New Technology New Way to Internet

DSL, or Digital Subscriber Line, is a modem technology that transforms ordinary phone lines (also known as "twisted copper pairs") into high-speed digital lines for ultra-fast Internet access. DSL also enables access to corporate networks for telecommuters, as well as offering exciting new interactive multimedia applications including multi-player gaming, video-on-demand and video catalogs.

DSL enables two general types of applications -- interactive video and high-speed data communications. Interactive video includes movies-on-demand, and other video-on-demand applications such as delayed TV segments, video games, video catalogs, and video information retrieval. Data communication includes Internet access, telecommuting (remote LAN access), and specialized network access. The strength of xDSL compared to other high speed transmission alternatives (such as cable modems or Fiber To The Neighborhood (FTTN), lies in the number of existing telephone lines, now approaching 750 million lines, compared to new cabling which has reached comparatively few homes and virtually no small businesses.

DSL vs. ISDN

These two services are not the same -- ISDN provides two voice channels or a 128 Kbps data channel while xDSL is predominantly a data pipe providing an asymmetrical bandwidth of up to 8 Mbps downstream and 1 Mbps upstream under good conditions. However, an xDSL access network will be an overlay network and therefore will not require the expensive and time-consuming switch upgrades that held ISDN back for so long. If xDSL service prices resemble ISDN service prices, then one would expect xDSL to be favored for Internet and video applications.

DSL vs. Cable Modem

In San Mateo, California, on May 17, 1999 ¡V Keynote Systems, the recognized authority on Internet performance, announced that DSL outperformed a cable modem during peak-usage evening hours in a month-long benchmark test of over 150,000 web-page downloads from 40 popular web sites. The test results showed that World Wide Web pages downloaded much slower over cable modems than over T-1 connections and that cable-modem performance deteriorated during evening hours when peak residential use of the Internet occurs. Keynote conducted the tests in the San Francisco Bay area throughout April over an asymmetric DSL connection (128/384 kbps) to SBC¡¦s Pacific Bell network, over a cable modem connected to the At Home network through a cable system operated by AT&T¡¦s TCI unit, and over T-1 connections supplied by AboveNet Communications, Exodus Communications, Intermedia Communications¡¦ DIGEX unit and Savvis Communications.