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SDSL equipment usually only interoperates with devices from the same
vendor, though devices from other vendors using the same DSL chipset may
be compatible. Most new installations use G.SHDSL equipment instead of
SDSL
.
Asymmetric Digital Subscriber Line (ADSL)
Explanation
There are both technical and marketing reasons why ADSL is in many places
the most common type offered to home users. On the technical side, there is
likely to be more crosstalk from other circuits at the DSLAM end (where the
wires from many local loops are close to each other) than at the customer
premises. Thus the upload signal is weakest at the noisiest part of the local
loop, while the download signal is strongest at the noisiest part of the local
loop. It therefore makes technical sense to have the DSLAM transmit at a
higher bit rate than does the modem on the customer end. Since the typical
home user in fact does prefer a higher download speed, the telephone
companies chose to make a virtue out of necessity, hence ADSL. On the
marketing side, limiting upload speeds limits the attractiveness of this service
to business customers, often causing them to purchase higher cost Digital
Signal 1 services instead. In this fashion, it segments the digital
communications market between business and home users
How ADSL works
On the wire
Frequency plan for ADSL. The red area is the frequency range used by
normal voice telephony (PSTN), the green (upstream) and blue (downstream)
areas are used for ADSL.
Modulation
ADSL initially existed in two flavors (similar to VDSL), namely CAP and DMT.
CAP was the de facto standard for ADSL deployments up until 1996,
deployed in 90 percent of ADSL installs at the time. However, DMT was
chosen for the first ITU-T ADSL standards, G.992.1 and G.992.2 (also called
G.dmt and G.lite respectively). Therefore all modern installations of ADSL are
based on the DMT modulation scheme.
ADSL standards
While the ADSL access utilizes the 1.1 MHz band, ADSL2+ utilizes the 2.2
MHz band.
The downstream and upstream rates displayed are theoretical maxima. Note
also that because Digital subscriber line access multiplexers and ADSL
modems may have been implemented based on differing or incomplete
standards some manufacturers may advertise different speeds. For example,
Ericsson has several devices that support non-standard upstream speeds of
up to 2 Mbit/s in ADSL2 and ADSL2+.
Installation issues
Due to the way it uses the frequency spectrum, ADSL deployment presents
some issues. It is necessary to install appropriate frequency filters at the
customer's premises, to avoid interferences with the voice service, while at the
same time taking care to keep a clean signal level for the ADSL connection.
A side effect of the move to the self-install model is that the DSL signal can be
degraded, especially if more than 5 voice band devices are connected to the
line. The DSL signal is now present on all telephone wiring in the building,
causing attenuation and echo. A way to circumvent this is to go back to the
original model, and install one filter upstream from all telephone jacks in the
building, except for the jack to which the DSL modem will be connected. Since
this requires wiring changes by the customer and may not work on some
household telephone wiring, it is rarely done. It is usually much easier to
install filters at each telephone jack that is in use.
vs. DSL
Is this better than DSL? What abuot cable? Whats the difference? Is it big or
small?
That is not true. The theoretical maximum for G.992.1 for example is 13Mbps
(224 downstream carriers * 15bit/carrier * 4kHz symbol frequency).
--69.105.224.209
Can someone elucidate DSLAM? I suppose it's DSL access apparatus, but
abbreviations should be defined before use.
It's explained here --Tolien 3 July 2005 20:17 (UTC)
I understand that "Annex A" is for ADSL over analog lines while "Annex B" is
for ISDN lines. Could someone enter this into the article with some info on
how likely you are to need one or the other? Or other compatibilities or non-
compatibilities to watch out for? Thanks. ---Ransom/CG
the spectrum breakdown is not entirely accurate in this article. CAP did
allocate spectrum the way that the diagram indicates it, but DMT doesn't - it
defines 247 (from memory - this figure might be a bit out) subchannels, each
of which can be either upstream or downstream (dynamically). --Dave
Symonds 06:11, 21 September 2005 (UTC)
Yep, just looked it up: DMT splits the channel into 247 sub channels, each
4kHz wide. This is the standard way it's done now. --Dave Symonds 06:15, 21
September 2005 (UTC)
Faxes
Out of interest, how does ADSL affect faxes? can you send or receive a fax
on an ADSL line? - Ta bu shi da yu 05:34, 14 January 2006 (UTC)
A fax is just a low-speed modem, so it uses the voice band. This band is
protected by a splitter from the DSL signal. Biot 09:10, 14 January 2006
(UTC)
That's what I though. Cheers Biot! - Ta bu shi da yu 13:53, 15 January 2006
(UTC)
Asynchronous
Upload speeds
"Upstream rates start at 64 Kbit/s and typically reach 256 Kbit/s but can go as
high as 1024 Kbit/s." Is this also true for ADSL2 and ADSL2+? Or do they
allow higher upstream rates? --osmosis 10:26, 26 February 2006 (UTC)
Upload
The site only mentions the word "upload" once, maybe more information
should be provided about uploading on ADSL, the uploading speed, and if
uploading is affected by downloading. etc.--82.152.138.225 01:29, 8 March
2006 (UTC)
What I think you are referring to is "link saturation", where the maximum
upload speed obtainable reduces during a high speed download, or vice
versa. But this behavior is not restricted to ADSL. --osmosis 12:24, 8 March
2006 (UTC)
Actually, can ADSL upload and download data at the same time, or is it
effectively one or the other? --geoff_o 20:35, 11 April 2006 (UTC)
I thought I should point out that in Japan, download speeds for ADSL go as
high as 47Mbps, and upload speeds up to 5Mbps. Without the proper
technical background, I wouldn't want to alter this article, but I thought it might
be useful info to add. For evidence of this see the NTT page, in English, on
this: [ إذا كنت مسجل فى- فقط العضاء المسجلين والمفعلين يمكنهم رؤية الوصلت
إضغط هنا للتسجيل. ]المنتدى اتصل بالدارة لتفعيل عضويتك
I believe that the 47/5 Mbps line is probably a bonded ADSL2+ line, in other
words, two ADSL2+ lines used together for the connection. This is covered in
the ADSL2/2+ ITU-standard. But I cannot support this claim with any
evidence, it's only a guess because the speeds would match pretty nicely.
This is not correct - in Japan "adsl2++" is used , which extends the adsl
spectrum to 3.75MHz, thus roughly doubling the downstream rate to 50Mbps.
5 Mbps upstream is with triple upstream - the upstream band is three times
the US bandwidth of regular adsl. ~~===
I was wondering, if its appropriate to mention that the shift from ATM
backbone networks to Ethernet is also because of the future possibilities of
using the same backbone network for other services like POTS or mobile
phone networks?
..."or lower signal to noise (SNR)ratios"... Shouldn't this be lower Signal to
Noise Ratios(SNR)? Cruxit 15:59, 14 June 2006 (UTC)
CarlosRibeiro 17:23, 21 October 2006 (UTC). I've dropped a note at the DSL
history. I moved some notes on DSL installation that applied specifically to
ADSL here. It refers to some history on the usage of splitters, that is not
longer absolutely required but is still of interest, both historically and also to
understand some practical aspects of the technology.
Annex M
The page here states the download speed is 28mbit, but the [[ITU G.992.5
Annex M] page says 24mbit... which is it? 125.236.153.184 09:05, 31 January
2007 (UTC)
Capitalization
Reading [1] I think it means this article is incorrectly capitalised, while Digital
subscriber line is correctly titled. Does anyone agree that only the first word
should be capitalized? Disagree? Think both styles are correct for their
respective article? Jim.henderson 20:29, 19 March 2007 (UTC)
I agree, it should be Asymmetric digital subscriber line. But what links here is
overwhelmingly in favour of the capitaised version. I will give it a week then
move it. -- RHaworth 10:14, 15 October 2007 (UTC)
S=1/2?
