February 23rd, 2010

Broadband Modems

Just a few years ago, broadband internet was supposed to be the wave of the future. Now, it seems, the future is here. Most homes–and nearly all businesses–have high-speed internet access (if you remember back to the days of your 14.4 modem, you’ll be glad of that). There are currently, for all intents and purposes, two broadband (or “high-speed”–the terms are all but interchangeable) internet options available: DSL and cable.

DSL (or “digital subscriber line”) service comes, for most people and small businesses, from the local telephone company. The DSL (actually ADSL, or “asymmetrical DSL,” because your download and upload speeds are different, i.e., asymmetrical) that you get from your phone company is much faster than a dial-up connection, but in most cases not as fast as a cable modem. DSL, likewise, isn’t available in all areas. This is due to a couple of factors. One is proximity to the source of the signal, since the further away you get, the slower your connection speeds will be. Most phone companies will make the cutoff for DSL service well inside the boundaries of where it’s physically available, because otherwise they couldn’t guarantee connection speeds. Another factor is the wiring that the signal travels through; an ADSL signal can’t pass through fiber-optic cables.

A cable internet connection shares space on the coaxial cable that carries your television signal. It’s because there’s more room (or bandwidth) on this cable than is needed for your television channels that you can get an internet connection while still receiving cable television. The upside to a cable connection is that speeds are potentially much faster than a DSL connection. Also, proximity to the originating signal is not a factor as it is with DSL. The more users in your area, however, who use the signal will slow down your connection speeds.

No Broadband Internet without a Modem

Just like with your old dial-up connection, you won’t have any internet connection without a modem to translate the raw data into information your computer can process. Here, you can find a wide variety of broadband modems to choose from, either for your home or for your business.

Tags: Broadband Modems, VDSL Ethernet, VDSL Modems
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