The idea of broadband is linked to a type of Internet connection.
Broadband is a concept used in the field of telecommunications referring to the transmission of symmetrical data that allows various information packets to be sent simultaneously to increase the effective transmission speed.
It should be noted that band is a concept with various meanings. It could be a group of armed people, a youth gang, a group of people who support someone, or a musical group. The band, on the other hand, can also be a wide ribbon that serves as a badge, a strip or the interval defined according to the field of variation of a physical magnitude .
Broad o wide, del latín amplus, es algo que tiene más o menos anchura, que dispone de anchura excesiva o que es amplio u holgado en demasía.
What is broadband
The notion of broadband is also used to name network engineering that allows two or more signals to share the same transmission medium. A router that operates with speeds exceeding 100 Mbps is considered broadband since it allows obtaining symmetrical transmission speeds.
The speed involved in a broadband connection has increased over the years. From the 256 Kb/s provided by ADSL connections, we have moved on to technologies that offer 100 MB/s or more.
Today the idea of broadband encompasses several notions that transcend the connection itself. Thanks to the fact that these types of connections allow browsing the Internet at high speed, broadband is associated with issues such as digitalization and interactivity .
Fiber optics are one of the most used broadband technologies today.
Classification according to type
The current market offers a wide variety of broadband Internet connections, although this does not mean that all alternatives are suitable for any client; On the contrary, it is an area in which it is usually easy to find the ideal offer for each user . Some of the main variables are connection technology, maximum speeds (both download and upload) and traffic limits imposed by the provider companies.
Some broadband options:
ADSL
The acronym is based on the fusion between the term asymmetric and the acronym of a previous technology, DSL ( Digital Subscriber Line ) , which offered a maximum speed of 160Kbps in both directions and covered distances of 5,400 meters. However, ADSL exceeds this speed dozens of times. It can be offered in different classes:
- ADSL 1 , until the end of the first decade of 2000, was the most common. It reached a maximum download speed of 2Mbps (2048Kbps, to compare it with DSL) and 1Mbps upload speed.
- ADSL 2+ , with speeds that reach 20Mbps down and 1Mbps up. It is worth mentioning that the technology used by ADSL 2+ allows the data transmission speed to be adapted to the distance between the client and the switchboard, as well as the state of the line.
Satellite
This type of broadband is designed for those people who live in areas without cable service coverage, such as ADSL. It is an asymmetric connection, with download speeds greater than 20Mbps, but with three quite pronounced points against it: the price , much higher than cable services; the traffic limit , which forces customers to take care of their daily consumption, turning spontaneous and carefree navigation into a potential problem; the latency, so higher than that of an ADSL connection that it prevents activities such as playing online.
Optical fiber
One of the most popular types of broadband today. It can reach speeds of 600MB.