Find answers to what DSL speed is and what the average DSL speeds are online.
DSL speeds can vary a lot from provider to provider and technology to technology. They can range from as low as 256 kbps to 100 mbps in download speed. Many internet service providers also offer different plans and prices which have slower or faster speeds depending on the plan that you pick. The speed is increasing everyday with advances in technology that is used in DSL. Many factors can also determine what kind internet speed that you will get at your home.
Some factors are the quality of the copper phone line at your home, as many neighborhoods with better quality wiring achieve faster speeds, the distance between your home and the phone company`s central office, and problems with the ISP`s network. However, there is almost nothing to do about these problems, besides changing the copper wire inside your residence. Most DSL speeds are asymmetrical, meaning that the download speed is higher than the upload speed. In symmetrical DSL, upload and download speeds are exactly identical to each other.
ADSL speeds are up to 8 mbps in downstream traffic and 1 mbps in upstream traffic. An improvement upon ADSL, ADSL2, can handle downstream speeds of 12 mbps and upload speeds of 3.5 mbps, which is a major improvement upon the upload speed of ADSL. There has recently been a new standard of ADSL released in 2003, ADSL+, which even further increases speeds to a fast 24 mbps download speed and a 3.5 mbps upload speed. A new DSL technology, VDSL2, is an advanced and latest form of DSL technology which offers extremely high data transmission rates over copper phone lines or fiber optic cables. VDSL2 provides speeds of up to an amazing 100 mbps download and 50 mbps at a distance of less than a mile. Performance degrades to ADSL2+ speeds after a distance of 1.5 miles.
Many providers offer different internet speeds and services that are available in your area. AT&T U-Verse is a VDSL2 internet service that is available in many areas in the United States. It provides speeds of up to 18 mbps download and 1.5 mbps upload, but has the capacity for internet speeds to increase even further. Verizon offers ADSL2 in most of the areas where it provides telephone service for homes. Their DSL service has speeds of up to 7 mbps download and 768 kbps upload, which is a fairly fast home connection for the price that it is offered at. With new technologies, DSL is quickly becoming a worthy competitor to cable.
