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Unread 28-08-2001, 08:56
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Matt Leese Matt Leese is offline
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Re: Today's engineering lesson

Quote:
Originally posted by verdeyw


Actually, the broader the frequency band, the more information that can get through at a time, the faster the connection. That's why FM radio stations sound better than AM stations, and why cable modems and DSL are faster than a dial-up service.

The reason for this is due to the nature of digital data. A digital signal takes up a wide array of frequencies, with the width corresponding primarily to the speed of the signal. If you tried to transmit data at a higher speed than what a line is designed for, some of the higher frequencies would be attenuated, and you would start to get a lot of errors.
While you are correct that the wider the frequency used, the more data that can be transmitted, higher bandwidth does not imply broadband. One of the main things to consider is the fact that higher frequencies can transmit more data than lower frequencies (I believe that's the reason FM sounds better than AM; it's the frequencies used, not the method of encoding). That's why DSL is faster than a regular modem (DSL transmits on frequencies higher than the human ear or a phone can detect). So there are a number of issues at work which is why broadband is a misnomer. So, broadband does imply more bandwidth but more bandwidth does not imply broadband.

Matt
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