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Broadband Internet access worldwide

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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 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 3 Mbit/sec.

Alongside the Belgacom ADSL network, Scarlet has created a secondary network, with higher download and upload rates, sometimes up to the maximum 8 Mbit/sec. Several providers use this network, like Scarlet and Adsl2Fit.

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:

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 15 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:

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.

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.

There are a number of different ADSL service speeds offered today.

  • 128k/128k (down/up) which is known as JetStart.
  • 256k/128k (down/up) which is known as JetStream Surf.
  • 2Mbits/250Kbits (down/up) which is known as Full Speed JetStream.

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.

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.

Norway

ISPs that provide ADSL:

Poland

The most popular ADSL service for home users in Poland is Neostrada provided by TPSA.

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 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 fibber and are able to provide their own service. However for about €35-40 you get 1Mb/256 ADSL plus voice and you are exempt of line rental fees.

Most ISP’s impose traffic limits or rather charge extra if you go over your allocated quota.

The main ADSL ISP’s in Portugal are (as of October 2004 and accepting new subscribers):

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

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 2Mbit to 8Mbit, 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 IS provide faster connections up to 1024/300 or even 1200/200 for the same price, but their services are not avalable in all the country.

Sweden

Switzerland

In Switzerland there are different types of ADSL and line speeds. There is ADSL for Home use with speeds from 768 kbit/s downstream and 128 kbit/s upstream up to 3072 kbit/s downstream and 256 kbit/s upstream. The Business offer consists of three types, ranging from 768 kbit/s downstream and 640 kbit/s upstream, to the biggest version with 3072 kbit/s downstream and 640 kbit/s upstream. The ADSL pricing in Switzerland is flat.

ADSL Providers in Switzerland:

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. - 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 256kbit/s, 512kbit/s, 1Mbit/s or 2Mbit/s downstream paired with a 256kbit/s upstream. 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 256kbits/s, 512kbits/s, 1Mbit/s or 2Mbit/s. Unlike ADSL, which is typically 256kbits/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 1.5M/896K 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.
  • 7M/1M 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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