<VV> Need high speed access advice--NO CORVAIR

[James Davis]

Jeff,
  Most on-line money transfers are encrypted, using the secure socket 
layer (HTTPS:/).  All transmissions are secure from your computer to 
the receivers computer. Even though your transmission could be 
captured, it would be fully encrypted.  If you are going to loose 
data in a public place, it will probably be to eyeballs or a picture 
phone.  By-the-way, a firewall only protects the computer from 
surreptitious entry.  A firewall does nothing to secure the data 
transmission; only data encryption will help that.  Most routers and 
cards use WAP which is really not secure.  Most experts recommend PGP 
(pretty good priviacy).
Dsl comes in many flavors.  You have to decide what features you 
want.  New services offer up to a 3mb/s download and 1mb/s upload 
speed.  Upload speed is usually capped low to keep you from 
serving.  I live with 750 kb/s  down and 256 kb/s up. for $39.50 a month.
Jim Davis



At 10:15 AM 1/18/2006, Jeff Clark wrote:
>I'm no expert on this, but I just bought a laptop for
>myself, and switched over from regular DSL to DSL
>wireless in my home at the same time (the laptop came
>all set up for wireless).  First, you'll need to
>switch from dial-up to DSL (which can be telephone,
>cable or satellite), and I would add wireless at the
>same time.  It's all relatively easy and inexpensive
>(except for the monthly bill...), but if you're MAJOR
>technologically challenged, I would highly recommend
>getting the Geek Squad to do the installation.  It was
>included with my purchase of the laptop, and I could
>have done it myself, but the guy that did the
>installation was great, he saved me HOURS of
>frustration, and he fixed a number of problems with my
>desktop.  If time (and maintaining your sanity) is
>important to you, Geek Squad is money well spent.
>
>There are many public areas where you'll be able to
>access the Internet via wireless, and those areas are
>increasing in number daily.  It does seem to be the
>way of the future, so you may as well jump on the
>bandwagon now.  One word of caution: DO NOT work on
>I.D.-sensitive items while in a public area, as others
>may be able to access what you're doing.  Your home
>wireless will have a built-in firewall, so that's
>where you want to do bill-paying, or anything that
>involves personal info.