My USR router specs says that with S=1/2, it can do 12Mbps, up from 8. What
does S=1/2 mean and how does it extend the download speed? Any info
appreciated, cheers! 84.9.32.226 14:47, 25 June 2007 (UTC)
[
History
I came to this page to find out when ADSL was invented and rolled out. If
someone knows, can they add it to the article? It would also be good to know
who invented it. exterminator 11:06, 8 August 2007 (UTC)
I came here hoping to find a definitive answer, because Verizon's claims make
no sense ("768 kbit/s DSL is 21 times faster than 56k dialup"). 768/56 == 13
which is nowhere near Verizon's claim. (It's even less when you consider 56K
modems use compression to increase effective thoughput to ~150 kbps).) I'd
like to find an actual study that's not biased by salesmanship. - Theaveng
17:37, 14 September 2007 (UTC)
Given that ADSL can run from 768Kb/s (or possibly even lower) to 6Mb/s (or
possibly even higher), there isn't a single definitive answer to your question.
I've gotten 1.5Mb/s; 1500/56 = 26. Guy Harris (talk) 19:21, 20 November 2007
(UTC)
Typical marketing flim-flam, probably. Remember that the max tech speed of
this segment of the SYSTEM that you are using is only one factor in the
response you experience. Your computer is a factor. Latencies anywhere
along the way are a factor, that remains no matter how fast the peak speeds.
As a practical matter, you can hope that DSL will be about ten times faster
than dial-up, in real life. -69.87.200.195 (talk) 11:17, 24 March 2008 (UTC)
[
Installation issues
I think this part is about how it is done in the USA? This can be very different
depending on local telephone installations in other parts of the world.
Example: ADSL is very in wide use in Germany now and local installation is
usually done by the customer, but I have never heard of a microfilter. When
you order ADSL you get a spitter from your provider and you install it yourself
by pluging it into the telephone jack. The splitter is the only device directly
connected to the public network. The splitter itself has two outputs, one for a
DSL modem and one for a telephone or an ISDN network termination device.
Since the combination of ADSL+ISDN is very common in Germany , there are
combined spliiter/termination boxes (called "NTSplit" or something),
sometimes there is even a small ISDN PBX inside that box.
I think microfilters make sense if you have multiple telefone jacks that are
simply wired parallel. This kind of installation is not even allowed here. If you
want more than one telefone you use a small PBX (or ISDN devices
connectes to a S0 bus) with the ADSL splitter in front.
Filters are not necessary for ISDN lines, which do not have a large ringer
condenser producing echoes. ISDN is rare in the USA, and almost non
existent in American homes. Are the German DSL splitters separately marked
with a phone socket and a modem socket?
Yes, the splitter has 3 Connections: An input for the old phone jack (the
splitter is the only device connected to the public network) and 2 Outputs: One
is for the modem, the other one is for telephone equipment.
Is the German arrangement different when DSL is applied to an old analog
line?
No, as far as I know all providers in Germany use ANNEX-B DSL ("DSL over
ISDN") even when there is no ISDN but an analog phone line. One of the
reasons is historic, for several years you could only get DSL in combination
with ISDN. Now you can also get it with analog, but they use the same
equipment.
Most splitters have a small switch ("ISDN - ANALOG") so the same device
could be used for ANNEX-A on an analog line, giving some more bandwidth,
but the telcos don't use that and the devices are shipped configured to ISDN
(ANNEX-B). I think they also want to avoid customer confusion. (Christian)
OSI Model
Where in the OSI model do (A)DSL and ADSL+ fit? In the link layer? —
Preceding unsigned comment added by 194.251.240.114 (talk) 12:42, 7
February 2008 (UTC)
768Kbps
It is great to have all this tech info about the range of possible speeds. But it
would be good to also have a table of the most common marketed speeds. In
the US 2008 at the low end for Verizon that is 768 Kbps / 128 Kbps. It would
be interesting to see a table of the most common low-end DSL speeds current
around the world, and the average price. -69.87.200.195 (talk) 11:11, 24
March 2008 (UTC)
G.SHDSL features symmetrical data rates from 192 kbit/s to 2,304 kbit/s of
payload in 64 kbit/s increments for one pair and 384 kbit/s to 4,608 kbit/s in
128 kbit/s increments for two pair applications. The reach varies according to
the loop rate and noise conditions (more noise or higher rate means
decreased reach) and may be up to 3,000 meters. The two pair feature may
alternatively be used for increased reach applications by keeping the data rate
low (halving the data rate per pair will provide similar speeds to single pair
lines while increasing the error/noise tolerance).
A DSL Modem
Typically, the download speed of consumer DSL services ranges from 256
kilobits per second (kbit/s) to 24,000 kbit/s, depending on DSL technology,
line conditions and service level implemented. Typically, upload speed is
lower than download speed for Asymmetric Digital Subscriber Line (ADSL)
and equal to download speed for the rarer Symmetric Digital Subscriber Line
(SDSL)
Voice and data
Some variants of DSL connections, like ADSL and very high speed DSL
(VDSL), typically work by dividing the frequencies used in a single phone line
into two primary 'bands'. The ISP data is carried over the high frequency band
(25 kHz and above) whereas the voice is carried over the lower frequency
band (4 kHz and below). (See the ADSL article on how the high frequency
band is sub-divided). The user typically installs a DSL filter on each phone.
This filters out the high frequencies from the phone line, so that the phone
only sends or receives the lower frequencies (the human voice). The DSL
modem and the normal telephone equipment can be used simultaneously on
the line without interference from each other.
DSL, like many other forms of communication, stems directly from Claude
Shannon's seminal 1948 scientific paper: A Mathematical Theory of
Communication. Employees at Bellcore (now Telcordia Technologies)
developed ADSL in 1988 by placing wideband digital signals above the
existing baseband analog voice signal carried between telephone company
central offices and customers on conventional twisted pair cabling.[1]
U.S. telephone companies promote DSL to compete with cable modems. DSL
service was first provided over a dedicated "dry loop", but when the FCC
required the incumbent local exchange carriers ILECs to lease their lines to
competing providers such as Earthlink, shared-line DSL became common.
Also known as DSL over Unbundled Network Element , this allows a single
pair to carry data (via a digital subscriber line access multiplexer [DSLAM])
and analog voice (via a circuit switched telephone switch) at the same time.
Inline low-pass filter/splitters keep the high frequency DSL signals out of the
user's telephones. Although DSL avoids the voice frequency band, the
nonlinear elements in the phone would otherwise generate audible
intermodulation products and impair the operation of the data modem.
Older ADSL standards can deliver 8 Mbit/s to the customer over about 2 km
(1.25 miles) of unshielded twisted pair copper wire. The latest standard,
ADSL2+, can deliver up to 24 Mbit/s, depending on the distance from the
DSLAM. Distances greater than 2 km (1.25 miles) significantly reduce the
bandwidth usable on the wires, thus reducing the data rate. By using an ADSL
loop extender, these distances can be increased substantially.
[]
Operation
The local loop of the public switched telephone network (PSTN) was initially
designed to carry POTS voice communication and signaling, since the
concept of data communications as we know it today did not exist. For
reasons of economy, the phone system nominally passes audio between 300
and 3,400 Hz, which is regarded as the range required for human speech to
be clearly intelligible. This is known as voiceband or commercial bandwidth.
