Following is a general overview of the differences between three common choices of high-speed Internet access:
Cable Modem - This is shared technology among an area, not a one-to-one Internet connection. If the site is in an area that has heavy Internet usage in the afternoon, it may be really fast in the morning but slow down in the afternoon, when school gets out or people arrive home from work.
DSL - Is it DSL lite or regular DSL? This is a one-to-one Internet connection, but the speed per computer depends on your distance from the provider, and how many computers are accessing the Internet at one time. For example: I have DSL, but if all three of the computers at home are accessing the Internet at one time, my speed can drop from 2.1mbps to 500K, depending on what the others are doing. Most companies that offer DSL offer pricing options. Typically the lower your monthly rate, the slower the connectivity.
T-1 - This is typically used on a campus or shared between businesses. This type of Internet speed is used by the group of sites that may have a corporate sponsorship. For example: Corporation A sponsors 26 sites in the local area. The sites share an Internet plan with Corporation A. This means that each site is allowed to use a portion of the Internet bandwidth that is coming into Corporation A.
This information applies to all online aspects of the UltimateTax ecosystem.
