Asymmetric Digital Subscriber Line

asymmetric digital subscriber line

[¦ā·sə′me·trik ¦dij·ə·dəl ‚səb′skrī·bər ‚līn]

(communications)

A broadband communication technology designed for use on conventional telephone lines, which reserves more bandwidth for receiving data (1-8 megabits per second) than for sending data (100-800 kilobits per second). Abbreviated ADSL.

McGraw-Hill Dictionary of Scientific & Technical Terms, 6E, Copyright © 2003 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.

Asymmetric Digital Subscriber Line

(communications, protocol)

(ADSL, or Asymmetric Digital Subscriber Loop) A form of Digital Subscriber Line in which the bandwidth available for downstream connection is significantly larger then for upstream. Although designed to minimise the effect of crosstalk between the upstream and downstream channels this setup is well suited for web browsing and client-server applications as well as for some emerging applications such as video on demand.

The data-rate of ADSL strongly depends on the length and quality of the line connecting the end-user to the telephone company. Typically the upstream data flow is between 16 and 640 kilobits per second while the downstream data flow is between 1.5 and 9 megabits per second. ADSL also provides a voice channel.

ADSL can carry digital data, analog voice, and broadcast MPEG2 video in a variety of implementations to meet customer needs.

["Data Cooks, But Will Vendors Get Burned?", "Supercomm Spotlight On ADSL" & "Lucent Sells Paradine", Wilson & Carol, Inter@ctive Week Vol. 3 #13, p1 & 6, June 24 1996].

See also Carrierless Amplitude/Phase Modulation, Discrete MultiTone.

ADSL Forum.

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