DSL Internet Access
Internet access from the home may be getting faster soon due to new technologies being deployed by telephone companies nationwide. All over the country, local telcos are gearing up new digital services in an attempt to remove data traffic from the switched phone network. The phone network has been under considerable strain from excessive traffic because it was designed for voice calls and calling patterns, instead of the longer modem calls that are being made.
There is currently no shortage of fast networking technologies available for Internet access, but the high cost has historically kept home users out of the market for these high-speed services. With these new technologies, the cost has been brought down for high-speed Internet access to within the same range as a regular dial-up account.
This new type of phone service is called DSL. That's short for Digital Subscriber Line, and it's a new twist on an old idea; accessing the Internet with your existing phone lines. This new type of line will allow a much higher speed data transfer, due to advances in DSL modem technology. Unlike a standard phone modem, which takes the digital computer data and modulates it into sound waves within a very small spectrum of frequencies that normally carry voice, the DSL modem uses the entire frequency band available on the wire. This makes it possible to have both the voice phone line (dialtone) and the dedicated data connection on the same pair of copper wires.
DSL's main strength is the fact that more of the available frequencies can be used allowing access to the Internet at synchronous speeds starting at 256kbps. That's roughly eighteen times faster than the standard asynchronous 28.8bps modem. Web sites that normally take a long time to load will come up much more quickly, especially those that use large amounts of graphics.
Of course the dedicated nature of DSL Internet access means that you won't have to spend time logging on to the Internet. You'll always be connected, saving time that is spent logging on with your regular modem.
DSL uses the phone company's existing packet switched data infrastructure such as ATM (asynchronous transfer mode) and Frame Relay networks to deliver the data.
USWest's particular version of DSL is called RADSL (Rate Adaptive DSL), which gives the modems flexibility to negotiate new speeds temporarily when line conditions change. If static or line noise interfere with data transmissions, the modem will briefly slow down, and then speed back up when the interference goes away.
USWest is currently providing this service in Arizona, Utah, and Colorado. USWest has announced it will begin providing DSL to residents of Washington starting on June 19th. Through USWest's service, users will be able to utilize their own ISP for Internet access, if their ISP supports DSL connections.
Other phone companies, the most notable being Sprint, have announced support for this type of data service. Sprint's version of DSL, which is called ION (Integrated On-demand Network) will also integrate other enhanced services, such as Internet access, guaranteed fax delivery, business phone service, messaging and video on demand, with their service. While businesses that need dedicated full time Internet access for offices and employees will probably still want to use a proven technology like Frame Relay or ATM for their data networking needs, DSL holds promise as a low cost replacement for dial-up Internet access. It is estimated that 70% of people using the Internet get their access through a dial-up account.
DSL equipment manufacturers and the telcos have been working on perfecting DSL for over two years in order to combat a perceived threat from the cable industry and the high speed cable modems that are beginning to become available in some areas of the country. In reality however, the cable companies, which are under a tremendous debt burden due to the expansion and build out of hybrid fiber optic/coax cable systems during the first half of the 90s, will likely have a hard time competing with DSL over ATM/Frame Relay networks that the telcos are in the process of building.
Both technologies offer high-speed access for a low cost, but cable companies have to overcome considerable "one-way" cable traffic limitations if they are going to bring cable modem usage up to the level of dial-up users. For now, cable modems and DSL garner limited usage. As both technologies mature, they promise to open up a new world of information available over the Internet.