What is Broadband?

Broadband is a word we hear a lot these days with wireless Internet, mobile phones and digital video; but do any of us actually know what broadband is?

Broadband has several different meanings in different contexts and the term has undergone substantial shifts in the recent years due to advancing technologies. Let’s break down those various contexts so we can truly understand the word broadband and everything it entails.

Broadband in telecommunications basically refers to signalling which can handle a wide range of frequencies and/or channels. We have noticed this change the most with home Internet and the increase in speeds in recent years. Broadband Internet has increased the bandwidth to home users allowing more information to travel from the Internet Service Provider (ISP) to a home computer, in comparison to dial-up Internet which had a very slow bandwidth speed.

Broadband in relation to data communications is a very similar notion to telecommunications in respect to broadband Internet and the speed and amount of information that can be transmitted.

In video, broadband refers Internet streamed video files, which require a fast connection and a high transfer rate. In addition, broadband video may also be used to describe Video on demand and personal video records (PVR), which are able to pause and record live television, as these technologies rely heavily on broadband Internet.

Now that you have the basics of broadband covered, you can feel confident in understand its context the next time you hear the word being used.