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Broadband is a term used in telecommunications to refer to a mode of communication that involves transmission of signals at very high speeds and within a large frequency range. The wide range of frequency enables the information or data to be multiplexed and sent through many different channels within the band. Broadband has been known to offer greater speeds than the Integrated Digital Services Network commonly referred to as ISDN. One factor that makes broadband transmit information at very high speeds is that it has a broad bandwidth.
There are varieties of technologies that have been known to use broadband. The oldest of this is the ISDN. ISDN is a telephone data service standard that has been used for quite a long time to connect to the internet. In the 90s, this technology was very common throughout the world. However, the need for faster data transmission necessitated the need for a faster broadband technology that could satisfy the information transmission needs of the time. This led to the development of the Digital subscriber line commonly known as the DSL. DSL enabled the transmission of data digitally over the telephone lines. This implied that the same line that was carrying the voice signal was being used to carry data. This technology improved the data throughput from 128 kilo bytes per second to 256 kilo bytes per second.
Broadband has also been used in video signal transmission. In analog video transmission and distribution, it refers to systems that are currently being used widely in the television world. This system is known as Cable Television. Currently even the normal terrestrial television signal is not in demand as the cable television signal. The various channels in Cable television are modulated on the carriers at fixed frequencies. For the internet, however broadband video also requires the services of broadband internet access. Broadband has also been used in satellite transmission. Geostationary orbits are able to send data to individual stations although this type of internet transmission is most expensive. However, very cheap yet reliable broadband access methods are being used in the UK as well as other countries. In Oxford, for example many students are use modems and mobile phones to transmit and receive broadband signals.