SMS Dictionary

Airtel is all set to revolutionise broadband in India. After last year BSNL Dataone took the lead by providing 2Mbps speeds this time it is Airtel which has took everyone by surprise.

Bharti Airtel has also said the 8 Mbps service will be on-demand and IPTV ready. This means end-users can switch on 8 Mpbs when they need to (like for downloading a movie ) and then again switch back to lower speeds for browsing.

What is DSL broadband?
Simply put, broadband is a high-speed connection to the Internet that is always on. Broadband is faster than a standard dial-up, enabling you to view web content faster and download files more quickly. Besides being much faster, broadband is more reliable than dial-up due to broadband’s digital nature and always on connectivity. With broadband, when you turn on your computer, you’re already connected to the Internet and ready to surf at high speeds.

How does the DSL technology work?
DSL stands for Digital Subscriber Line – a technology which transforms plain old telephone lines into a high speed conduit for data, information, entertainment and more. It utilizes more of the bandwidth on copper phone lines than what is currently used for plain old telephone service. The DSL technology uses the frequencies above the telephone bandwidth. Therefore on different frequencies one can make voice and be on the Internet simultaneously.

What is Upstream and Downstream bandwidth?
Upstream refers to the bandwidth for traffic from the end user PC to the Internet while downstream refers to the bandwidth for traffic from internet to the end user. For Internet surfing, the downstream traffic is much more than upstream traffic. top

What is Symmetric/Asymmetric DSL?
Symmetric DSL refers to DSL technologies which provide the same bandwidth upstream and downstream. Eg. like HDSL (High Bit Rate DSL), IDSL (ISDN DSL). Asymmetric DSL refers to DSL technologies, which provide higher downstream bandwidth while lower upstream bandwidth. Eg. ADSL.

Why should I consider getting DSL broadband?
Very fast connection. DSL delivers Internet easily when you need it.
Always ON. No call charges for just getting connected.
Be able to use the phone for voice calls while surfing, no need to go for additional connection for Internet.
Can I use it on my 28.8k/56k modem with my DSL line?
Theoretically yes. If a splitter was used, you could use a traditional modem over the voiceband frequency spectrum of your phone line as you always did. In most cases however, the line is dedicated for DSL.

How does DSL work on my existing phone line?
DSL is really a feature added to your existing phone line. Data signals and voice signals travel at different frequencies. The DSL splitter segregateS the two signals to put the voice calls on to the telephone and the data traffic on to the PC through the DSL modem.