Forgot your password?
Terminology
Document Actions
We offer the following selected sources for definitions of the many technical terms and acronyms that you may come across in viewing the contents of this site. Please note that technical term definitions and coverage can vary widely between sources, so it may be appropriate to consult more than one source. If you wish to recommend a glossary for inclusion below, please e-mail us the details at ABCampaign@aol.com
ABC Definition of Broadband
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?"
Note: The lack of a standard definition for broadband has led to the
gathering of ‘broadband’ statistics which include always-on data transfer
speeds of less than 256 Kbps down to 128 Kbps. This is particularly true
for European broadband statistics, including those for the UK.
General Telecommunications and Information Technology Glossaries
Wireless Glossaries
Internet Glossaries
Read our feature articles
