From Consumer Reports
 SPECIAL REPORT

Broadband Internet: Worth the switch?

What you need to know about making the move to broadband:
DSL, cable, or satellite.

Tens of millions of consumers now have broadband Internet service--DSL
(digital subscriber line), cable-modem, or satellite connections that
are always
on and much faster than traditional 56k dial-up. If you're not one of
them, what are you missing?

Plenty, judging by the response to a national survey we recently
conducted of about 1,500 broadband and dial-up users. Broadband
customers were four times
as likely as dial-up users to be highly satisfied with their provider's
speed and much more satisfied with technical support. Only 18 percent
reported
interrupted connections in the past month, compared with 55 percent for
dial-up. Broadband users spent more time online, too, and were far more
likely
to download large files, watch video clips, and listen to Internet
radio. Most had no intention of ending their broadband service anytime
soon or of going
back to dial-up.

To see how well broadband service holds its appeal over time, we checked
in with two DSL users we'd interviewed two years ago. "To go back to
dial-up service
would be like switching from a hare to a tortoise," says Susan
Buchsbaum, a resource center specialist from Stamford, Conn., who uses
the speed to closely
examine photos of merchandise when shopping online. She would stop
shopping online if she had to go back to dial-up, she adds. Michael
MacDonald, a database
administrator from Aurora, Canada, still considers his DSL service a
good deal, despite a recent price hike that brought his monthly fee to
$45 from $40,
because "the content is a lot better than two years ago and there is a
lot more variety."

SOME ROUGH EDGES

Broadband has its shortcomings, our survey showed. Monthly fees for all
types--typically about $40, compared with $20 for dial-up--are still on
the rise.
About 40 percent of cable-modem users, and nearly 25 percent of DSL
users, experienced a price hike in the past six months. The typical
increase for DSL
was nearly $10 a month, compared with less than $5 for cable.

Why the increases? Mark Kersey, an industry analyst for ARS Inc., told
us, "Prices are going up mostly because of less competition. Some
companies folded
or consolidated. Eighty-five percent of broadband is controlled by 10
companies."

Actually, among the people we surveyed, more have a choice of high-speed
providers than in the past. About 40 percent of broadband users who
signed up in
the past year said their provider was the only one available, compared
with nearly 60 percent a year earlier. But having more than one provider
to choose
from, our survey also showed, hasn't produced meaningful price
competition. Users who had a choice of providers now pay about the same
per month as those
who had no choice.

FIGHTING OFF HACKERS

More people have a choice of providers, but prices continue to rise.

Broadband's higher speed and stability carry risks. They expose you to
hackers and online criminals far more than a dial-up connection does.
For more information
about how to minimize risks by using a barrier known as a firewall, see
our
June 2002 Computer security report.

Given the increased exposure to hackers, you would expect broadband
Internet providers to strongly encourage new users to protect themselves
with a firewall.
However, nearly 50 percent of broadband users told us that their
provider had never mentioned a firewall when the service was installed,
while nearly 30
percent said they couldn't remember what protective steps their provider
had taken. Forty percent of the broadband users we surveyed said they
don't use
a firewall.

TAKING THE PLUNGE

If you're planning to sign up for broadband, our survey shows
that--providers' ads notwithstanding--cable and DSL suffer interruptions
and slowdowns at
similar rates. To find a local cable Internet provider, ask your cable
TV company which providers serve your address (in some areas, there may
be more
than one). To find a range of choices in broadband, visit
www.broadbandreports.com.
If neither cable nor DSL is available, consider two-way satellite.
DirecWay (
www.direcway.com)
charges $60 a month, plus a $300 to $400 early-termination fee.


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