What is Broadband?

[Ron Duke]

Are there different types of broadband internet? I thought that cable, DSL were types of broadband; is that correct?
thanks

[Soquili]

Hi Ron,

Yes cable and DSL are types of broadband. There are others that are mostly for business use.

Broadband is a catch word more for advertising rather than being a technical specification.

The way the word is used today includes any internet connection that is at least twice the speed of dialup.

[Ron Duke]

Thanks, Bill, that's what I understood.
ron

[Soquili]

I received a junk email yesterday offering to provide a T1 (1.544 megabits per second) connection for $349.00 a month.

Odd but my local telephone company offers T1 speed for only $125.00 a month.

[pauland]

Yes, but broadband agreements can be more than about speed. Home broadband is often quoted as 'unlimted' yet the companies have a 'fair use' policy regarding how much you can 'reasonably' transfer. For business accounts two similar agreements may also have different tariffs for allowable use. I haven't heard of T1 for domestic use.

All I'm saying is that speed isn't everything..

Paul

[zaphodeist]

Just in the midst of changing broadband provider, from BT to O2. Here's what the latter say:

ADSL stands for Asymmetric Digital Subscriber Line. This technology lets you transmit huge amounts of digital information through existing phone lines. It’s essentially the technology that makes broadband possible.

O2 ADSL uses BT phone lines. The reason broadband lets you receive phone calls while online is because phone calls use low frequency signals while higher frequencies are used for Internet data. Both frequencies can happily run together on the same phone line.

O2 ADSL 2+ uses even higher frequencies. This means you can send even more data along the phone line at faster speeds. This is the technology used for O2 Broadband up to 16 and up to 20 meg packages.

Unfortunately, the higher frequencies only work over short distances. This means you have to live within 2km of your local telephone exchange to enjoy the extra speed.

The UK is not known for high speed stuff due to lack of fibre-optic cables and the reluctance of companies to fork out for the laying of these, primarily because BT (British Telecom) still owns all the land-lines and other companies at the moment just rent them. The main (only one I think) cable tv company - Virgin Media - keeps promising to change all their cables but .........

Hope this de-mystifies a bit

John

[parahandy]

I am with Virgin (Cable) My high speed connection is 100Mps costs £35 per month, soon to be upgraded to 200Mps at no extra charge this includes free telephone line rental

[zaphodeist]

That's where all the speed is going! I've been told cable is fast potentialy but I don't understand anything but Mbs so I'll take your word for it And when I say "understand" .....

I'm switching because of inconsistent speed really, not the speed itself, but because I'm already on O2 for my mobile the cost of 20Mb - £15 - is the same as BT's 8Mb so I can't lose really. Still keeping landline with BT (calls free 24/7 tariff) so overall I'll pay the same as I'm currently doing which is roughly the same as you. And if things go wrong I won't have to battle with BT's wonderful customer service system.

John

[steve.ledger]

Here's another type of broad band.

[Ron Duke]

Llllloooooooollllllll!!!!!!!!