How to Change Your Internet Service Provider

Series Summary

DSL, cable modems and dial-up Internet connections. Which one is the best? Count dial-up out of the group unless the area being lived in doesn't have DSL or cable. So that narrows the choice down. Which one works better? It really depends on how each are being used. Is there a wireless router? Is the router set-up for maximum signal strength. If not, it won't matter which one is being used. Avoid the frustration of a slow Internet signal by making the right choice. In this free video series, let an experienced computer specialist explain ways to get the most from an Internet connection. Learn about changing Internet service providers, choosing the best browsing method, detecting bandwidth theft and finding a DSL provider in the area. Next, learn how to fix a slow Internet connection, improve wireless signal strength and optimize a bandwidth connection. Finally, find out how to get around a file not found message while browsing, secure a wireless connection and troubleshoot a failed modem connection.

Video Transcript

"In this clip, we're going to show you how to change your internet service provider. I'm not employed by or affiliated with any of the websites or products, demonstrated today. Now, one of the first things we need to do, is to find out what your computers operating speed is, processing speed, room speed, etc. To do that, we're going to open the control panel, and that will vary, depending on the operating system you use. Go into System Maintenance, and open that window, and then go down to System. That will give you a readout, as far as how much memory you have, and what the speed of your processor is, and what your current operating system, for your computer is. We're going to check here on the internet, to see what's available for internet service providers. We've typed in DSL search, into Yahoo, and we're going to just sort of check the first thing that comes up, on the search page, and look at what's available here, for your various types of services. Here, we're checking to see if a particular service is available in our area, and that would be AT&T, which is one of the major providers in the area, and when that comes up, it shows you how much it is, and what the speeds are, and contract information, and of course, where it's available, because it's not available everywhere. Now, we're going to go down and look at Comcast, which is another major provider, but instead of DSL, Comcast pretty much provides cable modem connection, which is the highest speed available, and then if you live out in the country, you might want to check out Hughes Net. It's a satellite provider, so you can use it anywhere, in the United States. Here, we're checking to see if a particular service is available in our area, and to do that, we're going to click the More information button. Let's open up one of the packages, and click on it, and then here, we're going to check by address. You can also check of course, by phone number, but I would suggest the address, because it's a more accurate verification, as to where that service is available, at your house. Here, we've put in an address of a home, and we're going to click Continue, and see what that server says, and in this case, we found that if we wanted AT&T service, that it is available, at the address we have indicated. Now, that we've looked at services, let's check one out to see what kind of service specifically, we want for our location, and to do that, we're going to look at rates and plans. Here, we've chosen Verizon, as one of the comparisons we're making, and we're going to go to the Plans and Pricing page. Now, here's a page that's important to you, to look at, to see how much speed you need, for your particular application, because DSL has a number of different options for you, so look first at the speed of the service, and then how much you're able to download. In fact, we'll go check some of that out right now. Here, they're talking about the, not only the speed of their service, but other options that they have, for the plan, as far as storage online, buyer's protection, and with this screen, they're telling us of course, you get nine email accounts. You get ten megabytes of storage on a web page, and as we've talked about earlier, you need to verify that your system requirements meets that of your provider. Here they're fairly minimal, and virtually anybody should be able to qualify here, the speed of your processor, RAM, etc. That's how you change your internet service provider."