Your Internet Connection

How is your computer connected to the Internet? Dial-in, DSL, or Cable? The answer to this question is very important, because each type has it's own security characteriscits.

DEFINITION: An Internet service provider (ISP) is a company that you pay for a connection to the Internet. Examples are AOL, MSN, AT&T, RoadRunner, and Earthlink.

Many of these ISPs will provide you with some measure of Internet security options. Many of these options are free of extra charges.

You are invited to take a look at each type of connection by pushing each button in turn

Dial-Up Connections

Why are Dial-Up connections safer?

Dial-up connections are accomplished with a modem attached to the plain-old-telephone-system or POTS. In today's world, dial-up is slow - even at 52 mbps. Getting your email can be slow. It can take fifteen minutes or more to download a picture or some music.

Dial-up connections are safer. Why? This is because people normally close the connection after they have finished the task at hand. Why? Because many dialup ISPs charge you by the elapsed time you are connected to the Internet - whether you are actually using it or not.

A dial-up ISP keeps the meter running while a person's PC is connected. So to save money, their PC is off-line nearly all day and all night. Each time a person wishes to use the Internet, the PC must be brought on-line. A button is clicked, and the PC takes the time to dial in. Afterwards, the connection is closed, to stop the clock and save some money. Therefore, a predator has a smaller window of time to operate in.

Alert: Dial-up is vulnerable to telephone a scamming fraud. (See below.)

Spyware-makers may perpetrate sort of fraud with dialer program spyware: wire fraud. Dialers cause a computer with a modem to dial up a long-distance telephone number instead of the usual ISP. Connecting to the number in question involves long-distance or overseas charges, this can result in massive telephone bills, which the user must either pay or contest with the telephone company.