Some DSL Broadband Definitions

Home
>
Broadband Internet
>
Some DSL Broadband Definitions

Some DSL Broadband Definitions

Often too many people get confused with all the definitions, here we have explained in easy to understand terms.

ADSL:
Asymmetric Digital Subscriber Line - asymmetric meaning it's faster downstream than upstream.

ASAM:
Advanced Services Access Manager -Whether you have a DSLAM or ASAM in your exchange doesn't really matter. They do the same thing. See DSLAM's as well.

ATM:
Asynchronous Transfer Mode - a method of encapsulation which is capable of many virtual circuits. With these, providers (ISP's) can split an ATM connection (155Mbit or 622Mbit) up into many connections. ATM isn't just used for DSL but in the case of DSL it's used to provision each customer.

Contention Ratios:
A contention ratio is the number of users to xMbit of bandwidth. For example some providers offer 2Mbit DSL, with a ratio of 50:1, meaning 50 users to 1Mbit of bandwidth.

CPE:
Customer Premises Equipment, the term that describes the equipment used on the customer end of a connection, for example your DSL modem/router or cable modem.

DSL:
Digital Subscriber Line.

DSLAM:
Digital Subscriber Line Access Multiplexer ? They are placed in DSL enabled Telecomm exchanges, when your modem syncs up and the DSL light comes on, it means you are connected. When data travels down your connection, it goes from the CPE -> DSLAM -> RAN -> ISP

ERX:
Edge Routing Exchange. See RAN.

IPNet:
Telecommunications backhaul networks for carrying traffic from the customer to the ISP, i.e. carrying traffic from RAN's to ISP's.

Ping or Latency:
A ping measures the time in milliseconds that it takes for a packet to travel from your computer to a remote computer and back to you again. Just because you can't ping a given host, quite a lot of providers are beginning to filter ICMP (pings come under this protocol) traffic because it is commonly used to attack hosts and wastes a lot of bandwidth. Many providers also give low priority to ping (ICMP) traffic which may mean your ping at a command line isn't very good, but in say a game, things may be fine.

RAN:
Regional Access Node These aggregates many DSLAM's connections and then feed the data to an ISP

RTT
Round Trip Time - the time it takes in milliseconds for a packet to go from A to B and back again. See ping.

SDSL
Symmetrical Digital Subscriber Line - symmetrical meaning the same speed up and down.

Units

There is a major difference between UPPER and lowercase

MB = MegaBytes
Mb = Megabits
kB = KiloBytes
kb = Kilobits

MB/s = MegaBytes per second
Mb/s = Megabits per second
kB/s = KiloBytes per second
kb/s = Kilobits per second

There is 8bits to a Byte, 8kb = 1kB

1Meg connections only transfer at 128kB/sec or an 8Mb connection only transfers at 1024kB/sec or 1MB/s

Steve
Private Mail Services
http://www.private-services.com

In The News:

Cuba High-Speed Internet: Mystery Shrouds Fate Of Internet Cable
Huffington Post
While some hold out hope that faster Internet has merely been delayed, others interpret the government's long silence as a sign Cuba's broadband dreams will be the latest grand pronouncement to end in disappointment. "I have no expectations for the ...

and more »

Communications, Engineering & Design Magazine
FCC chairman supports broadband data caps amid Netflix protests
Washington Post (blog)
By Cecilia Kang The chairman of the Federal Communications Commission said Tuesday that he supports tiered broadband Internet plans, a growing trend that has drawn criticism from Netflix. Julius Genachowski said during a cable industry trade show in ...
FCC chief backs usage-based Internet pricingMSN Money
Genachowski Backs Tiered Broadband PricingNational Journal
Cable Show 2012: Genachowski Praises Cable for Wi-Fi EffortsMultichannel News
The Hill (blog) -Broadcasting & Cable -Communications, Engineering & Design Magazine
all 37 news articles »

Partnership to Bring Ultrahigh-Speed Internet to Six Communities
New York Times
He noted that the United States was falling behind other nations that have moved aggressively to build high-speed Internet infrastructures. It ranked 13th in average connection speed in a survey last year by the network service provider Akamai; ...

and more »

State seeks to push broadband into all rural areas
Brattleboro Reformer
By MIKE FAHER / Reformer Staff PUTNEY - With conventional high-speed Internet access unavailable, Sally Pennington pays a premium to create a "mobile hotspot" at her Putney home. But it's not an ideal setup, and limitations on speed and data make using ...

and more »

RADWIN Introduces Ground-breaking Mobility Solution That Boosts Broadband ...
MarketWatch (press release)
The RADWIN 5000 Mobility solution delivers high capacity of 100 Mbps at speeds of up to 200 Km/h for video and Internet connectivity. The solution comes with powerful base stations that enable connectivity to ruggedized mobile units that can be mounted ...

and more »

CIO
AT&T Expands Mobile Internet Coverage In South Haven And Saugatuck
MarketWatch (press release)
With mobile Internet speeds, AT&T customers can surf the Web, download files faster, and enjoy the very latest interactive mobile applications. "Improved and expanded mobile broadband access from South Haven to Saugatuck will help connect job makers ...
nuvoTV and AT&T U-verse Embark on Groundbreaking Interactive Promotion for ...PR Newswire (press release)

all 44 news articles »

AT&T Continues To Focus On New York City Wireless Experience
MarketWatch (press release)
With a powerful array of network resources that includes the nation's fastest mobile broadband network, AT&T is a leading provider of wireless, Wi-Fi, high speed Internet, voice and cloud-based services. A leader in mobile broadband and emerging 4G ...

and more »

ISPreview Study Finds UK Internet Users Oppose Mandatory Adult Site Blocks
Virtual-Strategy Magazine
A new survey of 728 people in the United Kingdom by ISPreview.co.uk has claimed that 84% do not want the UK government to impose mandatory adult website blocks upon all internet connections by default, yet 74% still want broadband providers to offer ...
Broadband users are against mandatory website blocksuSwitch.com (Tech)

all 3 news articles »

Forbes
Leader: Brazil doubled high-speed access in 1 year
The Seattle Times
Brazil's president says the nation has nearly doubled its high-speed internet connections in the past year. The Associated Press No comments have been posted to this article. Brazil's president says the nation has nearly doubled its high-speed internet ...
Brazil's president says nation doubled high-speed net connections in a yearWashington Post

all 83 news articles »

eSchool News (registration)
K-12 Education's Broadband Internet Needs Continue to Grow
Governing (blog)
By 2014-2015, the association is pushing for schools to acquire broadband access from an Internet provider of up to 100 MBPS per 1000 students and teachers. By 2017-2018, the goal would be to increase the broadband width to more than 1000 MBPS -- or 1 ...
The Broadband Imperative: Recommendations to Address K-12 Education ...MarketWatch (press release)
Education group: Schools need 100 Mbps per 1000 broadband usersComputerworld
Report Sets K-12 Broadband Goals for 2014-15Education Week News (blog)
eSchool News (registration)
all 20 news articles »

Google News