| DSL (Digital Subscriber Line) is a technology for bringing
high-bandwidth information to homes and small businesses over ordinary copper
telephone lines. xDSL refers to different variations of DSL, such as ADSL,
HDSL, and RADSL. Assuming your home or small business is close enough to
a telephone company central office that offers DSL service, you may be able
to receive data at rates up to 6.1 megabits (millions of bits) per second
(of a theoretical 8.448 megabits per second), enabling continuous transmission
of motion video, audio, and even 3-D effects. More typically, individual
connections will provide from 1.544 Mbps to 512 Kbps downstream and about
128 Kbps upstream. A DSL line can carry both data and voice signals and
the data part of the line is continuously connected. DSL installations began
in 1998 and will continue at a greatly increased pace through the next decade
in a number of communities in the U.S. and elsewhere. Compaq, Intel, and
Microsoft working with telephone companies have developed a standard and
easier-to-install form of ADSL called G.lite that is accelerating deployment.
DSL is expected to replace ISDN in many areas and to compete with the cable
modem in bringing multimedia and 3-D to homes and small businesses. |