The laws of physics, specifically the Shannon limit, cap the speed of data
transmission. For a long time, it was believed that a conventional phone line
couldn't be pushed beyond the low speed limits (typically under 9600 bit/s). In
the 1950s, 4 MHz television signals were often carried between studios on
ordinary twisted pair telephone cable, suggesting that the Shannon Limit
would allow transmitting many megabits per second. However, these cables
had other impairments besides Gaussian noise, preventing such rates from
becoming practical in the field. In the 1980s techniques were developed for
broadband communications that allowed the limit to be greatly extended.
Because DSL operates at above the 3.4 kHz voice limit, it cannot be passed
through a load coil. Load coils are, in essence, filters that block out any non-
voice frequency. They are commonly set at regular intervals in lines placed
only for POTS service. A DSL signal cannot pass through a properly installed
and working load coil, nor can voice service be maintained past a certain
distance without such coils. Some areas that are within range for DSL service
are disqualified from eligibility because of load coil placement. Because of this
phone companies are endeavoring to remove load coils on copper loops that
can operate without them, and conditioning lines not to need them through the
use of fiber to the neighborhood or node FTTN.
The commercial success of DSL and similar technologies largely reflects the
advances made in electronics, that, over the past few decades, have been
getting faster and cheaper even while digging trenches in the ground for new
cables (copper or fiber optic) remains expensive. Several factors contributed
to the popularization of DSL technology:
Until the late 1990s, the cost of digital signal processors for DSL was
prohibitive. All types of DSL employ highly complex digital signal processing
algorithms to overcome the inherent limitations of the existing twisted pair
wires. Due to the advancements of VLSI technology, the cost of the
equipment associated with a DSL deployment (a DSLAM at one end and a
DSL modem at the other end) lowered significantly.
A DSL line can be deployed over existing cable. Such deployment, even
including equipment, is much cheaper than installing a new, high-bandwidth
fiber-optic cable over the same route and distance. This is true both for ADSL
and SDSL variations.
In the case of ADSL, competition in Internet access caused sub******ion fees
to drop significantly over the years, thus making ADSL more economical when
compared to dial up access. Telephone companies were pressured into
moving to ADSL largely due to competition from cable companies, which use
DOCSIS cable modem technology to achieve similar speeds. Demand for
high bandwidth applications, such as video and file sharing, also contributed
to popularize ADSL technology.
Once upstream and downstream channels are established, they are used to
connect the subscriber to a service such as an Internet service provider.
Dry-loop DSL or "naked DSL," which does not require the subscriber to have
traditional land-line telephone service, started making a comeback in the US
in 2004 when Qwest started offering it, closely followed by Speakeasy. As a
result of AT&T's merger with SBC,[2] and Verizon's merger with MCI,[3] those
telephone companies are required to offer naked DSL to consumers.
Even without the regulatory mandate, however, many ILECs offer naked DSL
to consumers. The number of telephone landlines in the US has dropped from
188 million in 2000 to 172 million in 2005, while the number of cellular
subscribers has grown to 195 million. [3]. This lack of demand for landline
service has resulted in the expansion of naked DSL availability.
[]
Typical setup and connection procedures
The first step is the physical connection. On the customer side, the DSL
Tranceiver, or ATU-R, or more commonly known as a DSL modem, is hooked
up to a phone line. Modems actually modulate and demodulate a signal,
where the DSL Transceiver is actually a radio signal transmit and receive unit.
The telephone company(telco) connects the other end of the line to a DSLAM,
which concentrates a large number of individual DSL connections into a single
box. The location of the DSLAM depends on the telco, but it cannot be located
too far from the user because of attenuation, the loss of data due to the large
amount of electrical resistance encountered as the data moves between the
DSLAM and the user's DSL modem. It is common for a few residential blocks
to be connected to one DSLAM. When the DSL modem is powered up, it goes
through a sync procedure. The actual process varies from modem to modem
but can be generally described as:
The DSL Transceiver does a self-test.
The DSL Transceiver checks the connection between the DSL Transceiver
and the computer. For residential variations of DSL, this is usually the
Ethernet (RJ-45) port or a USB port; in rare models, a FireWire port is used.
Older DSL modems sported a native ATM interface (usually, a 25 Mbit serial
interface). Also, some variations of DSL (such as SDSL) use synchronous
serial connections.
The DSL Transceiver then attempts to synchronize with the DSLAM. Data can
only come into the computer when the DSLAM and the modem are
synchronized. The synchronization process is relatively quick (in the range of
seconds) but is very complex, involving extensive tests that allow both sides
of the connection to optimize the performance according to the characteristics
of the line in use. External, or stand-alone modem units have an indicator
labeled "CD", "DSL", or "LINK", which can be used to tell if the modem is
synchronized. During synchronization the light flashes; when synchronized,
the light stays lit, usually with a green color.
In some DSL variations (for example, HDSL), the terminal adapter is directly
connected to the computer via a serial interface, using protocols such as RS-
232 or V.35. In other cases (particularly ADSL), it's common for the customer
equipment to be integrated with higher level functionality, such as routing,
firewalling, or other application-specific hardware and software. In this case,
the entire equipment is usually referred to as a DSL router or DSL gateway.
[]
Protocols and configurations
Many DSL technologies implement an ATM layer over the low-level bitstream
layer to enable the adaptation of a number of different technologies over the
same link.
DSL implementations may create bridged or routed networks. In a bridged
configuration, the group of subscriber computers effectively connect into a
single subnet. The earliest implementations used DHCP to provide network
details such as the IP address to the subscriber equipment, with
authentication via MAC address or an assigned host name. Later
implementations often use PPP over Ethernet or ATM (PPPoE or PPPoA),
while authenticating with a userid and password and using PPP mechanisms
to provide network details.
DSL also has *******ion ratios which need to be taken into consideration when
deciding between broadband technologies.
[]
DSL technologies
The line length limitations from telephone exchange to subscriber are more
restrictive for higher data transmission rates. Technologies such as VDSL
provide very high speed, short-range links as a method of delivering "triple
play" services (typically implemented in fiber to the curb network
architectures). Technologies likes GDSL can further increase the data rate of
DSL.
[]
Transmission methods
ISDN elements
Integrated Services refers to ISDN's ability to deliver at minimum two
simultaneous connections, in any combination of data, voice, video, and fax,
over a single line. Multiple devices can be attached to the line, and used as
needed. That means an ISDN line can take care of most people's complete
communications needs at a much higher transmission rate, without forcing the
purchase of multiple analogue phone lines.
Digital refers to its purely digital transmission, as opposed to the analog
transmission of plain old telephone service (POTS). Use of an analog
telephone modem for Internet access requires that the Internet service
provider's (ISP) modem converts the digital ******* to analog signals before
sending it and the user's modem then converts those signals back to digital
when receiving. When connecting with ISDN there is no analogue conversion.
Network refers to the fact that ISDN is not simply a point-to-point solution like
a leased line. ISDN networks extend from the local telephone exchange to the
remote user and includes all of the telecommunications and switching
equipment in between.
The purpose of the ISDN is to provide fully integrated digital services to the
users. These services fall under three categories: bearer services,
supplementary services and teleservices.
[]
Basic Rate Interface
The entry level interface to ISDN is the Basic Rate Interface (BRI), a 144
kbit/s service delivered over a pair of standard telephone copper wires. The
144 kbit/s rate is broken down into two 64 kbit/s bearer channels ('B'
channels) and one 16 kbit/s signalling channel ('D' channel).
