Telecommunications Essentials

xDSL

The xDSL technologies—including High-Bit-Rate Digital Subscriber Line (HDSL), ISDN Digital Subscriber Line (IDSL), Single-Line Digital Subscriber Line (SDSL), Multirate Symmetrical Digital Subscriber Line (M/SDSL), Asymmetrical Digital Subscriber Line (ADSL), Rate-Adaptive Digital Subscriber Line (RADSL), and Very-High-Rate Digital Subscriber Line (VDSL)—offer many home users their first taste of broadband, and most users find that once they've tried broadband, they'll never go back. It's exciting how much it can improve your performance, despite it's not being as fast as the data rates we will see in the coming years. According to Cahners In-Stat Group (Business Communications Review, July 2001), the worldwide DSL subscriber base is expected ...