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Last Updated: Sep 2009
Last Updated: Sep 2009
Broadband is often called high-speed Internet, because it usually has a high rate of data transmission. In general, any connection to the customer of 256 kbit/s (0.250 Mbit/s) or more is considered broadband Internet. The International Telecommunication Union Standardization Sector (ITU-T) recommendation I.113 has defined broadband as a transmission capacity that is faster than primary rate ISDN, at 1.5 to 2 Mbit/s. The FCC definition of broadband is 200 kbit/s (0.2 Mbit/s) in one direction, and advanced broadband is at least 200 kbit/s in both directions. The Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) has defined broadband as 256 kbit/s in at least one direction and this bit rate is the most common baseline that is marketed as "broadband" around the world. There is no specific bitrate defined by the industry, however, and "broadband" can mean lower-bitrate transmission methods. Some Internet Service Providers (ISPs) use this to their advantage in marketing lower-bitrate connections as broadband.
In practice, the advertised bandwidth is not always reliably available to the customer; ISPs often allow a greater number of subscribers than their backbone connection can handle, under the assumption that most users will not be using their full connection capacity very frequently. This aggregation strategy works more often than not, so users can typically burst to their full bandwidth most of the time; however, peer-to-peer (P2P) file sharing systems, often requiring extended durations of high bandwidth, stress these assumptions, and can cause major problems for ISPs who have excessively overbooked their capacity. For more on this topic, see traffic shaping. As takeup for these introductory products increases, telcos are starting to offer higher bit rate services. For existing connections, this most of the time simply involves reconfiguring the existing equipment at each end of the connection.
In practice, the advertised bandwidth is not always reliably available to the customer; ISPs often allow a greater number of subscribers than their backbone connection can handle, under the assumption that most users will not be using their full connection capacity very frequently. This aggregation strategy works more often than not, so users can typically burst to their full bandwidth most of the time; however, peer-to-peer (P2P) file sharing systems, often requiring extended durations of high bandwidth, stress these assumptions, and can cause major problems for ISPs who have excessively overbooked their capacity. For more on this topic, see traffic shaping. As takeup for these introductory products increases, telcos are starting to offer higher bit rate services. For existing connections, this most of the time simply involves reconfiguring the existing equipment at each end of the connection.
Broadband Internet access, often shortened to "broadband Internet" or just "broadband", is a high data-transmission rate Internet connection. DSL and cable modem, both popular consumer broadband technologies, are typically capable of transmitting faster than a dial-up modem (56 kbit/s (kilobits per second)). Upload speed for a dial-up modem is even slower (31.2 kbit/s for V.90, 44 kbit/s for V.92).
Modern consumer broadband implementations, up to 30 Mbit/s, are several hundred times faster than those available at the time the Internet first became popular (such as ISDN and 56 kbit/s) while costing less than ISDN and sometimes no more than 56 kbit/s, though performance and costs vary widely between countries.
"Broadband" in this context refers to the relatively high available bitrate, when compared to systems such as dial-up with lower bitrates (which could be referred to as narrowband).
Modern consumer broadband implementations, up to 30 Mbit/s, are several hundred times faster than those available at the time the Internet first became popular (such as ISDN and 56 kbit/s) while costing less than ISDN and sometimes no more than 56 kbit/s, though performance and costs vary widely between countries.
"Broadband" in this context refers to the relatively high available bitrate, when compared to systems such as dial-up with lower bitrates (which could be referred to as narrowband).