[]
Primary Rate Interface
The other ISDN service available is the Primary Rate Interface (PRI) which is
carried over an E1 (2048 kbit/s) in most parts of the world. An E1 is 30 'B'
channels of 64 kbit/s, one 'D' channel of 64 kbit/s and a timing and alarm
channel of 64 kbit/s. In North America PRI service is delivered on one or more
T1s (sometimes referred to as 23B+D) of 1544 kbit/s (24 channels). A T1 has
23 'B' channels and 1 'D' channel for signalling (Japan uses a circuit called a
J1, which is similar to a T1).
Even though many network professionals use the term "ISDN" to refer to the
lower-bandwidth BRI circuit, in North America by far the majority of ISDN
services are in fact PRI circuits serving PBXs.
[]
Data Channel
The bearer channel (B) is a standard 64 kbit/s voice channel of 8 bits sampled
at 8 kHz with G.711 encoding. B-Channels can also be used to carry data,
since they are nothing more than digital channels.
[]
Signalling Channel
The signalling channel (D) uses Q.931 for signalling with the other side of the
link.
[]
Consumer and industry perspectives
There are two points of view into the ISDN world. The most common
viewpoint is that of the end user, who wants to get a digital connection into the
telephone/data network from home, whose performance would be better than
an ordinary analog modem connection. The typical end-user's connection to
the Internet is related to this point of view, and discussion on the merits of
various ISDN modems, carriers' offerings and tarriffing (features, pricing) are
from this perspective. Much of the following discussion is from this point of
view, but it should be noted that as a data connection service, ISDN has been
mostly superseded by DSL.
[]
Canada and The United States
Part of the difficulty is that as BRI was coming into service, the concept of
what the word broadband meant was being revised upward to mean at least
256 kbit/s incoming to the customer.[citation needed] As ADSL grew in
popularity in the United States, the consumer market for BRI imploded. Its
only remaining positive element is that while ADSL has a functional distance
limitation, BRI does not have any such limit and may be acceptable in
situations where the customer is too remote for ADSL to work. This is further
stymied by many North American CLECs having given up on BRI and will not
install it as a new option for remote/rural exchanges.
However, most modern non-VoIP PBXs use ISDN-PRI (Primary Rate
Interface) circuits. These are connected via T1 lines with the central office
switch, replacing older analog two-way and Direct Inward Dialing (DID) trunks.
PRI is capable of delivering Automatic Number Identification (ANI) in both
directions so that the telephone number of an extension, rather than a
company's main number, can be sent. It is still commonly used in recording
studios, when a voice-over actor is in one studio, but the director and
producer are in a studio at another location. The ISDN protocol delivers
channelized, not-over-the-Internet service, powerful call setup and routing
features, faster setup and tear down, superior audio fidelity (as compared to
POTS service) and, at higher densities, lower cost.
[]
Japan
In Japan, it became popular to some extent from around 1999 to 2001, but
now that ADSL has been introduced, the number of subscribers is in decline.
NTT, a dominant Japanese telephone company, provides an ISDN service
with the names INS64 and INS1500, which are much less recognized than
ISDN.
[]
United Kingdom
In the UK, British Telecom (BT) provides ISDN2e (BRI) as well as ISDN30
(PRI). Until April 2006, they also offered Home Highway and Business
Highway, which are BRI ISDN-based services that offer integrated analogue
connectivity as well as ISDN. Later versions of the Highway products also
included built-in USB sockets for direct computer access. Home Highway has
been bought by many home users, usually for Internet connection, although
not as fast as ADSL, because it was available before ADSL and in places
where ADSL does not reach. Virgin Media also use ISDN lines for customer of
Virgin Broadband who live in cable tv areas.
[]
France
France Télécom offers ISDN services under their product name Numeris (2
B+D), of which a professional Duo and home Itoo version is available. ISDN is
generally known as RNIS in France and has widespread availability. The
introduction of ADSL is reducing ISDN use for data transfer and Internet
access, although it is still common in more rural and outlying areas, and for
applications such as business voice and point-of-sale terminals.
[]
Germany
[]
India
In India, ISDN was very popular until the introduction of ADSL. Bharat
Sanchar Nigam Limited, the largest communication service provider in India
and a state owned company, is offering both ISDN BRI and PRI services
across the country over its ISDN network. After the introduction of ADSL
broadband technology with static IPs, the data transfer load is taken up by
ADSL. But ISDN still plays a very big role as a backup network for point-to-
point leased line customers and low cost reliable data network for
organisations located all over India, such as banks, E-seva centres, Life
Insurance Corporation of India, and so on.
[]
International occurrence
A study [2] of the German Department of Science shows the following spread
of ISDN-channels per 1000 inhabitants in the year 2005:
Norway 401
Denmark 339
Germany 333
Switzerland 331
Japan 240
UK 160
Finland 160
Sweden 135
Italy 105
France 85
Spain 58
USA 47
[]
Configurations
In ISDN, there are two types of channels, B (for "Bearer") and D (for "Delta").
B channels are used for data (which may include voice), and D channels are
intended for signaling and control (but can also be used for data).
There are two ISDN implementations. Basic Rate Interface (BRI), also called
Basic Rate Access (BRA) in Europe — consists of two B channels, each with
bandwidth of 64 kbit/s, and one D channel with a bandwidth of 16 kbit/s.
Together these three channels can be designated as 2B+D. Primary Rate
Interface (PRI), also called Primary Rate Access (PRA) in Europe — contains
a greater number of B channels and a D channel with a bandwidth of 64
kbit/s. The number of B channels for PRI varies according to the nation: in
North America and Japan it is 23B+1D, with an aggregate bit rate of 1.544
Mbit/s (T1); in Europe, India and Australia it is 30B+1D, with an aggregate bit
rate of 2.048 Mbit/s (E1). Broadband Integrated Services Digital Network
(BISDN) is another ISDN implementation and it is able to manage different
types of services at the same time. It is primarily used within network
backbones and employs ATM.
The D channel can also be used for sending and receiving X.25 data packets,
and connection to X.25 packet network, this is specified in X.31. In practice,
X.31 was only commercially implemented in UK, France and Japan.
[]
Reference points
A set of reference points are defined in the ISDN standard to refer to certain
points between the telco and the end user ISDN equipment.
R - defines the point between a non-ISDN device and a terminal adapter (TA)
which provides translation to and from such a device
S - defines the point between the ISDN equipment (or TA) and a Network
Termination Type 2 (NT-2) device
T - defines the point between the NT-2 and NT-1 devices1
1 Most NT-1 devices can perform the functions of the NT-2 as well, and so the
S and T reference points are generally collapsed into the S/T reference point.
² Inside North America, the NT-1 device is considered customer premises
equipment(CPE) and must be maintained by the customer, thus, the U
interface is provided to the customer. In other locations, the NT-1 device is
maintained by the telco, and the S/T interface is provided to the customer. In
India, service providers provide U interface and an NT1 may be supplied by
Service provider as part of service offering
[]
Types of communications
Among the kinds of data that can be moved over the 64 kbit/s channels are
pulse-code modulated voice calls, providing access to the traditional voice
PSTN. This information can be passed between the network and the user
end-point at call set-up time. In North America, ISDN is now used mostly as
an alternative to analog connections, most commonly for Internet access.
Some of the services envisioned as being delivered over ISDN are now
delivered over the Internet instead. In Europe, and in Germany in particular,
ISDN has been successfully marketed as a phone with features, as opposed
to a POTS phone (Plain Old Telephone Service) with few or no features.
