DSL - Digital Subscriber Line What is it Exactly? The normal speaking voice range is about 300 to 3000 cycles per second. Your ear can hear frequencies in the range of about 100 to 20,000 cycles per second. Music may occupy most of this frequency range. But, your telephone only uses the lower frequencies. It transmits and receives analog frequencies below 4,000 cycles per second. Your telephone filters out any higher audio frequencies. Thus, your phone line transmits a "voice channel" consisting of the lower 4,000 cycles per second. Copper cabling is capable of transmitting much higher frequencies. You have copper wiring from your stereo to your speakers; and it transmits the complete range of audio frequencies. The remaining "frequency channels" on your phone line are available for data communication. Your DSL modems send and receive data over your phone wires at frequencies above 4,000 cycles per second. The American National Standards Institute (ANSI) and the European Telecommunications Standards Institute (ETSI) established 256 subchannels, each having a separate frequency for data transmission. Different subchannels are used for sending data (upstream) and receiving data (downstream). DSL for home use is typically a form of DSL called DSL Lite or Universal DSL. DSL Lite typically achieves a throughput of 1.5 million bits per second downstream and 384,000 bits per second upstream. This satisfies home users since typical home DSL users receive larger files (like video) than they send. DSL Lite is also cheaper for the phone company. It does not have to install a special spitter at the customer site nor in its central office. This save having a technician perform installation. You computer connects to the DSL modem via a 10/100-base-T Ethernet connections. Cheap Long Distance Inexpensive Telephone Service Providers