Broadband FAQ's

What Is ADSL?

ADSL stands for Asymmetric Digital Subscriber Line. It is a DSL broadband Internet connection technology, that uses existing copper wired telephone networks for significantly faster data transmission.

ADSL offers much higher speeds than a standard 56k modem – anything between 10 and 160 times as fast (512Kbps - 8Mbps) – depending on your connection speed.

Of note is the emergence of ADSL2 and ADSL2+ which allow data transmission speeds of around 12Mbps and 25Mbps respectively (240 and 480 times faster than a standard dial-up).

ADSL has the distinguishing characteristic that the data is set to flow faster in one direction than the other, i.e., asymmetrically.

Broadband Providers usually market ADSL as a service for people to connect to the Internet in a relatively 'passive mode': able to use the higher speed direction for the "download" from the Internet but without the need for the much more modest 256Kbps in the "upload" direction.