Digital Subscriber Line (DSL)

DSL technology capitalises on the existing network of copper infrastructure, but allows digital signals to be carried rather than analogue. It allows the full bandwidth of the copper twisted-pair telephone cabling to be utilised.

With splitter-based services, the DSL signal is pulled out from the phone line as it enters your premises and is wired separately to a DSL modem. This involves additional hardware and installation by the service provider at the customer site. The shielded option involves no installation, but the telephone company's equipment and some of your equipment might need upgrading.

With Asymmetric Digital Subscriber Line (ADSL), most of the duplex bandwidth is devoted to the downstream direction, with only a small proportion of bandwidth being available for upstream. Much Internet traffic through the client's connection, such as Web browsing, downloads and video streaming, needs high downstream bandwidth, but user requests and responses are less significant and therefore require less on the upstream. In addition, a small proportion of the downstream bandwidth can be devoted to voice rather than data, allowing you to hold phone conversations without requiring a separate line.

DSL-based Services are a very low-cost option when compared to other solutions offering similar bandwidth, so they can be made available to the customer at extremely competitive prices.