Meanwhile, features that were first available with ISDN (such as Three-Way
Call, Call Forwarding, Caller ID, etc.) are now commonly available for ordinary
analog phones as well, eliminating this advantage of ISDN. Another
advantage of ISDN was the possibility of multiple simultaneous calls (one call
per B channel), e.g. for big families, but with the increased popularity and
reduced prices of mobile telephony this has become less interesting as well,
making ISDN unappealing to the private customer. However, ISDN is typically
more reliable than POTS, and has a significantly faster call setup time
compared with POTS, and IP connections over ISDN typically have some 30–
35ms round trip time, as opposed to 120–180ms (both measured with
otherwise unused lines) over 56k or V.34 modems, making ISDN more
pleasant for telecommuters.
[]
Sample call
The following is an example of a Primary Rate (PRI) ISDN call showing the
Q.921/LAPD and the Q.931/Network message intermixed (i.e. exactly what
was exchanged on the D-channel). The call is originating from the switch
where the trace was taken and goes out to some other switch, possibly an
end-office LEC, who terminates the call.
The RR messages at the beginning prior to the call are the keep alive
messages. Then you will see a SETUP message that starts the call. Each
message is acknowledged by the other side with a RR.
10:49:47.33 21/1/24 R RR
0000 02 01 01 a5 ....
10:49:47.34 21/1/24 T RR
0000 02 01 01 b9 ....
10:50:17.57 21/1/24 R RR
0000 02 01 01 a5 ....
10:50:17.58 21/1/24 T RR
0000 02 01 01 b9 ....
10:50:24.37 21/1/24 R RR
0000 00 01 01 a6 ....
10:50:24.77 21/1/24 T RR
0000 02 01 01 ba ....
10:50:25.02 21/1/24 T RR
0000 02 01 01 bc ....
10:50:28.44 21/1/24 R RR
0000 00 01 01 a8 ....
10:50:35.70 21/1/24 R RR
0000 00 01 01 aa ....
10:50:36.98 21/1/24 T RR
0000 02 01 01 c0 ....
10:50:36.00 21/1/24 R RR
0000 00 01 01 ac ....
10:51:06.10 21/1/24 R RR
0000 02 01 01 ad ....
10:51:06.10 21/1/24 T RR
0000 02 01 01 c1 ....
10:51:36.37 21/1/24 R RR
0000 02 01 01 ad ....
10:51:36.37 21/1/24 T RR
0000 02 01 01 c1 ....
Protocols
DSS1 (ETSI "Euro-ISDN", also used in many non-European countries)
DSS2 (Digital Subscriber Signalling System No. 2)
ETS 300 specification at ETSI
NI-1 (US National ISDN Phase 1)
NI-2 (US National ISDN Phase 2)
4ESS (Lucent 4ESS specific protocol defined in AT&T TR 41459)
INS-NET 64/1500 (Japanese national/NTT carrier-specific protocol)
DACS used in the UK by British Telecom it uses non standard D channel
signalling for Pair gain
QSIG
Remote operations service element protocol (ROSE)
Q.931
FTZ 1 TR 6 (obsolete German national protocol)
TS.013/TS.014 (obsolete Australian national protocol)
VN2/VN3/VN4 (obsolete French national protocols)
Specifications defining the physical layer and part of the data link layers of
ISDN:
ISDN BRI: ITU-T I.430.
ISDN PRI: ITU-T I.431.
From the point of view of the OSI architecture, an ISDN line has a stack of
three protocols
physical layer
data link layer
network layer (the ISDN protocol, properly)
Asynchronous Transfer Mode ATM
Asynchronous Transfer Mode (ATM) is a cell relay, packet switching network
and data link layer protocol which encodes data traffic into small (53 bytes; 48
bytes of data and 5 bytes of header information) fixed-sized cells. ATM
provides data link layer services that run over Layer 1 links. This differs from
other technologies based on packet-switched networks (such as the Internet
Protocol or Ethernet), in which variable sized packets (known as frames when
referencing Layer 2) are used. ATM is a connection-oriented technology, in
which a logical connection is established between the two endpoints before
the actual data exchange begins.
The standards for ATM were first developed in the mid 1980s. The goal was
to design a single networking strategy that could transport real-time video and
audio as well as image files, **** and email. Two groups, the International
Telecommunications Union and the ATM Forum were involved in the creation
of the standards. ATM has been used primarily with telephone and IP
networks.
ATM Addressing
A Virtual Channel (VC) denotes the transport of ATM cells which have the
same unique identifier, called the Virtual Channel Identifier (VCI). This
identifier is encoded in the cell header. A virtual channel represents the basic
means of communication between two end-points, and is analogous to an
X.25 virtual circuit.[1]
A Virtual Path (VP) denotes the transport of ATM cells belonging to virtual
channels which share a common identifier, called the Virtual Path Identifier
(VPI), which is also encoded in the cell header. A virtual path, in other words,
is a grouping of virtual channels which connect the same end-points, and
which share a traffic allocation. This two layer approach can be used to
separate the management of routes and bandwidth from the setup of
individual connections.
In addition, the need for cells to reduce jitter has declined as transport speeds
increased (see below), and improvements in Voice over IP (VoIP) have made
the integration of speech and data possible at the IP la
yer, again removing the incentive for ubiquitous deployment of ATM. Most
Telcos are now planning to integrate their voice network activities into their IP
networks, rather than their IP networks into the voice infrastructure.
Many technically sound ideas from ATM were adopted by MPLS, a generic
Layer 2 packet switching protocol. ATM remains widely deployed, and is used
as a multiplexing service in DSL networks, where its compromises fit DSL's
low-data-rate needs well. In turn, DSL networks support IP (and IP services
such as VoIP) via PPP over ATM and Ethernet over ATM (RFC 2684).
ATM will remain deployed for some time in higher-speed interconnects where
carriers have already committed themselves to existing ATM deployments;
ATM is used here as a way of unifying PDH/SDH traffic and packet-switched
traffic under a single infrastructure. However, ATM is increasingly challenged
by speed and traffic shaping requirements of converged networks. In
particular, the complexity of SAR imposes a performance bottleneck, as the
fastest SARs known run at 10 Gbit/s and have limited traffic shaping
capabilities. Currently it seems likely that gigabit Ethernet implementations
(10Gbit-Ethernet, Metro Ethernet) will replace ATM as a technology of choice
in new WAN implementions.
[]
Recent developments
Interest in using native ATM for carrying live video and audio has increased
recently. In these environments, low latency and very high quality of service
are required to handle linear audio and video streams. Towards this goal
standards are being developed such as AES47 (IEC 62365), which provides a
standard for professional uncompressed audio transport over ATM. This is
worth comparing with professional video over IP.
[]
ATM concepts
Why cells?
The motivation for the use of small data cells was the reduction of jitter (delay
variance, in this case) in the multiplexing of data streams; reduction of this
(and also end-to-end round-trip delays) is particularly important when carrying
voice traffic.
This is because the conversion of digitized voice back into an analog audio
signal is an inherently real-time process, and to do a good job, the codec that
does this needs an evenly spaced (in time) stream of data items. If the next
data item is not available when it is needed, the codec has no choice but to
produce silence or guess - and if the data is late, it is useless, because the
time period when it should have been converted to a signal has already
passed.
Now consider a speech signal reduced to packets, and forced to share a link
with bursty data traffic (i.e. some of the data packets will be large). No matter
how small the speech packets could be made, they would always encounter
full-size data packets, and under normal queuing conditions, might experience
maximum queuing delays.
At the time ATM was designed, 155 Mbit/s SDH (135 Mbit/s payload) was
considered a fast optical network link, and many PDH links in the digital
network were considerably slower, ranging from 1.544 to 45 Mbit/s in the USA
(2 to 34 Mbit/s in Europe).
