| Dial-up connections are one type of Internet connection available from ISPs, they are the slowest and (usually) the most inexpensive. |
| A dial-up connection allows you to connect to the Internet via a local server using a standard modem. Your PC literally dials (hence the name) a phone number (provided by your ISP) and connects to the server and therefore the Internet. |
| note: In the US the FCC passed a regulation limiting V90 dial-up connections to 53Kbps. |
| Once connected you can utilise all aspects of the Internet, the drawback with a dial-up connection is the speed. A standard 56k modem can theoretically transfer 56 Kilobits of data a second, this means that you can (again theoretically) transfer up to 7 Kilobytes a second (although to get a full 7k is near impossible due to the compression overhead). |
| When you consider that the average web page including its images is around 50 Kilobytes, this means it would take around 7 seconds for the web page to completely load in your browser. |
| On top of this, most (though not all) Internet service providers charge by the minute for your dial-up connection, so the longer it takes to load the pages you visit, the more you pay for your connection. The cost is usually the same as you would pay for a local phone call, so as long as they are used sensibly they can be a very cost effective Internet connection. |
