Broadband Technologies

Broadband Technologies

Broadband Technologies

You are trying to connect to the internet. You keep hearing this awful noise like nails on a chalkboard. It seems as if it’s been forever since you started trying to connect. Finally at last you are connected and you begin to browse. You point your browser to your favorite webpage and you wait…and wait, and wait. A few minutes later the webpage has finally loaded. Does this sound familiar? If so you have probably experienced dial-up internet access otherwise known today as 56k. This paper is going to research and show you the many different solutions to that problem, Broadband Technologies!

So what is broadband you say? Here is Webster’s definition.

Pronunciation: 'brod-"band

Function: adjective

1: operating at, responsive to, or comprising a wide band of frequencies <a broadband radio antenna>

2: of, relating to, or being a high-speed communications network and especially one in which a frequency range is divided into multiple independent channels for simultaneous transmission of signals (as voice, data, or video)

- broadband noun

(Broadband Definition, 2007)

Broadband is often called high-speed internet. The rate you are transferring data at is hundreds of times faster than a typical dial up connection. If you are connected at a speed of 256 kbps or more then you have a broadband connection. There are many types of broadband connections. The two most standard technologies are Cable and DSL. Let’s talk about a cable connection first (Cable Modems, 2007).

Cable technology uses hybrid fiber coaxial network which can deliver speeds of three to ten mega bits per second. Nearly one hundred times faster than 56k dial up (Basics of Broadband, 2007). Cable modems operate on the Physical and Data Link layer of the OSI model. The OSI model is a theoretical representation of what happens between two nodes communicating on a network (Guide to Networks, 44). A cable modem bridges Ethernet frames between a customer’s local area network and the hybrid fiber coaxial network. It also has its own IP address.

This technology is used in many countries including Canada, Australia, Europe and the United States. In 2005 the United States alone had twenty-two million cable users. There are many benefits of using a cable modem connection. Two of the major benefits are a connection that is always on and fast speeds. There is no need to “dial up” to an internet service provider. You are always connected with a cable modem. There are disadvantages of cable as well. Service speed can be affected by the number of users in your local neighborhood using the service at the same time. Another disadvantage is many cable providers do not like to offer their internet service at a low price without a cable TV subscription as well. That being stated cable internet services are relatively inexpensive. Prices generally range from thirty to sixty dollars per month not including the price of a cable modem if your ISP (Internet Service Provider) does not provide one for you (Cable Modems, 2007).

The bottom line is that having high speed cable modem access to the Internet will ensure that any data coming down to your computer will be by the fastest possible means. Your connection will not become the bottleneck. This really comes into its own where multiple sites and multiple sessions are being used, in other words, when you want to do more than one thing at a time on the Internet. (Cable Access, 2007)

Digital Subscriber Line (DSL) is also another form of broadband internet access. DSL uses your existing phone line making it a popular choice for broadband internet. The typical DSL speed is 3Mbps downstream, 128Kbps upstream. ADSL which means your upload speed is generally slower than your download speed and SDSL where your upload and download speeds are the same. Users must have phone filters installed on phones using the same line to filter out the higher frequencies so that the phone can receive the lower frequencies “human voice”. This allows the DSL modem and phones to use the same line without interfering with each other (DSL, 2007). DSL installations began in 1998 and greatly increased throughout the next decade. DSL competes with cable as the two most popular forms of high speed internet access. There are many types of DSL with a variety of speeds and uses. Here are a couple examples (Fast Guide, 2007).

HDSL (High bit-rate Digital Subscriber Line), one of the earliest forms of DSL, is used for wideband digital transmission within a corporate site and between the telephone company and a customer. The main characteristic of HDSL is that it is symmetrical: an equal amount of bandwidth is available in both directions. HDSL can carry as much on a single wire of twisted-pair cable as can be carried on a T1 line (up to 1.544 Mbps) in North America or an E1 line (up to 2.048 Mbps) in Europe over a somewhat longer range and is considered an alternative to a T1 or E1 connection.

VDSL (Very high data rate DSL) is a developing technology that promises much higher data rates over relatively short distances (between 51 and 55 Mbps over lines up to 1,000 feet or 300 meters in length). It's envisioned that VDSL may emerge somewhat after ADSL is widely deployed and co-exist with it. The transmission technology (CAP, DMT, or other) and its effectiveness in some environments are not yet determined. A number of standards organizations are working on it.

DSL seems to be the most popular choice for broadband internet access with over 150 million users worldwide. China claims the most DSL users with 29.4 million users. The United States comes in at second with 22.2 million (ISP’s, 2007). There are several advantages of DSL over cable. Security, individual subscribers can be configured so that it will not be on the same network. Independent services, if your internet connection goes down you don’t have to worry about your phone or television not working. Higher bandwidth is also an advantage of DSL.