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What Is Broadband?
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Due to the widely varying definitions of "broadband", ABC has adopted the following as constituting a clear and reasonable definition:
Broadband: always-on high speed Internet connections that are capable of achieving data transfer rates of at least 256 Kbps both downstream and upstream. Broadband is faster than dial-up modem Internet access (maximum of 56 Kbps), ISDN Internet access (maximum of 128 Kbps) and 2.5G mobile data services (maximum of 144 Kbps). There are many different broadband technologies, both wired and wireless, and these achieve widely differing data transfer rates ranging from 256 Kbps to 10 Gbps or faster. However, the broadband technologies most commonly used today to bridge the last mile/first mile between the Internet and the user operate in the 256 Kbps to 2 Mbps range. For an expanded definition of broadband, please see
"Bringing Home the Bits, Chapter 2 What is broadband?"
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