Broadband Terminology

DSL- Digital Subscriber Line - A high-speed connection that operates over the same wires as a regular telephone line.

ADSL - Asynchronous DSL - The speeds are not the same in both directions. Generally this means that you get faster download speeds than upload speeds.

SDSL - Synchronous DSL - As the name suggests the speeds in both directions are identical.

Dialup - Usually using a 56k modem you use your phone line to connect to the internet. You cannot connect at the same time as you use your phone to make calls. Upload and download speeds are very slow.

ISDN - Integrated Services Digital Network is a type of circuit switched telephone network system, designed to allow digital (as opposed to analog) transmission of voice and data over ordinary telephone copper wires, resulting in better quality and higher speeds, than available with analog systems.

Contention - Contention ratio - The bandwidth is shared amongst users. The ratio is the number of users sharing the bandwidth available. The more users sharing the worse the connection is.

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