At this rate, a typical full-length 1500 byte (12000-bit) data packet would take
77.42 µs to transmit. In a lower-speed link, such as a 1.544 Mbit/s T1 link, a
1500 byte packet would take up to 7.8 milliseconds.
[]
Cells in practice
Different types of services are supported by ATM via ATM Adaptation Layers
(AAL). Standardized AALs include AAL1, AAL2, and AAL5, and the rarely
used AAL3 and AAL4. AAL1 is used for constant bit rate (CBR) services and
circuit emulation. AAL2 through AAL4 are used for variable bit rate (VBR)
services, and AAL5 for data. Which AAL is in use for a given cell is not
encoded in the cell. Instead, it is negotiated by or configured at the endpoints
on a per-virtual-connection basis.
Since the time ATM was designed, networks have become much faster. A
1500 byte (12000-bit) full-size Ethernet packet takes only 1.2 µs to transmit on
a 10 Gbit/s optical network, removing the need for small cells to reduce jitter.
Some consider that this removes the need for ATM in the network backbone.
Additionally, the hardware for implementing the service adaptation for IP
packets is expensive at very high speeds. Specifically, the cost of
segmentation and reassembly (SAR) hardware at OC-3 and above speeds
makes ATM less competitive for IP than Packet Over SONET (POS). SAR
performance limits mean that the fastest IP router ATM interfaces are OC12 -
OC48 (STM4 - STM16), while (as of 2004) POS can operate at OC-192
(STM64) with higher speeds expected in the future.
On slow links (2 Mbit/s and below). ATM still makes sense, and this is why so
many ADSL systems use ATM as an intermediate layer between the physical
link layer and a Layer 2 protocol like PPP or Ethernet.
[]
Why virtual circuits?
Another advantage of the use of virtual circuits is the ability to use them as a
multiplexing layer, allowing different services (such as voice, Frame Relay,
n*64 channels , IP).
[]
Using cells and virtual circuits for traffic engineering
Another key ATM concept is that of the traffic contract. When an ATM circuit is
set up each switch is informed of the traffic class of the connection.
ATM traffic contracts are part of the mechanism by which "Quality of Service"
(QoS) is ensured. There are four basic types (and several variants) which
each have a set of parameters describing the connection.
CBR - Constant bit rate: a Peak Cell Rate (PCR) is specified, which is
constant.
VBR - Variable bit rate: an average cell rate is specified, which can peak at a
certain level for a maximum interval before being problematic.
ABR - Available bit rate: a minimum guaranteed rate is specified.
UBR - Unspecified bit rate: traffic is allocated to all remaining transmission
capacity.
VBR has real-time and non-real-time variants, and is used for "bursty" traffic.
Non-real-time is usually abbreviated to vbr-nrt.
Most traffic classes also introduce the concept of Cell Delay Variation
Tolerance (CDVT) which defines the "clumping" of cells in time.
[]
Traffic shaping
Traffic shaping is usually done at the entry point to an ATM network and
attempts to ensure that the cell flow will meet its traffic contract.
[]
Traffic policing
To maintain network performance it is possible to police virtual circuits against
their traffic contracts. If a circuit is exceeding its traffic contract, the network
can either drop the cells or mark the Cell Loss Priority (CLP) bit (to identify a
cell as discardable farther down the line). Basic policing works on a cell by cell
basis, but this is sub-optimal for encapsulated packet traffic (as discarding a
single cell will invalidate the whole packet). As a result, schemes such as
Partial Packet Discard (PPD) and Early Packet Discard (EPD) have been
created that will discard a whole series of cells until the next frame starts. This
reduces the number of redundant cells in the network, saving bandwidth for
full frames. EPD and PPD work with AAL5 connections as they use the frame
end bit to detect the end of packets.
[]
Types of virtual circuits and paths
Virtual circuits and virtual paths can be built statically or dynamically. Static
circuits (permanent virtual circuits or PVCs) or paths (permanent virtual paths
or PVPs) require that the provisioner must build the circuit as a series of
segments, one for each pair of interfaces through which it passes.
PVPs and PVCs are conceptually simple, but require significant effort in large
networks. They also do not support the re-routing of service in the event of a
failure. Dynamically built PVPs (soft PVPs or SPVPs) and PVCs (soft PVCs or
SPVCs), in contrast, are built by specifying the characteristics of the circuit
(the service "contract") and the two endpoints.
Finally, switched virtual circuits (SVCs) are built and torn down on demand
when requested by an end piece of equipment. One application for SVCs is to
carry individual telephone calls when a network of telephone switches are
inter-connected by ATM. SVCs were also used in attempts to replace local
area networks with ATM.
[]
Virtual circuit routing
Most ATM networks supporting SPVPs, SPVCs, and SVCs use the Private
Network Node Interface or Private Network-to-Network Interface (PNNI)
protocol. PNNI uses the same shortest path first algorithm used by OSPF and
IS-IS to route IP packets to share topology information between switches and
select a route through a network. PNNI also includes a very powerful
summarization mechanism to allow construction of very large networks, as
well as a call admission control (CAC) algorithm that determines whether
sufficient bandwidth is available on a proposed route through a network to
satisfy the service requirements of a VC or VP.
[]
Call admission and connection establishment
The PT field is used to designate various special kinds of cells for operations,
administration, and maintenance (OAM) purposes, and to delineate packet
boundaries in some AALs.
Several of ATM's link protocols use the HEC field to drive a CRC-Based
Framing algorithm, which allows the position of the ATM cells to be found with
no overhead required beyond what is otherwise needed for header protection.
The 8-bit CRC is used to correct single-bit header errors and detect multi-bit
header errors. When multi-bit header errors are detected, the current and
subsequent cells are dropped until a cell with no header errors is found.
In a UNI cell the GFC field is reserved for a local flow control/submultiplexing
system between users. This was intended to allow several terminals to share
a single network connection, in the same way that two ISDN phones can
share a single basic rate ISDN connection. All four GFC bits must be zero by
default.
The NNI cell format is almost identical to the UNI format, except that the 4-bit
GFC field is re-allocated to the VPI field, extending the VPI to 12 bits. Thus, a
single NNI ATM interconnection is capable of addressing almost 212 VPs of
up to almost 216 VCs each (in practice some of the VP and VC numbers are
reserved).
[]
References
P.S. Neelakanta; A ****book on ATM Telecommunications, Principles and
implementation. CRC Press. 2000 ISBN 0-8493-1805-X.
[]
Further reading
Amos E. Joel, Jr., Asynchronous Transfer Mode (IEEE Press, 1993)
Martin De Prycker, Asynchronous Transfer Mode. Solutions for Broadband
ISDN (Prentice-Hall, 1993)
Tom Golway, Planning and Managing ATM Networks. New York: Manning,
1997. ISBN 132621894.
P.S. Neelakanta A ****book on ATM Telecommunications, Principles and
implementation. CRC Press. 2000 ISBN 0-8493-1805-X.
Terminology
The Internet and the World Wide Web are not one and the same. The Internet
is a collection of interconnected computer networks, linked by copper wires,
fiber-optic cables, wireless connections, etc. In contrast, the Web is a
collection of interconnected ********s and other resources, linked by hyperlinks
and URLs. The World Wide Web is one of the services accessible via the
Internet, along with various others including e-mail, file sharing, online gaming
and others described below. However, "the Internet" and "the Web" are
commonly used interchangeably in non-technical settings.
