Broadband ISPs
GUIDE

ISDN Connections

Description: The world of broadband can be a confusing one if you are still trying to decide which way to connect is best for you. Here is the lowdown on ISDN connections and what they involve.

In order to understand what an ISDN connection is, we should first discover what it means. ISDN is an acronym for Integrated Services Digital Network, although on its own that description doesn't really shed much light on the matter.

ISDN connections can be viewed as providing a stepping stone between basic dial up internet services which don't provide broadband access, and cable, satellite and other means of getting online which are labeled as providing broadband access.

Why is it a stepping stone? Simply because it makes use of existing phone lines to offer something approaching a broadband service to customers wanting to have faster access to the internet than they currently have. Cable connections use separate digital cabling to allow for more and better signals to be received and sent far faster than ISDN connections allow for.

While it may seem advantageous to have technology which makes use of existing facilities, it isn't actually that positive a move as far as broadband access is concerned. It's certainly better than dial up, but compared to the versatility and sheer amount of information that can be transmitted through a cable broadband connection, an ISDN connection doesn't measure up as well - simply because it is limited by old technology. Analog connections used to be the height of technology but now they are old news.

In short, if you want a broadband internet connection then an ISDN connection is a poor relation compared to what you can achieve with more modern means. There is every chance that as the march towards being a 100% online society continues, with broadband being rolled out to more and more areas, ISDN connections will soon fall by the wayside as broadband gets faster and faster.