More DSL flavours than colours of the rainbow. Tim Dean breaks some of the acronyms apart.

Confused by the many broadband plans out there? Nirmal Chandrasena and David Kidd cut through the choice-overload and bring you a comprehensive guide to Australia's top ISPs.

The Web Excel PT-3830 is an 802.11b wireless access point, four-port switch and DSL router all-in-one. It's a good package if you want to share your DSL modem with a small network, but everything about the PT-3830 is definitely no-frills. Closer examination, however, reveals a highly configurable device.

A new industry code and technical standard has been registered by the ACA which will allow faster broadband services through existing telephone lines.

Research shows that DSL broaband could be pushed to 40Mbps. Also: the ugliest electric vehicles, the world's biggest telescopes, and Intel's Core i5.

The form of DSL offered by BigPond is ADSL (Asymmetric Digital Subscriber Line), meaning that the upload speed is lower than the download speed.

Broadband users across Australia are receiving reliable high speed internet access, according to a study released by the ACA.

Even at a glance, the Linksys WRV54G looks to be more than just an 802.11g/b wireless access point. It acts as an Ethernet switch connecting up to four wired devices, making this a good bridging choice between wired and unwired networks. It's also a router capable of hooking up to a DSL modem, which is useful for basic connection sharing.

Although there are many free and inexpensive email servers available (such as Sendmail, Mercury Mail and Mail Enable), if you want the full functionality of Outlook such as calendaring, scheduling and fax integration, you need Microsoft Exchange Server 2000.

One of the tricks ISPs use to get their advertised broadband prices low is by showing bundled pricing. You get the lowest price, but you have to take their phone service too. So do you actually save money?

This is one of the big traps for unwary broadband users, and avoiding services that meter uploads is a good idea, especially if you're a user of peer-to-peer (P2P) services like BitTorrent.

New global ranking reveals FTTH leaders and laggards.

Latest IDC figures have tipped wireless broadband use to grow five times faster than the total broadband market, exploding from 25,000 users to 287,000 users by 2008.

According to a recent ACCC study, people are jumping on the broad-bandwagon in droves. In fact, the amount of people upgrading to broadband has doubled in the last 12 months. And as you might expect, the hardware community has responded by ramping up both Internet sharing and security devices for homes and businesses.

At last, the days of 56K modem connections to the Internet are over. There can be no doubt that the Internet has a lot to offer, both for home and business users, and it is also a simple fact that you

David Neiger, journalist for PC Authority recently invited to speak at the July NSW Australian Computer Society Forum, held in Sydney. David gave a very enlightening talk on The Internet

Significant competition from the likes of Optus@Home recently has given cause for Telstra BigPond to devise flat-rate pricing plans that have opened up its cable service to the residential market.