History
Main article: History of the Internet
Creation
The USSR's launch of Sputnik spurred the United States to create the
Advanced Research Projects Agency, known as ARPA, in February 1958 to
regain a technological lead.[1][2] ARPA created the Information Processing
Technology Office (IPTO) to further the research of the Semi Automatic
Ground Environment (SAGE) program, which had networked country-wide
radar systems together for the first time. J. C. R. Licklider was selected to
head the IPTO, and saw universal networking as a potential unifying human
revolution.
Licklider moved from the Psycho-Acoustic Laboratory at Harvard University to
MIT in 1950, after becoming interested in information technology. At MIT, he
served on a committee that established Lincoln Laboratory and worked on the
SAGE project. In 1957 he became a Vice President at BBN, where he bought
the first production PDP-1 computer and conducted the first public
demonstration of time-sharing.
The first TCP/IP-wide area network was made operational by January 1, 1983
when all hosts on the ARPANET were switched over from the older NCP
protocols to TCP/IP. In 1985, the United States' National Science Foundation
(NSF) commissioned the construction of a university 56 kilobit/second network
backbone using computers called "fuzzballs" by their inventor, David L. Mills.
The following year, NSF sponsored the development of a higher-speed 1.5
megabit/second backbone that became the NSFNet. A key decision to use the
DARPA TCP/IP protocols was made by Dennis Jennings, then in charge of
the Supercomputer program at NSF.
Growth
Although the basic applications and guidelines that make the Internet possible
had existed for almost a decade, the network did not gain a public face until
the 1990s. On August 6, 1991, CERN, which straddles the border between
France and Switzerland, publicized the new World Wide Web project. The
Web was invented by English scientist Tim Berners-Lee in 1989.
An early popular web browser was ViolaWWW, based upon HyperCard. It
was eventually replaced in popularity by the Mosaic web browser. In 1993, the
National Center for Supercomputing Applications at the University of Illinois
released version 1.0 of Mosaic, and by late 1994 there was growing public
interest in the previously academic, technical Internet. By 1996 usage of the
word Internet had become commonplace, and consequently, so had its use as
a synecdoche in reference to the World Wide Web.
New findings in the field of communications during the 1960s, 1970s and
1980s were quickly adopted by universities across North America.
Today's Internet
Aside from the complex physical connections that make up its infrastructure,
the Internet is facilitated by bi- or multi-lateral commercial contracts (e.g.,
peering agreements), and by technical specifications or protocols that
describe how to exchange data over the network. Indeed, the Internet is
essentially defined by its interconnections and routing policies.
As of March 31, 2008, 1.407 billion people use the Internet according to
Internet World Stats.
Internet protocols
Internet structure
There have been many analyses of the Internet and its structure. For
example, it has been determined that the Internet IP routing structure and
hyper**** links of the World Wide Web are examples of scale-free networks.
Similar to the way the commercial Internet providers connect via Internet
exchange points, research networks tend to interconnect into large
subnetworks such as:
GEANT
GLORIAD
The Internet2 Network (formally known as the Abilene Network)
JANET (the UK's national research and education network)
These in turn are built around relatively smaller networks. See also the list of
academic computer network organizations.
In network diagrams
, [ إذا كنت مسجل فى- فقط العضاء المسجلين والمفعلين يمكنهم رؤية الوصلت
إضغط هنا للتسجيل. ]المنتدى اتصل بالدارة لتفعيل عضويتك
the Internet is often represented by a cloud symbol, into and out of which
network communications can pass.
ICANN
he Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) is the
authority that coordinates the assignment of unique identifiers on the Internet,
including domain names, Internet Protocol (IP) addresses, and protocol port
and parameter numbers. A globally unified namespace (i.e., a system of
names in which there is at most one holder for each possible name) is
essential for the Internet to function. ICANN is headquartered in Marina del
Rey, California, but is overseen by an international board of directors drawn
from across the Internet technical, business, academic, and non-commercial
communities. The US government continues to have the primary role in
approving changes to the root zone file that lies at the heart of the domain
name system. Because the Internet is a distributed network comprising many
voluntarily interconnected networks, the Internet, as such, has no governing
body. ICANN's role in coordinating the assignment of unique identifiers
distinguishes it as perhaps the only central coordinating body on the global
Internet, but the scope of its authority extends only to the Internet's systems of
domain names, IP addresses, protocol ports and parameter numbers.
On November 16, 2005, the World Summit on the Information Society, held in
Tunis, established the Internet Governance Forum (IGF) to discuss Internet-
related issues.
Language
For more details on this topic, see English on the Internet.
Further information: Unicode
After English (30% of Web visitors) the most requested languages on the
World Wide Web are Chinese (17%), Spanish (9%), Japanese (7%), French
(5%) and German (5%).[6]
By continent, 38% of the world's Internet users are based in Asia, 27% in
Europe, 18% in North America, and 10% in Latin America and the Caribbean.
[7]
E-mail
For more details on this topic, see E-mail.
The World Wide Web is a huge set of interlinked ********s, images and other
resources, linked by hyperlinks and URLs. These hyperlinks and URLs allow
the web servers and other machines that store originals, and cached copies,
of these resources to deliver them as required using HTTP (Hyper****
Transfer Protocol). HTTP is only one of the communication protocols used on
the Internet.
Software products that can access the resources of the Web are correctly
termed user agents. In normal use, web browsers, such as Internet Explorer
and Firefox, access web pages and allow users to navigate from one to
another via hyperlinks. Web ********s may contain almost any combination of
computer data including graphics, sounds, ****, video, multimedia and
interactive ******* including games, office applications and scientific
demonstrations.
Using the Web, it is also easier than ever before for individuals and
organisations to publish ideas and information to an extremely large audience.
Anyone can find ways to publish a web page or build a website for very little
initial cost. Publishing and maintaining large, professional websites full of
attractive, diverse and up-to-date information is still a difficult and expensive
proposition, however.
Many individuals and some companies and groups use "web logs" or blogs,
which are largely used as easily updatable online diaries. Some commercial
organisations encourage staff to fill them with advice on their areas of
specialization in the hope that visitors will be impressed by the expert
knowledge and free information, and be attracted to the corporation as a
result. One example of this practice is Microsoft, whose product developers
publish their personal blogs in order to pique the public's interest in their work.
In the early days, web pages were usually created as sets of complete and
isolated HTML **** files stored on a web server. More recently, websites are
more often created using ******* management system (CMS) or wiki software
with, initially, very little *******. Contributors to these systems, who may be
paid staff, members of a club or other organisation or members of the public,
fill underlying databases with ******* using editing pages designed for that
purpose, while casual visitors view and read this ******* in its final HTML form.
There may or may not be editorial, approval and security systems built into the
process of taking newly entered ******* and making it available to the target
visitors.
Remote access
Further information: Remote access
An office worker away from his desk, perhaps on the other side of the world
on a business trip or a holiday, can open a remote desktop session into his
normal office PC using a secure Virtual Private Network (VPN) connection via
the Internet. This gives the worker complete access to all of his or her normal
files and data, including e-mail and other applications, while away from the
office.
This concept is also referred to by some network security people as the Virtual
Private Nightmare, because it extends the secure perimeter of a corporate
network into its employees' homes; this has been the source of some notable
security breaches, but also provides security for the workers.
Collaboration
See also: Collaborative software
The low cost and nearly instantaneous sharing of ideas, knowledge, and skills
has made collaborative work dramatically easier. Not only can a group
cheaply communicate and test, but the wide reach of the Internet allows such
groups to easily form in the first place, even among niche interests. An
example of this is the free software movement in software development, which
produced GNU and Linux from scratch and has taken over development of
Mozilla and OpenOffice.org (formerly known as Netscape Communicator and
StarOffice). Films such as Zeitgeist, Loose Change and Endgame have had
extensive coverage on the Internet, while being virtually ignored in the
mainstream media.
