ADSL / ISDN

ADSL stands for Asymmetric Digital Subscriber Line and often refers to the broadband services offered by telephone based providers such as BT, Freeserve, AOL etc. These service providers rely on the telephone network to deliver their services, so if a local exchange is down or a cable is cut during roadworks you will not be able to connect to the internet.

Asymmetric means that the download speed is different to the upload speed, typically 512Kb download and 256kb upload.

Symmetric means the that the download and upload speeds, for example 512kb download and 512kb upload.

W3Z's Wireless BroadBand Service has a range of tariffs, both asymmetric and symmetric, to suit your monthly budget whereas most ADSL providers offer either 512kb download 256kb upload or 1024kb download 512kb upload which limits the flexibility of tariffs available. W3Z's service is a wireless service and has a greater reliability as it does not rely on a local telephone exchange.

ISDN stands for Integrated Services Digital Network and is considered by most to be the forerunner to broadband.

This is faster than a normal modem as you had to have a digital phone line installed (modems convert the digital information to analogue before being sent down a normal phone line) which usually results in a much higher cost of installation for a maximum 128kb speed. As this system also relied on having two phone lines installed, the monthly charges are also excessive in comparison to broadband services. ISDN is now all but consigned to the history books because of the prohibitive costs.

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