Broadband (Internet service)

The term broadband refers to a telecommunications signal or device of greater bandwidth, in some sense, than another standard or usual signal or device (and the broader the band, the greater the capacity for traffic). Different criteria for "broad" have been applied in different contexts and at different times. Its origin is in physics, acoustics and radio systems engineering, where it had been used with a meaning similar to wideband. However, the term became popularized through the 1990s as a vague marketing term for Internet access.

Broadband in telecommunications refers to a signaling method that includes or handles a relatively wide range (or band) of frequencies. Broadband is always a relative term, understood according to its context. The wider (or broader) the bandwidth of a channel, the greater the information-carrying capacity, given the same channel quality. In radio, for example, a very narrow-band signal will carry Morse code; a broader band will carry speech; a still broader band is required to carry music without losing the high audio frequencies required for realisticsound reproduction. This broad band is often divided into channels or frequency bins using passband techniques to allow frequency-division multiplexing, instead of sending one higher-quality signal. A television antenna described as "broadband" may be capable of receiving a wide range of channels; while a single-frequency or Lo-VHF antenna is "narrowband" since it receives only 1 to 5 channels. The US federal standard FS-1037C defines "broadband" just as a synonym for wideband.

In data communications a 56k modem will transmit a data rate of 56 kilobits per second (kbit/s) over a 4 kilohertz wide telephone line (narrowband or voiceband). The various forms ofDigital Subscriber Line (DSL) services are broadband in the sense that digital information is sent over a high-bandwidth channel. This channel is at higher frequency than the basebandvoice channel, so it can support plain old telephone service on a single pair of wires at the same time.^[4] However when that same line is converted to a non-loaded twisted-pair wire (no telephone filters), it becomes hundreds of kilohertz wide (broadband) and can carry several megabits per second using very-high-bitrate digital subscriber line (VDSL) techniques.

In the late 1980s, the Broadband Integrated Services Digital Network (B-ISDN) used the term to refer to a broad range of bit rates, independent of physical modulation details.

Benefits of the Internet in the Business World

Employee Finder

Businesses can use the Internet to find employees. Many businesses post job announcements on their sites. Others post job announcements on specialized sites for those who are looking for employment in specific fields.

Advertising

A Web site is essentially a large ad for many businesses. They use features such as games and online contests to promote website views.

Market Researcher

Businesses can use Web surveys to find out how people feel about new products or ideas. These surveys are inexpensive to administer.

Communicate

Businesses use the Internet to send email to people who are on their email lists. They also often use social networking sites to draw more attention to the business.