| Tells you how
fast your modem is able to talk to other
computers and get information from them. The higher the number, the
faster it talks. Chat
rooms can be found that focus on virtually any aspect of human
endeavor or interest: there are current communities based on classic
movies, Irish ancestry, baton twirling, and psychic readings, for
example. Various sites, such as Yahoo, provide a directory of chat
sites. Others, such as MSN Web Communities, guide users through the
steps required to create their own chat room.
A dialup (sometimes called a
switched) connection is a telephonic arrangement that is set up only
when needed, using shared, circuit-switched communication lines (as
in "plain old telephone service"). A dedicated (sometimes called a
nonswitched) connection is a continuous, always available connection
(familiar to users of Digital Subscriber Line or DSL service). A
leased line is a line rented from a telephone company that provides
dedicated connection between two points (such as a headquarters
office and a manufacturing plant). |
