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Updated – January 12, 2024

DSL, cable, fiber optic, isn't that all cable? – A dear friend recently asked me if I could imagine a picture with a mountain and an ox? This is how he feels right now after I recommended that he apply for cable instead of DSL in order to access the Internet in the future. Cable - what's the difference, DSL also runs over cable?!

So here's an article that's meant to literally move mountains and pave the way when it comes to deciding to find the right path to the Internet.

history

Who else knows that? Beeping and chirping a telephone receiver in the acoustic coupler (Dataphone 21D) with 300 .. 2,400 bit/s or modems (ELSA Microlink 24.4 TQV) with already 28,800 bit/s when dialing into the Internet?

After dialing the Internet phone number, the acoustic coupler recorded the acoustic signal from the other party via the loudspeaker of the telephone receiver via the built-in microphone and in turn sent back tone sequences via the loudspeaker built into the acoustic coupler and the microphone in the telephone receiver. The data was converted into acoustic signals and transmitted. The line could not be used for telephone calls during this time.

The modem (ModuulatorDemodulator) was connected to the two lines of the telephone cable via a suitable plug to the telephone socket and in this way communicated directly with the remote station by the acoustic coupler, or the modem, adding the data from a carrier frequency, modulating it and transferring incoming data again subtracted from the carrier frequency, demodulated. This also happens at over ten times the speed, up to 56,000 bit/s.

Over time, modem technology became more powerful and consumers' hunger for data increased. Websites used to consist of block graphics and text, today they consist of images, videos and text. So the need for bandwidth grew.

Landline technologies

ISDN

ISDN (Integrated Services Digital Network) allowed the interconnection of both lines using two separate telephone lines and phone numbers, thus achieving twice the data transmission speed of 2 x 64,000 bit/s. If you were satisfied with one line, you could make calls via the second.

(V)DSL

A further increase was achieved DSL (Digital Subscriber Line) and through again VDSL (Very High Speed Digital Subscriber Line) reaches speeds of up to 400 Mbit/s (400,000,000 bit/s, corresponding to 6,250 times faster than an ISDN channel).

Cable

Parallel to the above developments, cable television became popular around 1980 in order to also provide terrestrially unfavorable locations with radio and television programs with so-called Coaxial-Cables (a centered single-core, semi-rigid copper wire with surrounding shielding foils and braids). After satellite television pushed cable television into the background, capacity became available that could be used for Internet connections in the future and could be used to provide speeds of up to 1,000 Mbit/s (corresponding to 1 Gbit/s).

glass fiber

Fiber optic networks are gradually replacing cable networks and currently offer speeds of up to 100 Gbit/s. While all of the above technologies use copper cables for transmission, here light is sent via fiber optics - almost at the speed of light. Therefore, a significantly higher throughput of data is possible.

Internet on the go

GSM/EDGE/UMTS/LTE 3G, 4G, 5G

Mobile Internet was first introduced at the turn of the century with the introduction of GSM (Global System for Mobile Communications). EDGE (Enhanced Data Rates for GSM Evolution) standards with 256 kBit/s possible. An increase brought UMTS (Universal Mobile Telecommunications System) 3G with 384 kBit/s from 2007, followed by the extended one UMTS default HSPA with 7.2 MBit/s and HSPA+ at 42 bit/s. With LTE (Long Term Evolution) 4G, the data transfer rate increased to an impressive 300 .. 1,000 Mbit/s, in... 5G Network with up to 1,500 MBit/s.

However, these access technologies are only available if there is appropriate mobile phone coverage.

StarLink

StarLink currently offers a solution in poorly or poorly served areas or at sea via around 4,000 satellites at altitudes of 540 to 570 km with speeds of 150 to 500 MBit/s.

Its satellites provide internet to almost all regions of the world. However, reception requires special antennas that align themselves with the next available satellite and track them automatically. Antennas for use in vehicles or on ships while traveling are larger and statically aimed at the sky.