What is broadband?
About
This brochure has been developed by The National Office for the Information Economy (NOIE) in cooperation with SPAN Broadband Xchange to provide useful information to small businesses getting started on broadband.
What is broadband?
Broadband is the term used for any kind of fast Internet access. Broadband is designed to give a business or residential user instant Internet access 24 hours a day.
It's fast - generally 10-20 times faster than your existing dial-up modem. A typical dial-up modem operates in the range of 30 kbit/s to 50 kbit/s . A broadband connection operates at between 256 kbit/s and 10 Mbit/s, depending on the service you have selected. To give you an idea of the difference that this speed can make, a 150 Kbyte Word document takes more than 20 seconds to download using a 56 kbit/s dial-up modem, but less than 1 second on a 1.5 Mbit/s broadband link. Similarly, an 8 Mbyte PowerPoint
presentation takes more than 19 minutes to download using a 56 kbit/s dial-up modem but only about 43 seconds on a 1.5 Mbit/s broadband link.
What are the benefits of broadband?
- Broadband's high speed gives you access to applications that are either not feasible at the speed of a dial-up connection or just annoyingly slow. For example, broadband can
- allow you to transfer large files of text or graphics at high speeds,
- give you instant access to web pages, even those with large amounts of graphics that are typically very slow to download on a dial-up connection,
- allow employees to telecommute, operating from their home or elsewhere with the same response speeds and level of security as if they were in their office,
- link several computers to the Internet through the same connection,
- make videoconferencing faster, smoother and more practical,
- save money by allowing a business to rationalise and centralise its servers.
- It's always on. As long as your computer is switched on you can be connected to the Internet. This means that you do not waste time dialing up and waiting for your modem to connect you to the Internet every time you go online. You will not be subject to annoying busy signals and less likely to experience drop outs.
- Your phone line is not tied up while using the Internet. Therefore there is no need to pay for a second phone line.
- There are no additional dial-up charges to connect each time you use the service.
NOIE case studies of small businesses using broadband
NOIE has developed a series of broadband for small business case studies.
DSL
DSL stands for Digital Subscriber Line. The term DSL refers to a group of technologies, the most common being ADSL or Asymmetric Digital Subscriber Line. DSL uses your existing telephone lines to deliver high-speed Internet access. It allows voice communication and high-speed data transmission on the same line at the same time, by transmitting the two on different frequencies.
Advantages of ADSL
- There is no need for extra access infrastructure - ADSL uses the existing phone line.
- ADSL does not tie up your phone line while you are on the Internet.
- There is no need to dial-up the Internet.
Disadvantages of ADSL
- ADSL is not available everywhere - your local telephone
- exchange must be ADSL enabled. (Visit www.broadbandxchange.org/sas/adsl.asp to find out if your local exchange is ADSL enabled.)
- If you live more than 3.5km away from your exchange, ADSL may not be available.
Cable
Cable Internet uses the pay TV cable network to bring you broadband Internet access.
Advantages of Cable
- Cable does not tie up your phone line while you are on the Internet.
- There is no need to dial-up the Internet.
- Once connected to cable you have access to other facilities, such as pay TV, if you want it.
- Cable connections can be cheaper than other technologies.
Disadvantages of Cable
- Cable is not available everywhere - the physical cable must run past your business for you to be able to use this service.
Satellite
Satellite broadband uses a satellite dish to connect to the Internet. Satellite connections come in two forms - one-way and two-way satellite. One-way satellite, as the name implies, only communicates with the Internet in one direction i.e. you can download information from the Internet at high speed via satellite, but you do not send it via the satellite. The return channel for uploading data to the Internet in a one-way satellite broadband installation is often by ISDN line or dial-up modem. Two-way satellite broadband uses a satellite dish to both send and receive data. Two way satellite involves higher equipment and installation costs.
Advantages of Satellite
- Satellite is available everywhere, and so is useful where other technologies, such as DSL and cable, are not available.
- A single satellite service can support a large number of users within the satellite "footprint" and is therefore attractive for businesses that wish to provide access to many dispersed offices or branch locations.
Disadvantages of Satellite
Because one way satellite solutions operate in only one direction (i.e. the satellite dish can receive data but not send it), you still need to maintain your dial-up modem to be able to request information from the Internet. This means that, if you have only one phone line, your phone-line is tied up while you are accessing the Internet. Furthermore, you still need to pay for a separate dial-up account with your Internet service provider.
- For a single user, satellite is more expensive than other technologies - for infrastructure, installation and use. Two-way satellite transceivers are more expensive again than one-way satellite receivers.
- A satellite connection can be affected by exceptionally heavy rainfall.
