What is the Difference between Broadband and the Internet?

Broadband is the transmission of the Internet through general media of waves like fiber optics, coaxial cables, and radio waves at high speed, ranging around 25 Mbps for the download response and 3 Mbps for the upload response. This broadband internet was made accessible to the public through DSL services back in the day.

What is the Internet?

The Internet is almost an architectural concept that revolutionized the communication system globally. 

It is nostalgic to know how the system evolved. At first, it was a research model that was too far-fetched even to imagine. But today we see internet being accessed by more than half of the population of the world.

The chief use of the Internet was once considered to be information exchange. But in the recent period, $26.7 trillion worth of business runs over the Internet, making it the highest-worth platform for business in the globe.    

The Six types of Broadband Connections

Aside from the old-fashioned dial-up access internet, the FCC segregates the types of Internet Broadband Connection into six categories. They are as follows:

The Digital Subscriber Line or DSL: 

This type of internet broadband was immediately after the retirement of traditional phone wires made of copper. DSL is a wired system that transmits data over the Internet between 56kbps to 100 mbps. 

But, there was one problem with this type of broadband service, the Internet speed depends on the distance between the connected device and the service provider.

Cable Modem Broadband: 

This connection mode is very similar to your TV network service provider since it uses the same coaxial cables that the TV needs. The cable modem system is also pretty similar in terms of speed, but the low rate is 5mbps. 

Did you know that this was the most popularly used broadband system for internet connections for many years before the rise of fiber broadband?

Fiber Optic Broadband: 

This technology converts the electrical impulses of the network filled with data into light, so it travels faster than the wave process to the connection outlet. More simply, the optic fiber acts as a medium to convert the electromagnetic wave into light to transfer the data to the aimed destination and revert to waves for the receiving end.

The transmission speed far exceeds a DSL or modem broadband. It ranges from 50mbps to several hundred Mbps. However, this speed varies depending on the service provider configurations.

Wireless: 

The Wireless Broadband Internet, as referred to in the term, connects a service provider of the network with the beneficiary through the radio signals transmitted within the location of the two entities. The speed regulated among the connections range between 25mbps as download speed and 3mbps for upload speed. 

Wi-Fi wireless broadband networks fall under this category but functions a bit differently. This type of system requires a broadband device to initiate the connection that acts as the private host.  

Satellite Broadband:

Satellite broadband connection is another form of wireless network that functions similarly to TV satellites, but only transmits radio waves from the input to the destination. 

Over Powerline: 

Broadband over Power line or BPL is a connection introduced to the electric power lines of a household, thus providing the Internet through power lines of a location. 

Key Differences between Broadband and the Internet

The main difference lies in the speed factor of the two. An internet broadband connection lets you experience the Internet at a much higher speed, ranging from 50mbps to several hundred Mbps, which is missing from any wireless internet we get commercially.

A broadband is also very safe as it passes privacy configurations twice, once from the service provider again in the customer’s device. Whereas the regular internet connection like Wi-Fi, has lesser security, which is why add-on privacy protocols are required.

In terms of bandwidth of the connection, broadband always come at the top, because it is more of a localized network system, thus concentrating the package transfer in a computable location, unlike a wireless network.

Main Takeaway

The Broadband clearly won in terms of quality and speed of connection, but if you still want to know more, always refer to the blog sections.

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Rahul Nambiar | Tata Play Fiber

Rahul Nambiar

Manager - Digital Marketing

16th September 2022

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