ANYONE who has ever logged on to a gaming site for a spot of Unreal Tournament will know all about the drawbacks of existing modem technology. It's slow and, in the case of a game, that can mean the difference between an enjoyable experience or throwing your joy pad away in frustration.

Communications from the PC is divided into two camps. The vast majority of computer owners use the modems that came with their machine. These "narrowband" modems can squeeze 56,000 bits of information down a telephone line each second.

Sounds a lot, but today's applications are made up of millions of bits of information and the old modem technology just can't cope. Try sending a couple of high-resolution photos via e-mail to see what I mean.

Narrowband is hamstrung because it relies on the old analogue telephone wires we've been using for the last 100 years or so. Information just can't move down those old copper wires any faster without some pretty fancy tricks.

Broadband is the generic term given to new connections that can move information at high speeds.

Think of the two as pipes. The pipe is your bandwidth and the water is information. Narrowband has a long thin pipe that can only take a small amount of water at a time. Broadband is like a main sewer pipe and it can transport the same amount of water in far less time.

It isn't overstating things to say that the difference is a revelation.

Remember the day you junked your old VHS deck for a DVD player? How much better the whole home movie experience was? Moving from narrowband to broadband is much the same for the Internet.

Broadband is up to 30 times faster than your old modem. Pages load virtually instantaneously, complex graphics don't slow your system down and the web doesn't feel like wading through treacle.

To talk technical for a moment, a typical modem will achieve 56K per second, an ISDN connection can be twice that speed while broadband achieves two million bits per second.

Suddenly a whole new world is opened up before you.

Everyone is aware of the MP3 phenomenon - the ability to download your favourite music to a PC. With a broadband connection you can (copyright permitting) download entire albums in a matter of minutes.

Soon we will be able to order and view the latest movies on line. Only broadband will enable you to join up.

And the only person you'll have to blame for a poor result in Unreal or Quake III is yourself.

Broadband is what's known as an "always on" connection. Instead of being charged by the minute to go online, you pay a monthly fee and can go on-line as often as you like.

It isn't just a good idea for gamers, either. Arguably, the benefits of broadband are even greater for businesses.

With an "always on" broadband connection, an estate agent could walk prospective buyers through a virtual reality house in real time. Complex plans, spreadsheets and photos can be sent via e-mail and downloaded in seconds. Time, as they say, is money.

This is just the start. Broadband's abilities are virtually limitless.

Up until now the penetration of broadband has been poor in Europe. A recent survey by the European Commission found only six per cent of homes with a 21st Century connection.

That's due to change - and fast. By 2005 Japanese giant Sony reckons something like 100 million Europeans will have made the switch.

As with all new technologies there are competing formats. British Telecom has ADSL (Asymmetric Digital Subscriber Line) that makes innovative use of those old copper wires to provide broadband.

When it was announced several years ago ADSL looked unbeatable but BT inexplicably dragged its heels and other technologies have caught up. You can get ADSL but service is still patchy and you'll have to chat with BT's customer relations folks to be sure.

In the North-East thousands of people have an interesting alternative. Cable TV and communications giant NTL has just launched the UK's fastest ever residential Internet service for surfers in the region.

Available in the North-East from April 15, NTL promises the service will be up to 20 times faster than normal dial up.

The secret is NTL's fibre-optic cable network that's a far more efficient way of shipping data than those old copper wires.

The price of £49.99 a month may sound like a lot but dedicated surfers will be racking up those sort of bills already.

Perhaps mindful that not everyone needs the very fastest broadband experience, NTL has introduced three different tiers.

The occasional user will find the base level 128K service sufficient. That costs £14.99 per month and compares very favourably indeed with unmetered deals on 56K connections.

Anyone who feels the need for speed but can't justify the premium service can opt for a 512K connection at £24.99 per month.

NTL already has more than 150,000 UK broadband customers but the market is still wide open. In Darlington and Teesside alone around 240,000 homes could theoretically access the service.

Existing customers wishing to register in advance should call 0800 052 0625. More information is available from www.ntl.com.

* The Northern Echo has teamed up with NTL to offer one lucky winner an amazing PC prize. Answer one simple question and you will be in with the chance of taking home a Dell Dimension PC with a 1.7 GHz processor, 128 MB DDR Ram memory, a 20GB HD, 17 inch monitor and a DVD/CD-RW Combo drive plus, of course, a modem. This fantastic prize comes complete with a printer, a digital video camera for sending movie messages via e-mail and, naturally, Windows XP. The total package is worth almost £1,000.

To be in with a chance just answer this question: When is NTL's one MB broadband service available in the North-East? Send your entries to: Dell PC Competition, The Northern Echo, Priestgate, Darlington DL1 1NF. The closing date for entries is April 5.

Published: Friday, March 22, 2002