What is Broadband?

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What is Broadband?

The term Broadband commonly refers to high-speed data transmission, via such means as cable, ISDN (Integrated Services Digital Network), and DSL (Digital Subscriber Line), ADSL (along phone lines), 3G and satellite . Today the term is said to describe almost any always on, high speed connection to the internet. Broadband is a relative term as it can only be understood in context - i.e. in comparison to narrowband (‘dial up’).

Broadband technologies offer faster connections to the Internet than traditional dial-up connections. Broadband is the UK’s most popular form of internet connection and is used by millions of people across the country and globally. It refers to a signaling method which includes a wide range of frequencies which may be divided into channels.

What is bandwidth?

A connection bandwidth refers to the width of the line or the amount of data that can fit through it. For example, a motorway carries a higher volume of traffic than a single carriageway.

The bandwidth in expressed in bits per second (bps). This indicates the number of bits of information that can fit down the line in a second. However, due to advances in technology single bits per second doesn’t cover many methods of connection so we use kilobits per second (kbps) and megabits per second (mbps) for thousands and millions of bits per second.

As broadband is a ‘broad bandwidth’ connection allowing a large amount of data to travel through it at the same time, hence a telephone call can be facilitated on the same line as an internet download.

Narrowband = Up to two channel ISDN at 128kbps in both directions.

Midband = Up to 512kbps download and 256kbps upload.

Broadband = Above 512kbps upload and 256kbps download.