Broadband v. baseband ... again?

Dennis Dayman dennis at thenose.net
Thu Jul 5 19:47:19 UTC 2001


Interesting enough:

(Webpoedia)

Broadband:

A type of data transmission in which a single medium (wire) can carry
several channels at once. Cable TV, for example, uses broadband
transmission. In contrast, baseband transmission allows only one signal at a
time.

Most communications between computers, including the majority of local-area
networks, use baseband communications. An exception is B-ISDN networks,
which employ broadband transmission.



Baseband:

The original band of frequencies of a signal before it is modulated for
transmission at a higher frequency. The signal is typically multiplexed and
sent on a carrier with other signals at the same time.




(TechEncyclopedia by Techweb)

Broadband:

(1) High-speed transmission. The term is commonly used to refer to
communications lines or services at T1 rates (1.544 Mbps) and above.
However, the actual threshold of broadband is very subjective and may be
well below or well above T1 depending on the situation. For example, on2.com
(see TrueMotion) offers "broadband streaming video" to users with access to
the Internet at 250 Kbps or higher. Other sources claim 45 Mbps is the
starting point. In every case however, it implies transmitting at higher
speeds than what has been most common up to the current time. See cable
modem, DSL and T1.

(2) A method of transmitting data, voice and video using frequency division
multiplexing (FDM), such as used with cable TV. Modems are required to
modulate digital data streams onto the line. Broadband in this context is
used in contrast with baseband, which is all digital transmission and uses
time division multiplexing (TDM). However, the term is mostly used in
definition #1 above. See baseband for illustration.


---------------------------
Dennis Dayman
dennis at thenose.net
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
--
What goes up, must come down. Ask any system administrator.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
--




More information about the NANOG mailing list