what is the difference between broadband and dialup connections and how do they work?

Answer 1

Both will connect you to the Internet.

The primary difference is Speed. Dial-up uses a standard analog telephone line and your computer makes a telephone call and communicates with another computer over the telephone line. The maximum speed is 56Kbps, although you will never get that speed. 40Kbps is about the average.

Since you must have a telephone line for dial-up the cost for dial-up Internet service is about $10 per month.

Broadband either DSL (Digital Subscriber Line) or Cable Modem both use digital interfaces, and the ISP has special equipment in place that is designed only for the Internet and NOT voice telephone. So the speed is much faster. Speed can be up to 10 Mbps. DSL averages 1.5 Mbps Cable Modem 7 Mbps. (Varies depending on package selected most vendors offer more than one package depending on the speed you need)

DSL is provided by the Telephone Company and uses the un-used wires in your telephone line and hooks them up to the special equipment in the telephone company's central office. The other pair in line is used for voice. (Standard Telephone). That is why DSL requires special filters on the telephone line. DSL service is about $15 per month but you must have a standard telephone line also.

Cable Modem uses the cable TV line. The Internet comes down on a standard TV channel that is not used for regular TV. The cable modem is electronically tuned to the correct TV channel and your receive your requested information. (Downloads) For Uploads (requesting information) they normally use the band below TV. TV starts at 52 Megahertz, so anything below that can be used for upload requests.

Cable is $25- $30 a month and you may or may not need regular cable TV service. Most cable TV companies will filter out all the regular TV channels if you get Internet only or they may require you to get Basic Basic service in order to get Internet.


NOTE: Prices quoted are average that I have seen quoted nationally for U.S. service and WILL vary by location.

Answer 2

Dialup uses the telephone line to connect. Broadband is faster than dialup, at least twice as fast (ISDN line) and does not use the telephone line directly, it works in conjunction with the telephone line, but you can still use it to talk, unlike dialup.

Answer 3

i don't know HOW they work, but broadband is much, much faster than dialup! i have cable service at 3mbps and accessing the internet is just like changing screens on my computer... very fast!

Answer 4

biggest different is speed. in dial up connection most you can have 56Kbps, in Broadband
so let see if you download photo album with 56Kbps it would me 4 minutes. with Broadband 768 KBps it would be 25 seconds you see the difference.

Answer 5

Broadband is through cable, and dial up is through your phone. Broadband does not tie up your phone line while using the internet and is way way way faster.