Internet "chat", whether in the form of IRC "chat rooms" or channels, or via
instant messaging systems, allow colleagues to stay in touch in a very
convenient way when working at their computers during the day. Messages
can be sent and viewed even more quickly and conveniently than via e-mail.
Extension to these systems may allow files to be exchanged, "whiteboard"
drawings to be shared as well as voice and video contact between team
members.
File sharing
For more details on this topic, see File sharing.
These simple features of the Internet, over a worldwide basis, are changing
the basis for the production, sale, and distribution of anything that can be
reduced to a computer file for transmission. This includes all manner of print
publications, software products, news, music, film, video, photography,
graphics and the other arts. This in turn has caused seismic shifts in each of
the existing industries that previously controlled the production and distribution
of these products.
Streaming media
VoIP stands for Voice over IP, where IP refers to the Internet Protocol that
underlies all Internet communication. This phenomenon began as an optional
two-way voice extension to some of the instant messaging systems that took
off around the year 2000. In recent years many VoIP systems have become
as easy to use and as convenient as a normal telephone. The benefit is that,
as the Internet carries the actual voice traffic, VoIP can be free or cost much
less than a normal telephone call, especially over long distances and
especially for those with always-on Internet connections such as cable or
ADSL.
Voice quality can still vary from call to call but is often equal to and can even
exceed that of traditional calls.
Most VoIP providers offer unlimited national calling, but the direction in VoIP is
clearly toward global coverage with unlimited minutes for a low monthly fee.
VoIP has also become increasingly popular within the gaming world, as a form
of communication between players. Popular gaming VoIP clients include
Ventrilo and Teamspeak, and there are others available also. The PlayStation
3 and Xbox 360 also offer VoIP chat features.
Internet by region
Internet access
Common methods of home access include dial-up, landline broadband (over
coaxial cable, fiber optic or copper wires), Wi-Fi, satellite and 3G technology
cell phones.
Public places to use the Internet include libraries and Internet cafes, where
computers with Internet connections are available. There are also Internet
access points in many public places such as airport halls and coffee shops, in
some cases just for brief use while standing. Various terms are used, such as
"public Internet kiosk", "public access terminal", and "Web payphone". Many
hotels now also have public terminals, though these are usually fee-based.
These terminals are widely accessed for various usage like ticket booking,
bank deposit, online payment etc. Wi-Fi provides wireless access to computer
networks, and therefore can do so to the Internet itself. Hotspots providing
such access include Wi-Fi cafes, where would-be users need to bring their
own wireless-enabled devices such as a laptop or PDA. These services may
be free to all, free to customers only, or fee-based. A hotspot need not be
limited to a confined location. A whole campus or park, or even an entire city
can be enabled. Grassroots efforts have led to wireless community networks.
Commercial Wi-Fi services covering large city areas are in place in London,
Vienna, Toronto, San Francisco, Philadelphia, Chicago and Pittsburgh. The
Internet can then be accessed from such places as a park bench.[8]
Apart from Wi-Fi, there have been experiments with proprietary mobile
wireless networks like Ricochet, various high-speed data services over
cellular phone networks, and fixed wireless services.
Social impact
The Internet has made possible entirely new forms of social interaction,
activities and organizing, thanks to its basic features such as widespread
usability and access.
Some governments, such as those of Cuba, Iran, North Korea, Myanmar, the
People's Republic of China, and Saudi Arabia, restrict what people in their
countries can access on the Internet, especially political and religious *******.
This is accomplished through software that filters domains and ******* so that
they may not be easily accessed or obtained without elaborate circumvention.
Many countries, including the United States, have enacted laws making the
possession or distribution of certain material, such as child pornography,
illegal, but do not use filtering software.
There are many free and commercially available software programs with
which a user can choose to block offensive websites on individual computers
or networks, such as to limit a child's access to pornography or violence. See
*******-control software.
Leisure activities
The Internet has been a major source of leisure since before the World Wide
Web, with entertaining social experiments such as MUDs and MOOs being
conducted on university servers, and humor-related Usenet groups receiving
much of the main traffic. Today, many Internet forums have sections devoted
to games and funny videos; short cartoons in the form of Flash movies are
also popular. Over 6 million people use blogs or message boards as a means
of communication and for the sharing of ideas.
The pornography and gambling industries have both taken full advantage of
the World Wide Web, and often provide a significant source of advertising
revenue for other websites. Although many governments have attempted to
put restrictions on both industries' use of the Internet, this has generally failed
to stop their widespread popularity.
One main area of leisure on the Internet is multiplayer gaming. This form of
leisure creates communities, bringing people of all ages and origins to enjoy
the fast-paced world of multiplayer games. These range from MMORPG to
first-person shooters, from role-playing games to online gambling. This has
revolutionized the way many people interact and spend their free time on the
Internet.
While online gaming has been around since the 1970s, modern modes of
online gaming began with services such as GameSpy and MPlayer, to which
players of games would typically subscribe. Non-subscribers were limited to
certain types of gameplay or certain games.
Many use the Internet to access and download music, movies and other
works for their enjoyment and relaxation. As discussed above, there are paid
and unpaid sources for all of these, using centralized servers and distributed
peer-to-peer technologies. Discretion is needed as some of these sources
take more care over the original artists' rights and over copyright laws than
others.
Many use the World Wide Web to access news, weather and sports reports,
to plan and book holidays and to find out more about their random ideas and
casual interests.
People use chat, messaging and e-mail to make and stay in touch with friends
worldwide, sometimes in the same way as some previously had pen pals.
Social networking websites like MySpace, Facebook and many others like
them also put and keep people in contact for their enjoyment.
The Internet has seen a growing number of Web desktops, where users can
access their files, folders, and settings via the Internet.
Complex architecture
Marketing
The Internet has also become a large market for companies; some of the
biggest companies today have grown by taking advantage of the efficient
nature of low-cost advertising and commerce through the Internet, also known
as e-commerce. It is the fastest way to spread information to a vast number of
people simultaneously. The Internet has also subsequently revolutionized
shopping—for example; a person can order a CD online and receive it in the
mail within a couple of days, or download it directly in some cases. The
Internet has also greatly facilitated personalized marketing which allows a
company to market a product to a specific person or a specific group of
people more so than any other advertising medium.
Others assert that the first letter should be in lower case (internet), and that
the specific article the is sufficient to distinguish "the internet" from other
internets; in other words, that the word internet is always a common noun.
This requires that the reader depend on con**** to understand whether "the
internet" refers to an internet the writer has previously mentioned or to the
well-known world-wide network. A significant number of publications use this
form, including The Economist, the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, the
Financial Times, The Guardian, The Times, and The Sydney Morning Herald.
As of 2005, many publications using internet for this meaning appear to be
located outside of North America—although one U.S. news source, Wired
News, has adopted the lower-case spelling.
Historically, Internet and internet have had different meanings, with internet
meaning "an interconnected set of distinct networks", i.e. a network of
networks, and Internet referring to the largest internet, the worldwide, publicly-
available IP internet. In this usage, the Internet is the familiar network on
which public Web sites exist; however, an internet is any network of smaller
networks.[14] Any group of networks connected together is an internet; each
of these networks may or may not be part of the Internet. The distinction is
evident in many RFCs, books, and articles from the 1980s and early 1990s
(some of which, such as RFC 1918, refer to "internets" in the plural). Some
argue that the usage apparently agreed on by the IETF, ICANN, the W3C,
and the Internet Society is by definition the correct usage.