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Broadband Internet Access
The term broadband Internet access, often shortened to "broadband Internet" or just "broadband", generically refers to last-mile Internet connections exceeding the abilities of standard analog modems and of ISDN connections, i.e. connections with speeds above 128 kilobits per second (kbit/s). In some countries broadband services operate at over 1 Mbit/s for connections to private residences, with higher data transfer rates possible for business purposes, but involving a correspondingly higher charge. The data rates on most broadband services still do not suffice to provide good quality video, as MPEG-2 quality video requires about 6 Mbit/s for good results. Adequate video for some purposes becomes possible at lower data rates, with rates of 768 kbit/s and 384 kbit/s used for some video conferencing applications. The MPEG-4 format delivers high-quality video at 2 Mbit/s, at the high end of cable modem and ADSL performance. The Ogg Tarkin format is intended to deliver similar performance. As the bandwidth delivered to end-users increases, the market expects that video on demand services streamed over the Internet will become more popular, though at the present time such services generally require specialised networks. Increased bandwidth has already made an impact on newsgroups: postings to groups such as alt.binaries.* have grown from JPEG images to entire CD and DVD images. |
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* May not be accurate under most internet connections to evaluate your broadband or dial-up connectivity.
This is to be used as a rough estimate or guide only.