Technologies for Home Internet and Computer Networks
Question 1: Compare and contrast at least five technologies that are readily available for in-home internet access. You should consider practical as well as technical differences in your comparison. Do not include Frame Relay or ATM as these are primarily larger scale business solutions.
Answer: Five technologies that are readily available for in-home internet access:
VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol): VoIP refers to transmitting voice data over an IP-based network. VoIP requires a computer, a dedicated VoIP phone or a landline phone to place calls through a VoIP server or special adapter. Calls to landline numbers is also possible using interconnected VoIP services. Various codec’s are used to encode voice calls, they include: G.723.1, G.711a, G.711u, and G.729a.
802.11N: 802.11n is a newer standard of WiFi LAN, or wireless local area network technology, subsequent to standards 802.11a, 802.11b and 802.11g (Wisegeek.com, n.d.). This technology provides very high speed internet access of up to o 600 Mbps. It uses multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) technology. In this technology, a mechanism known as frame aggregation is used to reduce time between transmissions. 40 MHz channels added to the physical layer make it even more efficient as compared to earlier technologies.
BitTorrent: BitTorrent is a protocol (a set of rules and description of how to do things) allowing you to download files quickly by allowing people downloading the file to upload (distribute) parts of it at the same time (Bittorrent.com, n.d.). In this technology, a peer first creates a small file, which is known as a torrent. The torrent includes metadata of the files that need to be shared. It also stores information about the computer coordinating the file distribution, also known as the tracker.
Browser: This is an application program used to access information available on the World Wide Web. It uses various protocols, such as HTTP, asp, VB script and java script, to request access to information required by the user. Web browsers use many other protocols like HTTPS, asp, java script, VB script to display and run script in web page. Several browsers available today include Internet explorer, chrome, Firefox and safari.
Cellular Technology: This technology allows access to the Internet on a Desktop or notebook with the help of a cell phone. It used PCS cards or USB wireless modems for internet access. The frequencies on which these USB wireless modems operate include GSM, CDMA, 3G, and 4G.
Question 2: Explain the similarities and differences between Frame Relay and Asynchronous Transfer Mode.
Answer: The similarities and differences between Frame Relay and Asynchronous Transfer Mode are depicted in the table below:
Frame Relay
Similarities
These are the most common technologies to be used by large scale businesses for communicating between networks
These data transfer services provide high speed and can be extended to a very wide area
Both are based on end-to-end delivery of quantized data
Both use WAN technology
Differences
1. Uses fixed size packets (53 bytes) for data communication
2. implemented within a single LAN
3. complex and expensive to install
4. leaves a lot of overhead within the packet
6. Not supported in some software
7. uses variable packet sizes
Question 3: Technological advances are only one of many factors that play into how technology infrastructure develops. The social decision to break-up AT&T had a significant impact on the telephone infrastructure. Describe how the infrastructure changed due to this event.
Answer: The break-up of AT&T was one of the major events that ever took place in the telecommunications industry. However, it is still not clear whether the break-up has an innovative effect in the telecommunications market. But, it is definitely true that many jobs have emerged after the break-up and much advancement has taken place in the telecommunications industry.
There does not really seem to be any direct connection between the break-up of AT&T and emergence of the Internet; however, some scholars feel that if AT&T would not break-up, the Internet would not have reached the level where it is today. Some others also feel that this break-up has led to several innovations in the wireless world.
According to Adler, while the break-up of AT&T has had a real impact, it is the combination of this event with the continuing evolution of technology that has fundamentally reshaped the telecommunications landscape (New Millennium Research Council, n.d.)
Question 4: For the network that you have chosen to characterize, identify the connection to the internet WAN. Identify the media, devices, and service providers involved in establishing this connection. Describe what protocols/services are being implemented over this connection. In addition, describe at least one alternative ISP service available for this network.
Answer: The network that is chosen here is virtual private network (VPN). Virtual private networks are point-to-point connections across a private or public network such as the Internet (Technet.microsoft.com, 2003). It is a technology used to remotely access a computer with the help of the Internet. It allows access to various resources, such as files, printers, databases, or internal websites, available on remote networks.
There are two types of VPNs:
Remote-Access or Virtual Private Dial-up Network (VPDN): This is typically used by those companies that require its employees to connect to its private network from various remote locations. These companies provide an Internet dial-up account to their employees. This technology uses VPN client software to access the corporate network.
Site-to-Site: This technology uses a dedicated equipment and large-scale encryption to connect multiple fixed sites over a private network. Each of these sites needs a local connection to the same public network.
The various protocols used by most VPNs include Internet Protocol Security Protocol (IPsec), PPTP/MPPE and L2TP/IPsec. The components required to build a VPN include desktop software client for each remote user, dedicated hardware such as a Cisco VPN Concentrator or a Cisco Secure PIX Firewall, dedicated VPN server for dial-up services, network Access Server (NAS) used by service provider for remote user VPN access, private network and policy management centre (Cisco.com, 2008).
References
Bittorrent.com (n.d.). Beginner's Guide. Retrieved from http://www.bittorrent.com/help/guides/beginners-guide
Cisco.com (2008). How Virtual Private Networks Work. Retrieved from http://www.cisco.com/en/US/tech/tk583/tk372/technologies_tech_note09186a0080094865.shtml
New Millennium Research Council (n.d.). Report: 20 Years after AT&T Break-up, Consumers See Some Benefits, but Telecommunications Industry is Bogged Down Under Constraints. Retrieved from http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases-test/report-20-years-after-att-break-up-consumers-see-some-benefits-but-telecommunications-industry-is-bogged-down-under-restraints-73422032.html?utm_expid=43414375-18&utm_referrer=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.google.co.in%2Furl%3Fsa%3Dt%26rct%3Dj%26q%3D%26esrc%3Ds%26source%3Dweb%26cd%3D1%26ved%3D0CCMQFjAA%26url%3Dhttp%253A%252F%252Fwww.prnewswire.com%252Fnews-releases%252Freport-20-years-after-att-break-up-consumers-see-some-benefits-but-telecommunications-industry-is-bogged-down-under-restraints-73422032.html%26ei%3D1HY7UKW8McmJrAep2YCwDQ%26usg%3DAFQjCNEJqqBCYD_ub9ZSecOqV602VX4n6g
Technet.microsoft.com (2003). What Is VPN? Retrieved from http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc739294%28v=ws.10%29.aspx
Wisegeek.com (n.d.). What Is 802.11n? Retrieved from http://www.wisegeek.com/what-is-80211n.htm
