DSL/CABLE Technology

The standard broadband technologies in most areas are ADSL and cable Internet.  Newer technologies in use include VDSL and pushing optical fibre connections closer to the subscriber in both telephone and cable plants. Fibre-optic communications, while only recently being used in fibre to the premises and fibre to the curb schemes, has played a crucial role in enabling Broadband Internet access by making transmission of information over larger distances much more cost-effective than copper wire technology.

DSL

DSL is a family of technologies that provides digital data transmission over the wires of a local telephone network. DSL originally stood for digital subscriber loop. In telecommunications marketing, the term Digital Subscriber Line is widely understood to mean Asymmetric Digital Subscriber Line (ADSL), the most commonly installed technical variety of DSL. DSL service is delivered simultaneously with regular telephone on the same telephone line. This is possible because DSL uses a higher frequency. These frequency bands are subsequently separated by filtering.

The data throughput of consumer DSL services typically ranges from 256 kbit/s to 40 Mbit/s in the direction to the customer (downstream), depending on DSL technology, line conditions, and service-level implementation. In ADSL, the data throughput in the upstream direction, (i.e. in the direction to the service provider) is lower, hence the designation of asymmetric service. In Symmetric Digital Subscriber Line (SDSL) service, the downstream and upstream data rates are equal.

CABLE

In telecommunications, cable Internet access, often shortened to cable Internet or simply cable, is a form of broadband Internet access that uses the cable television infrastructure. Like digital subscriber line and fiber to the premises services, cable Internet access provides network edge connectivity (last mile access) from the Internet service provider to an end user. It is integrated into the cable television infrastructure analogously to DSL which uses the existing telephone network. Cable TV networks and telecommunications networks are the two predominant forms of business Internet access.