Broadband isn't a speed, it's a signaling architecture. The alternative is baseband. Ethernet is baseband. Broadcast radio is broadband. Now that you have the two competing terms, please see your friendly neighborhood search engine (PSYFNSE). BTW, silence is a poor excuse for posting a message. -- From: Larry Diffey [mailto:ldiffey@technologyforward.com] Sent: Thursday, July 05, 2001 10:13 AM Since it's so quiet in here, I want to stir things up a little with an informal survey. With all of this talk about broadband (mostly in reference to cable modems and xDSL), consumers have been tricked into actually believing that if it's faster than a modem then it's broadband. I have a number in my head as to what I consider broadband. It's not an unreasonable number but it certainly does exceed what is available to the average consumer. Oh wise nanogers, what speeds do we need to achieve for the average consumer before we truly have broadband? I will try and keep track of all the numbers that you give you an average and I'll also give you the number I had in mind.
On Thu, 5 Jul 2001, Roeland Meyer wrote:
Broadband isn't a speed, it's a signaling architecture. The alternative is baseband. Ethernet is baseband. Broadcast radio is broadband. Now that you have the two competing terms, please see your friendly neighborhood search engine (PSYFNSE).
Though, to be fair, a lot of people have coopted the term "broadband." You and I know that broadband is defined in the 802 series of specs as a way to run ethernet over an analog cable system. But... the cable companies would have you believe that it means "the fastest thing going" and the telcos would have you believe that DSL is "broadband." Miles ************************************************************************** The Center for Civic Networking PO Box 600618 Miles R. Fidelman, President & Newtonville, MA 02460-0006 Director, Municipal Telecommunications Strategies Program 617-558-3698 fax: 617-630-8946 mfidelman@civicnet.org http://civic.net/ccn.html Information Infrastructure: Public Spaces for the 21st Century Let's Start With: Internet Wall-Plugs Everywhere Say It Often, Say It Loud: "I Want My Internet!" **************************************************************************
If you want to get to the root of these terms, without getting caught up in all of the ways their meaning has been distorted, the best place to look may be a dictionary. In baseband signalling, you have one signal using all of the bandwidth available on the wire. In broadband signalling, there are multiple signals on the wire, multiplexed in the frequency domain. On Thu, Jul 05, 2001 at 01:23:51PM -0400, Miles Fidelman wrote:
On Thu, 5 Jul 2001, Roeland Meyer wrote:
Broadband isn't a speed, it's a signaling architecture. The alternative is baseband. Ethernet is baseband. Broadcast radio is broadband. Now that you have the two competing terms, please see your friendly neighborhood search engine (PSYFNSE).
Though, to be fair, a lot of people have coopted the term "broadband." You and I know that broadband is defined in the 802 series of specs as a way to run ethernet over an analog cable system. But... the cable companies would have you believe that it means "the fastest thing going" and the telcos would have you believe that DSL is "broadband."
Miles
************************************************************************** The Center for Civic Networking PO Box 600618 Miles R. Fidelman, President & Newtonville, MA 02460-0006 Director, Municipal Telecommunications Strategies Program 617-558-3698 fax: 617-630-8946 mfidelman@civicnet.org http://civic.net/ccn.html
Information Infrastructure: Public Spaces for the 21st Century Let's Start With: Internet Wall-Plugs Everywhere Say It Often, Say It Loud: "I Want My Internet!" **************************************************************************
On Thu, Jul 05, 2001 at 01:23:51PM -0400, Miles Fidelman wrote: > the telcos would have you believe that DSL is "broadband." ...and by and large, they'd be right. Most DSL shares the same wire with voice, at a different frequency. -Bill
Interesting enough: (Webpoedia) Broadband: A type of data transmission in which a single medium (wire) can carry several channels at once. Cable TV, for example, uses broadband transmission. In contrast, baseband transmission allows only one signal at a time. Most communications between computers, including the majority of local-area networks, use baseband communications. An exception is B-ISDN networks, which employ broadband transmission. Baseband: The original band of frequencies of a signal before it is modulated for transmission at a higher frequency. The signal is typically multiplexed and sent on a carrier with other signals at the same time. (TechEncyclopedia by Techweb) Broadband: (1) High-speed transmission. The term is commonly used to refer to communications lines or services at T1 rates (1.544 Mbps) and above. However, the actual threshold of broadband is very subjective and may be well below or well above T1 depending on the situation. For example, on2.com (see TrueMotion) offers "broadband streaming video" to users with access to the Internet at 250 Kbps or higher. Other sources claim 45 Mbps is the starting point. In every case however, it implies transmitting at higher speeds than what has been most common up to the current time. See cable modem, DSL and T1. (2) A method of transmitting data, voice and video using frequency division multiplexing (FDM), such as used with cable TV. Modems are required to modulate digital data streams onto the line. Broadband in this context is used in contrast with baseband, which is all digital transmission and uses time division multiplexing (TDM). However, the term is mostly used in definition #1 above. See baseband for illustration. --------------------------- Dennis Dayman dennis@thenose.net ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- -- What goes up, must come down. Ask any system administrator. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- --
At the risk of incurring the wrath of Mr. Meyer by posting without permission, I offer the following: Harry Newton, of "Newton's TELECOM Dictionary - The Official Dictionary of Telecommunications & the Interent" (Updated 15th Expanded Edition), defines "Broadband" (in the WAN context) as anything over 45Mbps (T3). The language we use in our industry is evolving at an extremely rapid rate. The great unwashed masses don't necessarily stick with the time honored definitions we would prefer that they admire, respect, and accept as gospel. Get over it! - Tom At 10:28 AM 7/5/2001 -0700, Roeland Meyer wrote:
Broadband isn't a speed, it's a signaling architecture. The alternative is baseband. Ethernet is baseband. Broadcast radio is broadband. Now that you have the two competing terms, please see your friendly neighborhood search engine (PSYFNSE).
BTW, silence is a poor excuse for posting a message.
-- From: Larry Diffey [mailto:ldiffey@technologyforward.com] Sent: Thursday, July 05, 2001 10:13 AM
Since it's so quiet in here, I want to stir things up a little with an informal survey.
With all of this talk about broadband (mostly in reference to cable modems and xDSL), consumers have been tricked into actually believing that if it's faster than a modem then it's broadband.
I have a number in my head as to what I consider broadband. It's not an unreasonable number but it certainly does exceed what is available to the average consumer.
Oh wise nanogers, what speeds do we need to achieve for the average consumer before we truly have broadband?
I will try and keep track of all the numbers that you give you an average and I'll also give you the number I had in mind.
participants (6)
-
Bill Woodcock -
Christopher B. Zydel -
Dennis Dayman -
Miles Fidelman -
Roeland Meyer -
Tom Lettington