About Broadband

Broadband is an Internet connection that is very fast and typically available whenever your computer is running. In the early days of residential access to the Internet, access was only available via a dialed-up telephone connection that had very low speeds compared to what’s available today. It was like accessing the Internet through an eye-dropper. As high-speed connections became available, they were called broadband connections to differentiate them from the older, much slower phone modem connections.

A typical home broadband setup

Broadband Modems

A modem (MOdulator/DEModulator) is a device that translates the digital data of computer communication into other forms--such as analog sound waves--that can be transmitted over a transmission line. At the other end of the line, another modem converts the signal back into digital data. There are three types of modems used for residential Internet service today.

Cable modems

A cable modem is designed to connect the computer to the Internet over the same wiring that supports cable television. Cable modems are generally capable of the fastest speeds available to residential users. This is because the data-carrying capacity of cable wiring is much greater than the thin copper wires of standard telephone lines.

DSL modems

A DSL modem gives you a high speed Internet connection via a telephone land-line. The modem plugs into a standard telephone jack. Some DSL modems also have a wireless access point built into them. This means you can provide wireless access to various devices in your home without adding another piece of hardware.

Dial-up modems

A dial-up modem uses older technology to make a much slower Internet connection using a telephone landline. A dial-up modem can work in rural areas that don’t yet have support DSL modems.

How Internet Search Engines Find Results

All Internet search engines maintain some type of database of web pages and their content. When you perform a search, the search engine uses its database to list all web pages that meet your search criteria. Search engines differ in the techniques they use to locate websites and add them to their databases.

Types

Search engines can be broken down into three primary categories based on their method of indexing the content of the web.

• Full-text—Some search engines index every word of every web page they encounter. While this yields a very complete search, it is likely that many hits won’t relate to the specific topic for which you are searching. On the other hand, you are guaranteed a very complete search. The Hotbot.com search engine uses the full-text indexing technique.

• Computer-generated—Some search engines review the first page or part of the first page of a website and then use programming to assign the web page to specific search key words. The Google search engine employs this technique, using data such as the popularity of a website to assign its order in the search results list.

Metasearch Engines

The web also has search engines that search other search engines. Essentially, a metasearch engine sends your search to several search engines and other resources with a single command. This approach takes advantage of the strengths of several search engines simultaneously. However, you may end up with more hits than you bargained for.

This metasearch engine searches four popular search engines simultaneously.

Hit Order

Different search engines usually list the same sites in a different order. There are a few factors that can affect the order of sites in the search results list.

• Content of the page—The text on the web page can make a difference in the order a site is listed. The search engine reviews the homepage to determine the level of relevance of the site to your search terms.

• Search relevance rating—Each search engine has its own system for rating the relevance of a website to the terms you used in your search. How this relevance rating is processed will change the order of sites in the hit list.

• Content of the meta-tag for a page—Many web pages have some hidden code (called a meta-tag) that contains search keywords. Some search engines use this information to determine the order of the web page in a hit list.

• Sponsored links/money—Yes, it’s true. Many websites pay a search engine to give them a higher position in the hit list. The logic is that the first sites in the hit list are much more likely to be browsed. Conversely, if a web page is deep in the list, it is much less likely that a searcher will make it that far down the list to view the page.