Lightning-fast web access can change your life

By MICHAEL FOREMAN

In the past few weeks I have fallen in love with a little black box that sits next to my PC. The object of my affection is a Nokia M1122 ADSL modem/router, which provides Telecom's JetStream super-fast internet connection using ADSL, or asymmetric digital subscriber line.

ADSL delivers net access at high speed - Telecom's minimum target is 2 Mbits/second downstream (roughly 40 times the speed of a standard dial-up modem) and 250 Kbits/second upstream - and leaves the phone line is free for calls while you are online.

But JetStream is expensive. Telecom has promised new pricing plans before Christmas, which may also become available through the 19 other ISPs supporting JetStream, but its cheapest service now is $99 a month.

This JetStream 400 plan has no restrictions on time online, but traffic downloaded or uploaded is limited to 400Mb, with a surcharge of 20c a megabyte for more. By comparison, in the United States basic DSL with no traffic restrictions ranges from $US30 ($71) to $US$50 ($119) a month, but at these prices speed is usually restricted to 384Kbits/sec.

If a 400Mb traffic allocation seems restrictive - I found it was quite easy to rip through 100Mb in a morning - other plans are available right up to JetStream 10000, which for $999 a month gives you 10,000Mb, with a surcharge of 12c a megabyte over this.

All the plans have an installation fee of $300, but this is being waived if you sign up for 12 months before the end of the year. You may also have to shell out for other extras. For example, $30 a month for the rent of an ADSL modem is included, but you might want to buy your own. Telecom supplies its own model for $370, but it has recently opened the market up to other suppliers. A $50 Ethernet card to connect your PC to the modem may also be needed.

The basic JetStream charge includes $20 a month for an Xtra connection, but you may be able to substitute your existing ISP here.

In my case installation went smoothly at first. The team from Dynamic Communications put in all the equipment, including laying a cable under the house to take the DSL to the PC in my office, in three hours. However, a problem with the DSL-device at the exchange resulted in a delay of a couple of days before JetStream came online. Line noise because of poor wiring outside the house also caused intermittent disconnections for two weeks.

But these problems were soon forgotten when JetStream was working properly - the speed and convenience are amazing. The ability to make phone calls while remaining online has transformed my working life, and my e-mail program, now permanently on, checks the mailbox every five minutes.

Download speeds are so fast they are difficult to measure, but a 200Kb jpeg image comes down in a second or less, and I received a 1.7Mb file from a United States-based server in less than 10 seconds.

Best of all, I was able to use one of the four Ethernet ports on the Nokia modem to hook up a second PC in our living room.

This 25m link, achieved with around $60 of cable and a $100 USB network interface card at the other end, was as significant to the Foreman household as the opening of the Southern Cross cable was to New Zealand's internet community.

"That's amazing," was the verdict of my partner, Kate, as a page that usually took a couple of minutes to appear using the previous dial-up connection flashed up in a couple of seconds.

Since then, not only has JetStream satisfied our young children's developing appetite for multimedia-rich websites, but Kate has found that without the drama of logging on she is using the net far more often.

But a permanent internet connection has some less welcome implications.

First, it is very important to have a firewall program installed, to ward off potential hacking attempts. I have been running Zone Alarm, which is available free to home users at www.zonelabs.com, very happily for several weeks.

Second, you have to remember to switch off distributed server programs such as Napster when you have finished using them, otherwise people may download your MP3 music files without so much as a by-your-leave.

Forget and you could wake up one morning to find you have donated your monthly traffic quota to music fans around the world.

Links:

JetStream

Apache web server

www.zonelabs.com