How can ISP's only do this now?

Question

Hi, I am on a cable plan at 8Mbps (i'm mostly happy with my speed)

My question is, how are ISP's in Australia suddenly able offer ADSL speeds at 8 - 20Mbps through a standard phone line without actually changing the lines (ive been told the govt are paying for the increase in bandwidth or something)

Like i said i have cable, and my friend on ADSL just upgraded to the same speed as me (8Mbps) for no additional cost BTW his upload speed is now 384kbps where as mine is 128...

I was under the impression that CABLE was coaxial line whose speeds were unsurpassable, except by T-Carrier connections.

Is coax cable being made obsolete by a std phone line???

Im angry!!

Frustrated Frooshanti!!!! Help!!!

Answer 1

Most telephony networks are far more advanced than most people relaize. Even the older networks in your neighborhood can do more than you know. Networking is usually handed out in tiered service levels, and this is a way of locking in customers at different price ranges, as well as a method of alloting bandwitth and optimizing the network. When they want to increase profits and jump customers to a new level, a new tier is offered.

Answer 2

Perhaps there's a new data compression method or some other technology that allows more data to be sent faster. Or perhaps the lines are being changed near the central office, but not near your house.

Anyway, why be angry? If a new technology has been developed that will make ADSL faster, quite likely it will be applied to cable too at some point.

For what it's worth, in the United States cable and ADSL have had comparable speeds for years (with cable often being slightly faster, but not always enough to make a difference). But those speeds are nowhere near 8 Mbps, at least for DSL. Are your sure your friend has his facts straight? Point him to http://www.dslreports.com/speedtest .

Answer 3

I got a call from telstra trying to sell me 8mb net the other day. It has been possible for a while but telstra have been refusing to install the upgrades to the exchanges to allow it to happen. i have no evidents of this just what a friend who seems to know all this stuff said.