When the internet was first made available to the common man, the data transfer speeds were not so high. Even after a few years post introduction, the internet was generally accessed by users through the plain old telephone cables using a dial up connection. The connections were very slow because of the inherent signal carrying capabilities of the copper cables and the modems during those days were different too.

One more problem during those days that led to data loss or even loss of connection was of the data signals of the internet clashing with the voice signals of the telephone they used to create problems for each other. This apart, one could not use the telephone while they were using the internet. We shall soon find out how the advent of modern technology and advances in the principles of modem technology helped circumvent these problems.

A measly 56kbps was the highest speeds available during those days. Nowadays one generally accepts speeds lower than 1mbps as very slow and one can find connections where the transfer rate is as high as 1gbps. The high speed internet connection that we are accustomed to nowadays comes to us either through the cable through which we receive our TV signals or they are supplied to us through a separate cable by our internet service provider.

This technology is called DSL or direct subscriber line. For the DSL system to work the subscriber needs to have an ethernet card on their PC and they also need to install a DSL modem. Subscribers can receive and send data and also browse the internet at high speeds over the plain old telephone line with DSL technology. Nowadays the data signals of the internet are transmitted on a different frequency and the voice signal of the telephone is transmitted on yet another frequency.

A splitter at the user’s end splits the incoming signals into two parts and sends the voice signals to the telephone and the data signals to the computer. The modems used by the high speed internet are different too. One should also know that there are two different technologies employed by high speed internet. They are known as SDSL (symmetric digital subscriber line) and ADSL (asymmetric digital subscriber line). Whereas the upload speed of the latter is lower than the download speed, the former provides both upload and download at equal speeds.

Baxter Owens is a freelance writer and enjoys writing on a wide range of topics including comcast internet and high speed internet providers.