is 'broadband' an ambiguation?

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barf

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#9297 5-Sep-2006 19:07

isn't broadband actually a signalling technology (as opposed to baseband signalling ie 10Base2)?
How long ago did 'broadband' have it's definition changed to 'fast Internet' ? Who is responsible for this?!

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freitasm

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#45483 5-Sep-2006 19:11

It is a term related to the bandwidth capacity, or the usage of spectrum (see narrowband, broadband).

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barf

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#45484 5-Sep-2006 19:16

sorry maybe I wasn't clear enough in my first post.
broadband's original definition (as far as I can see) is quite unrelated to link-speed - is this a modern ambiguation of the word??

Two signaling methods used by LANs are broadband and baseband. In broadband
signaling, the bandwidth of the transmission medium is subdivided by
frequency to form two or more subchannels, with each subchannel permitting
data transfer to occur independently of data transfer on another subchannel.
In baseband signaling, only one signal is transmitted on the medium at any
point in time.

I do realise people are saying 'broadband' and meaning 'high speed Internet' but knowing what broadband really is makes the modern definition seem a little wrong, to me at least.

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freitasm

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#45485 5-Sep-2006 19:20

AFAIK narrowband and broadband are used in modem technologies for ages, since the 56K standard came out.

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barf

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#45486 5-Sep-2006 19:24

well I do see your point, but 56k modems, by the definition i quoted (alhtought it is from an old textbook), use broadband signalling methods.

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barf

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#45487 5-Sep-2006 19:36

well I have learnt something tonight, broadband is a relative term and only a relative term.. the term is definately ambiguous without a reference, which I suppose (is assumed) to be dialup 56k.

we need broader broadband! ;)

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Fraktul

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#45615 7-Sep-2006 13:25

Broadband and baseband are modulation techniques. The ambiguation probably arose from the fact that when using "broadband" the less spectrum (AKA frequency band) used then the less information throughput keeping everything else equal. Using a broader frequency band resulted in increased information throughput. Broader frequency band = broadband.