, providing insights that are true regardless of the nature of the pipe. The text concludes with a discussion of newly emerging applications and broadband services. This book offers an all-in-one treatment of the physical pipes and network architectures that make rich and increasingly personalized applications possible. It serves as a valuable resource for researchers and practitioners working in the increasingly pervasive field of broadband.

This fascinating book explores the technological challenges and applications of providing fast, 'always-on' internet connections to the home. Current delivery mechanisms of broadband into and around the home are explored in depth.

bull; Prepare for the CCNP 642-821 BCRAN exam and gain a better, practical understanding of exam concepts bull; Experience how remote access concepts work in a real network with practice labs that walk you through their implementation bull; Review set-up guides that show you how to prepare a lab for study bull; Ready yourself for the new simulation-based questions on the CCNP exams

An in-depth piece that focuses on how companies can migrate their traditional networks to broadband—yet support new services without sacrificing the quality or profitability of either—this guide discusses which technology should be deployed and what the network impact of delivering such emerging services is.

What happens when affordable broadband finally reaches the half of the planet that has little or no Internet access? Google, Facebook, SpaceX, and many others have major initiatives underway to connect the rest of the planet over the next few years. For the first time, even the poorest and most remote of global citizens will have access to information, communications, identity authentication, government programs, global philanthropy, online banking, telehealth, distance education, and other powerful services heretofore impossible. In The Great Connecting, Jim Cashel speaks with the major players driving the broadband revolution and travels to the most remote corners of the globe to consider the changes in our world about to take place — certainly one of the biggest events in human history. As Cashel explains, the expansion of broadband offers many challenges but will also bring a remarkable opportunity for the planet.