The days of 56K analog modem technology for web-surfing at home are quickly coming to an end. The introduction of high-speed yet very affordable solutions have made it possible to access the internet at speeds previously limited to large institutions. Speeds of more than 20 to 50 times that of your typical 56K modem are well within the financial reach of most suburban families.

The main technology we are talking about here is Asymmetric Digital Subscriber Line; more commonly know as ADSL. Digital Subscriber Line technology is a new way to utilize your existing copper telephone lines (like the ones in your house or business) and deliver very high speed connections. It works like your existing, slow dial-up modem but without the slow dial-up part. With ADSL you are always connected directly to the Internet with your own dedicated line.

Multiplexing, or splitting up, your telephone line into 3 separate bandwidths or frequencies accomplishes this. Currently your voice is carried over the lower frequencies (30hz to 4khz) leaving the higher frequencies or bandwidth unused. ADSL technology has enabled Internet Service Providers (ISPs) to utilize the higher frequencies for two-way data transmission at very high speeds. This way we can use the lower of the high (300khz to 700khz) band for upstream transmission and highest of the high (1000khz and above) for wide frequency, very high-speed downstream service. And since this is using the bandwidth your current phone doesn't, you can talk on your phone and surf the net at the same time, eliminating the need for an additional, dedicated phone line.

Integrated Services Digital Network or ISDN provides two 64Kbps-voice channels or a 128 Kbps over a special digital telephone line. Since ADSL works over your existing analog phone line, there is no need for expensive upgrades to your home phone system. Another great benefit of ADSL is the higher bandwidth of up to 8Mbps downstream and 1Mbps upstream; all for less money.

ADSL provides a dedicated service over a single telephone line; cable modems offer a dedicated service over a shared media. While cable modems have greater downstream bandwidth capabilities (up to 30 Mbps), that bandwidth is shared among all users on a line, and will therefore vary, perhaps dramatically, as more users in a neighborhood get online at the same time. Cable modem upstream traffic will in many cases be slower than ADSL, either because the particular cable modem is inherently slower, or because of rate reductions caused by contention for upstream bandwidth slots.

The big difference between ADSL and cable modems, however, is the number of lines available to each. There are no more than 12 million homes passed today that can support two-way cable modem transmissions, and while the figure also grows steadily, it will not catch up with telephone lines for many years. Additionally, many of the older cable networks are not capable of offering a return channel; consequently, such networks will need significant upgrading before they can offer high bandwidth services. Cable modem ISP subscription and hardware is also currently more expensive than your initial setup and installation of ADSL service.

Anyone who uses the internet from home for school, work, shopping, running a home business or even just checking out the sites along the internet is a candidate for ADSL service. With the prices for ADSL service dropping and the speed increasing, the only requirements for ADSL service at home is a need or want to surf the web.

The possible uses for this are limitless. The example you will see below is what I have chosen to setup at home just for the purpose of wanting to learn more about the technologies. As for the uses for the Internet and what high bandwidth uses there are, the sky is the limit. A major use I see for it is distance education and working from home. That doesn’t even touch on the possibilities for home businesses and using the web to better our lives financially. We’ve already seen an explosion in things like online auctions, investing, travel and even gambling. This type of technology really does lift the barriers and open the world up for exploration by all people to anywhere in the world.

Below is an example of what I am doing with ADSL and other networking technologies in my home. The great thing about ADSL is, you can have multiple machines in your home connect to the Internet at the same time still without tying up your phone line.

GTE: www.gte.com

Glossary of terms: www.matisse.net/files/glossary.html

Network Solutions: www.networksolutions.com

ADSL Forum: www.adsl.com