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IT FAQs

What is with all the different variants of DSL technologies? Why are they so hard to remember? What does it all mean?

Let's start with the basics....

DSL = Digital Subscriber Line
DSL is a technology, not a product. It is a method of carrying data over standard copper phone lines.
It's not necessary to know how this is done, just know that it's at a much higher frequency than standard voice & fax transmissions - which is why it's able to share the phone line with other services.

DSL Lite = Digital Subscriber Line Lite
This is the server, slower than ADSL, offered by incumbent and competitive exchange providers. It is lower in cost to provision because a splitter to separate the data transmission from the voice call is not needed in the central office and at the customer site.

ADSL = Asymmetric Digital Subscriber Line
The speeds on the line are different on data sent to the customer and on upstream data sent away from the customer. ADSL is also known as full-rate ADSL.

ADSL2 = ADSL2 has been specifically designed to improve the rate and reach of ADSL largely by achieving better performance on long lines in the presence of narrowband interference. It provides better modulation efficiency by mandating four dimensional, 16-state trellis-coded and 1-bit quadrature amplitude modulation (QAM) constellations, which provide higher data rates on long lines where the signal-tonoise ratio (SNR) is low. ADSL2 systems reduce framing overhead by providing a frame with a programmable number of overhead bits.

SHDSL = Symmetric high-bit-rate Digital Subscriber Line
Provides the same upstream and downstream to the customer. Often offered at slower speeds than ADSL, because the performance is overall better even at reduced speeds.

VDSL = Very high-bit-rate Digital Subscriber Line
Because of its high speed, it requires a combination of fiber and copper cabling.

Exa prefers to sell ADSL or SHDSL services from NEXTEP or Connect, as they use their own network of Internet connections and DSLAMs (Digital Subscriber Line Access Multiplexers). These two providers are able to offer Service Level Agreements (SLAs) and achieve at least 99.95% uptime and much faster speeds.

If you require more information, please click here to notify one of our team members.