| 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).
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