Broadband Speeds & Systems Technology

Introduction

Broadband is a term used in the telecommunications industry to describe a communications line of high carrying capacity, or bandwidth. In terms of Internet connectivity, broadband is used to describe the various technologies - ADSL ("Asymmetric Digital Subscriber Line"), cable, or fibre optic - that allow connection to be made at speeds faster than that of a traditional, dial-up modem, or ISDN, connection.

Types of Broadband, Speeds & Speed Tests

ADSL is still the most common Internet access technology for home and business users, and makes use of the existing telephone network. ADSL allows faster data transmission speeds than a traditional dial-up connection, but also allows a phone line to be used for voice telephony and Internet access at the same time. "Asymmetric" refers to the fact that the download speed of the connection - that is, the speed at which Web pages, etc. are relayed to your computer - is far greater than the upload speed. Upload speed becomes more important for anyone who wishes to upload large amounts of data in the opposite direction, for example, to a remote network, for the purposes of work, or online gaming. ADSL download speeds are typically in the region of 8Mb, but upload speeds may be less than 1Mb.

Cable broadband, on the other hand, utilises unused bandwidth on the cable network infrastructure, rather than telephone lines. Cable broadband offers faster download speeds than ADSL - perhaps up to 50Mbps ("Megabits per seond") in the case of the fastest business packages - but, again, upload speeds are much slower.

The latest development in broadband Internet technology, fibre optic broadband, employs either TDM ("Time Division Multiplexing"), or WDM ("Wavelength Division Multiplexing"), to break signals down into multiple segments, or wavelengths, which are transmitted separately. Essentially, the optical characteristics of fibre optic cable mean that light which would otherwise escape is reflected back into the core of the cable and is therefore capable of travelling long distances without deterioration. With fibre optic broadband it is now possible to achieve download speeds of 50Mbps, and upload speeds of 20Mbps.

When it comes to checking the speed of your own broadband connection, many broadband-related websites now feature a broadband speed checker. This basically downloads a small file to your computer, to determine the download speed, and then uploads the file in the opposite direction, to determine the upload speed. Do bear in mind, however, that some broadband speed checkers are better than others; the use of very small data files, or localised bottlenecks on the Internet, for example, can lead to inaccurate results.

broadband-expert.co.uk is one of the UK`s most feature-rich broadband and mobile broadband consumer resources. In addition to price comparison they offer a number of useful free resources including a broadband speed test, a broadband usage calculator, consumer guides, an availability checker and real reviews from broadband customers.