It is hard to remember a time when we had to use the internet with slower dial up modems, when loading a website seemed to take forever. Today, with broadband we can view what we want to view within seconds and download speeds have been greatly improved. This is because broadband has a higher data rate, at least double the 56 kbit/s offered by dial up. Broadband does not need the full use of a telephone line either, meaning that people can still make phone calls from their house when someone is on the internet. Broadband is often defined in different ways, however, with the speed of the internet access being used to decide if it is broadband. Some consider it to be anything above 64 kbit/s but at the maximum end of the scale, others define anything above 768 kbit/s as broadband.
Generally, the more accepted view as to what constitutes broadband is anything above 256 kbit/s.
One thing’s for sure, broadband internet access has revolutionised the way we use the internet, giving us greater access and greater freedoms to access the information we need. With new innovations of the technology (including mobile broadband) it will continue to revolutionise the internet for years to come.