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DSL provides broadband Internet access to people around the world.
Australia
ADSL became available in Australia in 2000. The infrastructure is owned by Telstra, whose retail branch BigPond was the only reseller until early 2002. Since then, main ISPs to resell ADSL include:
Speeds available are 256/64, 512/128 and 1.5/256. 512/512 is available but at quite a premium cost. Most ISPs have data caps or some sort of traffic shaping after a certain data limit. In addition, Telstra has been critisised for limiting their ADSL DSLAM speed to a maximum of 1.5 Mbit and 512 kbit/s (download and upload respectively), whereas the maximum ADSL speed is 8 Mbit and 1 Mbit (download and upload respectively).
In 2003, Internode began experimenting installing their own DSLAM equipment into Telstra exchanges. In 2004, iiNet announced a very large rollout of DSLAM equipment nationally - the company hopes to have half of its ADSL customer base on its own DSLAMs by the end of 2005.
As at April 2004, Telstra had 370,000 customers, iiNet had 50,000, TPG had 37,000, iPrimus, Internode and Swiftbroadband all had 21,000 customers, Netspace had 17,000, Westnet 15,000, and Optus 13,000 customers.
See Whirlpool for more information about Australian broadband.
Belgium
ADSL first appeared in Belgium in 1999, named Turboline. The first network was set up by Belgian telecom operator Belgacom and has been expanding ever since. In 2004 nearly 90% of the entire territory has access to ADSL from Belgacom. Belgacom daughter Skynet was the first officially supported ADSL provider, but now many more have gained popularity. Download speed is usually capped around 4 Mbit/s, though faster services are now becoming available (including 9MBit VDSL from Skynet). Many ISPs, notably Skynet, have bandwidth caps in place to limit the amount of data users can transfer through their connection.
Alongside the Belgacom ADSL network, Scarlet has created a secondary network, with higher download and upload rates, sometimes up to the maximum 8 Mbit/s. Several providers use this network, like Scarlet and Adsl2Fit.
Brazil
ADSL was successful in Brazil during beta testing, and became popular in 2000, with the main ISPs being Speedy, Ajato and Velox, with typical speeds of around 256 kbit/s down and 128 kbit/s up. Speeds are now around 300-450 kbit/s, with the option of 1024/512 and higher, but at significantly higher prices. Broadband access is split between ADSL, cablemodem, satellite and radio (not wifi), with some wifi services are appearing in 2004.
Broadband internet is now going through troubled times in Brazil, becase of new imposed limitations in the form of data caps with very high charges for additional traffic.
The price of a complete ADSL package (ISP + DSL) is currently (as of late 2004) in the region of US 30-40 R$ 90-120.
Finland
First ADSL line providers started in 2000. A typical ADSL connection in Finland is 512/512 or 1024/512 and it costs 30-50 euros.
Some ADSL Line Providers:
- Sonera
- Elisa
- Saunalahti
- Finnet
In the city of Oulu, Oulun Puhelin Plc (OPOY) has for a longer time offered full-rate ADSL (8/1 Mbit/s) and VDSL (10/10 Mbit/s, actually Cisco Long Reach Ethernet).
With aggressive marketing, Saunalahti brought full-rate ADSL (8/1 Mbit/s) to the capital area and Turku on 2004-08-03. Saunalahti announced ADSL2 services (12 Mbit/s) on 2004-10-21, available in the capital area and Turku. Saunalahti also announced the first ever ADSL2+ services (24 Mbit/s) in Nordic countries on 2004-11-15, first available only in the Tampere region.
France
As of 2004, the French ADSL market is evolving in two directions: cheaper access for moderate speeds (512 kbit/s download), as well as access to higher speeds (2 Mbit/s) and associated services.
The largest operator is Wanadoo. Free has gained ground with its aggressive offer of 30€ a month for 2 Mbit/s (up to 8 Mbit/s in practice) broadband access, television, and free phone calls to French land lines. As of September 2004, several ISPs have officially announced services at 5 Mbit/s and over (depending on the length and quality of each client's phone line), combined with VoIP (although not all ISPs provide those communications for free) and television. Reasonably-priced connections running at 2 Mbit/s, possibly with only 128 kbit/s up, are probably going to become more and more common during the end of 2004.
On 2004-10-20, the first ADSL2+ offer in France was announced. It should provide a speed of 18 Mbit/s down and 1 Mbit/s up. The press release mentions that this is the first time this technology is made available in Europe.
Greece
ADSL in Greece appeared commercially in the summer of 2003.
ADSL Line Providers in Greece:
ADSL Internet Providers are many.
A specialised Greek website exists for ADSL technology in Greece: http://www.adslgr.com
Hong Kong
ADSL providers include:
India
Although broadband law of 2004, changed the definition for broadband to 256kbps always on, most ISPs found that they can provide broadband with a capping of data that can be downloaded.
