What is DSL Broadband Internet Service?

DSL stands for Digital Subscriber Line. DSL service is a technology for bringing high-bandwidth broadband internet service to homes and small businesses over ordinary copper telephone lines. What does this mean? It means that you can get high speed internet access over your traditional phone line. DSL service is known as an “always-on” internet service. This means that when your computer is on you are always connected to the internet. Unlike dial-up service there is no logging on with user name and passwords required. With DSL service all you need to do is plug your PC into your DSL modem and then from your modem to your normal telephone jack, as illustrated in the general set-up diagram below. Typically, the DSL modem is provided by your DSL Service Internet Provider.

Most homes and small business users typically use an Asymmetric DSL service (ADSL). This means that the transfer of information (data) from the internet to your PC (download) is much faster than the transfer of information (data) from your PC to the internet (upload). The assumption here is that most people look at information on the internet (download) rather than sending (uploading) information to the internet. Other variations on DSL service are as follows:

• Very high bit-rate DSL (VDSL): This DSL service provides high internet speed connections, but works only over a short distance, maybe up to 4,500 feet.
• Symmetric DSL (SDSL): This DSL service, used mainly by small businesses, doesn’t allow you to use the phone at the same time, but the internet speed of receiving (download) and internet speed of sending (upload) data is the same.
• Rate-adaptive DSL (RADSL): This DSL service is a variation of ADSL, but the modem can adjust the internet speed depending on the length and quality of the line.

With DSL service you can get a broadband speed up to 6.1Mbps (Megabits per second), and maybe even higher. More typically though, individual connections will provide an internet speed of some where between 500kbps (kilobits per second) to 1.5Mbps on the downlink (downloading from the internet to your PC) and around 128kbps on the uplink (uploading from your PC to the internet). Your DSL service broadband speed will depend on the distance that you are from the telephone company Central Office (CO). Typically, the closer you are the faster your internet speed will be. DSL service does have a maximum working distance of 18,000 feet, as illustrated in the diagram below.

So, for you to get DSL Service you will need to make sure you are within this limit from your local telephone (provider) company central office. This is easy to do. You just go to the broadband internet provider website that you are interested in, enter your telephone number details and the search will check to see if DSL Service is available to you.

Some advantages of DSL service are as follows:

• DSL service is “always-on” and you can still use the phone line for voice calls.
• Broadband speed is much faster than dial-up service.
• DSL service can use the phone line you already have at your home or business.
• A DSL modem is typically supplied to you by your DSL service internet provider.
• Fixed monthly billing, regardless of usage time.
• With DSL Service you can take advantage of VoIP Broadband Phone technology, an extremely cost effective telephone service option.

Some disadvantages of DSL service are as follows:

• DSL service works better the closer you are to the central office that the internet provider uses.
• DSL service is not symmetrical in that the uplink internet speed is slower than the downlink internet speed.
• DSL service is not available everywhere.
• DSL service currently requires a local telephone line connection.