Definition of Broadband Internet Service

Access to broadband service is becoming available in more areas every day.

As the Internet grows and more services are added to it, the need for faster connections grows with it. Services such as online video, VoIP and online gaming just aren't usable with the bandwidth of a dial-up line, so many users are switching to broadband connections.

Broadband vs. Dial-Up

Before broadband came around, there was dial-up. Dial-up connects to the Internet through a standard phone line, and provides a maximum of 56kbps (thousand bits per second) of bandwidth. Most Internet-service providers define broadband as any connection that provides more bandwidth than dial-up.

FCC Definition

The FCC as of 2010 defines broadband as any connection with 768kbps or more of bandwidth in either the upstream or downstream. The FCC accepts either upstream or downstream rates, as many types of connections are "asymmetric," meaning that they have different data-transfer rates for uploads and downloads.

Upstream and Downstream Rates

Many broadband connections actually have two different speeds, upstream and downstream. Upstream is the speed of the connection when uploading data from your computer to another computer somewhere on the Internet. Downstream is the speed of the connection when downloading from the Internet to your computer. Most Internet-service providers label their available connection speeds by the connection's downstream rate.

DSL and Cable

The two most widely used broadband technologies are cable and DSL (Digital Subscriber Line). Cable uses the same infrastructure as cable TV, and is often provided by cable-television service providers. DSL service is provided through a telephone line and is usually provided by a telephone-service provider.

Other Types of Broadband

There are a variety of other types of broadband connections besides cable and DSL, such as satellite, cellular broadband and wireless connections. These alternate types of connections are used mostly in rural areas or in specialty systems and often do not provide as much bandwidth as cable or DSL.

References

• Statement of Kevin J. Martin, Chairman of the FCC