ADSL providers include:
- Tata Indicom (VSNL)
- MTNL/BSNL
- Dishnet
- Airtel (Bharti Televentures)
- Reliance Infocomm (Not yet completely deployed)
Italy
ADSL has in theory been available in Italy for a number of years, and has been very widely publicised; but in practice has to now (Sept 2004) been limited by an exasperatingly low technical competence of the telecoms companies, which consumers continue to tolerate. Consumer expectations are heavily conditioned by decades of poor service, delays, random cuts and the general technical and commercial ineptitude that was typical of the entire communications sector, a state monopoly until very recently.
Recent liberalisation of the market has brought much hype and little change. The final mile is still in the hands of the old monopolist, whose ingrained corporate culture does not favour the end-user, and the larger competing companies are under no market pressure to do better. The general corporate trend to outsource technical assistance to untrained operators in third-party call centres does little to mitigate a very sorry state of affairs.
Iran
ADSL in Iran appeared in January 2004.
Latvia
ADSL services in Latvia are provided by Lattelekom. Majas DSL, service for home users, is very popular. It have common speed 256/64 and costs about 30 euros per month.
Lithuania
ADSL carrier services in Lithuania are provided by national monopoly Lietuvos Telekomas. Later this service might be used by other ISPs for their retail services.
Mexico
ISPs that provide ADSL:
New Zealand
ADSL was launched in 1999 by Telecom New Zealand under the name Jetstream. There was a progressive roll out into local exchanges.
As of 2004.October 24, the ADSL plans are structured as follows:
- 256 kbit/s/128 kbit/s (down/up) usage 1GB which is known as Jetstream Go
- 1 Mbit/s/128 kbit/s (down/up) usage 1GB which is known as Jetstream Everyday
- 256 kbit/s/192 kbit/s (down/up) usage 3GB which is known as Jetstream Explorer
- 2 Mbit/s/192 kbit/s (down/up) usage 10GB which is known as Jetstream Plus
- 2 Mbit/s/192 kbit/s (down/up) usage 10GB which is known as Jetstream Swift
All plans have a monthly usage limit. Once this limit is exceeded, the download spead is reduced to 64 kbit/s. Jetstream Swift customers pay an excess usage charge (per MB) if their usage exceeds the 10GB limit.
The services are now offered by many different service providers, though currently the service is still run by Telecom, and on-sold by the other serivce providers.
There is no local loop unbundling so the services is still controlled by Telecom. A wholesale option called the Unbundled Bitstream (a.k.a. UBS) service is available for resellers. UBS was initially introduced for the old plans. It has since been updated to support the new 2Mpbs plan.
References:
Netherlands
Two ADSL networks are active in The Netherlands, a network set up by KPN the Dutch telecom operator, and another on set up by BBned. Several line speeds are available, depending on the internet provider. Usually these speeds range from 256 kbit/s to 8 Mbit/s. Also some ultra-low speed ADSL connections are availible to litteraly replace ISDN or normal modem connections, for example 64/24 (down/up).
Prices vary from 9,95 euro for a 288/128 connection to 79,95 euro for a 8000/1024 connection.
A standard connection costs 34,90 euro for 1600/512
Norway
ISPs that provide ADSL:
Poland
The most popular ADSL service for home users in Poland is Neostrada provided by TPSA.
At present it has three possible price, speed and download limit variants:
- 128/64 kbit/s and 7 gb monthly for 15 / month
- 512/128 kbit/s and 15 gb monthly for 25 / month
- 1024/256 kbit/s and 25 gb monthly for 35 / month
After execeeding data transfer limit, download speed falls to 32 kbit/s until the end of month on all options.
One can buy extra 2 gigabytes of transfer by calling premium-rate number or buying special card with code.
It costs 2,5 and allows to retain base line speed.
Some users also have older (offered until September 2004) no longer available option of 640/160 with
no download limit for 33.
There is also very similar (both in price and variants) ADSL service called Net24 provided by TP's main competitor Netia.
As for January 2005 it offers two speed options:
- 128/64 kbit/s for 13 / month
- 512/128 kbit/s (although advertised as 640/160) for 32 / month.
There is no download limit on either option.
Weblinks:
Portugal
ADSL services have been available in Portugal since late 2000. However only in mid 2002 with increased competition did the service start being popular.
The most common product offering is a 512/128 kbit/s and the cost is 35/month.
With the unbundling of the local loop some operators have started offering products which combine voice services with ADSL. This are only available in areas where these operators have laid their own fiber and are able to provide their own service.
However for about 35-40 you get 1024/256 kbit/s ADSL plus voice and you are exempt of line rental fees.
Most ISPs impose traffic limits or rather charge extra if you go over your allocated quota.
The main ADSL ISPs in Portugal are (as of October 2004 and accepting new subscribers):
- Telepac 2 brands as well:
SAPO (residential market) - http://acesso.sapo.pt
ADSL.pt (SOHO market) - http://www.adsl.pt
Clix (residential market) - http://www.revolucaodasflores.pt : Currently only accepting new subscriptions in areas where direct service can be provided.
