Happy Birthday Broadband
by: Bradley Wint on March 20th, 2010 at 3:52 pm
Ten years ago, ADSL (Asymmetric Digital Subscriber Line) and ISDN (Integrated Service Digital Network) revolutionized Internet usage boosting downstream speeds from 56kbps on the dial-up modems to speeds between 64kbps to 512kbps. However in the early 1990s only the bigger corporations or well-off individuals could enjoy these services due to the high costs attached to the services.
Nonetheless, these upgraded speed made apps like videoconferencing, music and video stream, mass emailing and other bandwidth intensive applications possible. Companies could send data to each other much more quickly over a more accessible medium.
Over the years, other forms of broadband type technologies sprung up including Cellular, Satellite, T1/T3 lines and Cable. With WiFi come on stream as well, it turned wired Internet signals into wireless waves allowing mobile phones, laptops and other devices to connect to the web without any cables attached within a certain range, depending on the WiFi signal strength and number of WAPs.
While speeds back in the 90s barely were only 512kbps, there were recent announcements of 100mbps home subscription lines that are set to come on stream soon. The Internet in its un-managed state has allowed many bottlenecks to build up, meaning that many users still cannot enjoy very high speeds available because of the older type network layout and cabling technologies being used. However, we have come a long way from the 90s. Broadband is more readily available and prices for packages such as 10 and 20mbps connections are getting very cheap. Happy birthday.
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