With several options available for high-speed Internet service, experts said students should compare and contrast before they decide which is best for them.

“[DSL] is a high-speed way to access the Internet at higher speed than a modem through telephone lines,” said Doug Jacobson, associate professor of electrical and computer engineering.

DSL, or digital subscriber line, works through existing phone jacks and takes about two weeks to set up.

“You have a piece of equipment in your house, and you have to be within the restrictions of distance from the central office, which is where your phone lines end up,” Jacobson said.

Typically, the company will ship a card to plug into the computer. Otherwise, the company will send an external DSL modem, which is more costly, because it allows the user to hook up multiple computers, he said.

However, for those who are not interested in paying $150 for the DSL modem in addition to a $70 setup fee, another option is a cable modem. Cable modems are similar to the DSL, except the line runs through cable television lines.

“The biggest problem for both services is distance,” said Steven Kovarik, system supervisory specialist for electrical and computer engineering. “What [the companies] will do is make service available close to complexes, so that they can hook the most people, whereas they might not be able to hook up a single household.”

However, there is a drawback to the cable modem.

“Depending on how many people are on your cable modem line, you can see a decrease in the speed,” Kovarik said. “With the DSL, you can still see a decrease in speed, [but] not as much as the cable line.”

Since the user is always connected to the Internet with both DSL and cable, systems are vulnerable to attacks.

“If someone knows how to get into it, they can,” he said.

Currently, there are software products users can install on their computers and more costly router boxes, which can prove more costly.

With the DSL line, there is a range of speed consumers can purchase, from 128 kilobytes per second to seven megabytes per second.

“It all depends on how much money you would like to spend,” Kovarik said. “However, with a 128k connection, you are on three times as fast than that of a normal dial-up modem.”

Jacobson said some people may not live in an area serviced by DSL or cable systems.

“Most service providers have an area in their Web site where consumers can check to see if they are within the service area for each of these services,” he said.

“Even if it says yes, that does not mean it will necessarily work.”

Experts said consumers should some shop around and compare services before they decide which to buy.

With a wide variety of ways to connect to the Internet, “the real advantage of them is the high speed, always on connectivity,” Jacobson said.