Novisnet (SOHO market) - http://www.novis.pt/novisnet
- Vianetworks www.vianetworks.pt
South Korea
South Korea leads the number of DSL connections per head world-wide. ADSL is standard, but VDSL has started growing quickly. ADSL commonly offers speeds of 2 Mbit to 8 Mbit, with VDSL accordingly faster. The large proportion of South Korea's population living in apartment blocks helps the spread of DSL, as does a high penetration of consumer electronics in general. The Internet has a more higher status for many Koreans than it does in the West, and the government actively supports this.
Spain
ADSL arrived in Spain in 1999. The main ISP are:
The average speed is 512/128, costing 39 per month, but several ISPs provide faster connections up to 1024/300 or even 1200/200 for the same price, but their services are not available in all the country.
Sweden
Speed:
- 8/1 Mbit/s in all 290 municipalities. 24/1 Mbit/s in 100 of 290 municipalities.
Cost:
- 400 kronor ($57) per month
Market:
- The wired market has seen large investments from for example leading investment company the Carlyle Group. Which hold 21.6% of the Bredbandsbolaget AB equity. Bredbandsbolaget have recently performed a string of acquisitions of weaker competitors. The wireless market have also seen large foreign direct investmenets from for example Hutchison Whampoa's investments in the Scandinavian 3 (telecommunications).
Switzerland
In Switzerland there are different types of ADSL and line speeds. There is ADSL for Home use with speeds from 768/128 kbit/s up to 3072/256 kbit/s upstream.
The Business offer consists of three types, ranging from 768/640 kbit/s, to the biggest version with 3072/640 kbit/s. The ADSL pricing in Switzerland is flat.
ADSL Providers in Switzerland:
- Ticinocom Ltd. ([1] (http://www.ticinocom.com))
- Bluewin Ltd. ([2] (http://www.bluewin.ch))
- sunrise (trademark) ([3] (http://www.sunrise.ch/adsl)) owned by TDC Switzerland AG
The infrastructure is owned by Swisscom Ltd. - http://www.swisscom.com, the hard- and software (DSLAM's) are produced and maintained by Alcatel (Schweiz) Ltd. ([4] (http://www.alcatel.ch)).
Since there are many providers you can visit: http://www.enter-adsl.ch
United Kingdom
In the United Kingdom, users initially had to live within 3.5 kilometers of the local telephone exchange to receive ADSL, but in September 2004 all limits were removed, thanks to RADSL (Rate Adaptive Digital Subscriber Line), although users with RADSL may have a reduced upstream rate. There are still pockets that cannot receive ADSL because of technical limitations, not least of which networks in housing areas built with aluminium cable rather than copper in the 1980s and 1990s.
Typical consumer-orientated packages include a 256 kbit/s, 512 kbit/s, 1 Mbit/s or 2 Mbit/s downstream paired with a 256 kbit/s upstream, though some packages with 4 Mbit/s or 8 Mbit/s downstream are now becomig available. The majority of home users choose 512/256 downstream/upstream packages with a 50:1 contention ratio, typically costing between 20 and 30 pounds per month. Packages designed for offices or businesses generally have a 20:1 contention ratio.
Most exchanges, local loops and backhauls are owned and managed by BT, with a choice of companies providing Internet peering, telephone support, billing and other added features. Several companies are also operating their own services using unbundled local loops, notably Bulldog Communications in the London area. A major resource for UK broadband information is the ADSLGuide, located at http://www.adslguide.org.uk/.
Since 2003 BT has been introducing SDSL capabilities to exchanges in many of the major cities. SDSL is Symmetric, and services are currently offered at download speeds of 256 kbits/s, 512 kbits/s, 1 Mbit/s or 2 Mbit/s. Unlike ADSL, which is typically 256 kbits/s upload, SDSL upload speeds are the same as the download speed.
USA
In the USA, many different kinds of DSL services are offered by different companies:
- VDSL is offered by Qwest and is currently used to deliver video services as well as 1.5M/256K internet.
- ADSL is offered by a variety of providers, usually the same providers who offer voice services. The most popular variant is RADSL. Many providers, such as SBC, offer 3.0M/384K service for home use for around $36, including the ISP. Many have reported that SBC's service actually connects at 6.0M/608K. Others, such as Qwest, offer 1.5 Mbit/s/896 kbit/s service for around $33.
- ADSL pricing is almost universially flat-rate. However, some ISPs charge for the bandwidth used.
- In many newer locations in the US, the DSLAM is actually installed in the local interface box because many neighborhoods have a fiber uplink to the CO (no copper exists between the CO and the house).
- 256K/256K DSL is often priced as a "dial-up replacement" service. Typical cost is around $25, including ISP, making the service particularly competitive with higher-priced dial-up ISPs. In many cases, this service is not "always on" and a user must initiate a PPPoE connection to connect to the internet.
- 7/1 Mbit/s DSL for business use is available from most providers. Cost is typically around $250 a month, plus ISP fees.
- Cable Internet is far more popular than DSL in the US. DSL has faced implementation problems due to line length and quality. Cable internet generally offers far higher (albeit shared) bandwidth and is easier to implement.
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