The life altering technology: Broadband
Submitted by Reshmi Chakravorty on May 10, 2012 - 2:07pm
The term broadband is no alien. All and sundry are aware of its existence and benefits. Popularly it is known as the high speed internet service. But actually it refers to a telecommunications signal or device of greater bandwidth. However, the term became popularized through the 1990s as a vague marketing term for Internet access.
In telecommunications, a broadband signaling method is one that includes or handles a relatively wide range (or band) of frequencies. Broadband is always a relative term, understood according to its context. The wider (or broader) the bandwidth of a channel, the greater the information-carrying capacity, given the same channel quality.
Having an access to high speed broadband is terribly important and thus there should be subsidies, mandates, perhaps a large government led and paid for program to make sure that it’s available everywhere.
The ultimate aim should be “infinite bandwidth between any two points in the country” and that no single company is capable of achieving that. Instead, the government should recreate the kind of national company through which the state can built their own network. This could be owned by the existing telecoms companies and need not involve piles of taxpayers’ cash.
Russia already has 12million homes with fibre (internet connection) to the doorstep. France has 6million and says 70% of premises will be connected by 2020.
Even with a 100Mbps connection, a Blu-ray quality film takes 13 minutes to download. Top-tier broadband services can cope with streaming several high-definition channels at once, but ultrahigh definition is on its way. The Japanese state broadcaster NHK will use it to record the London Olympics, with public screenings promised, and speeds of 100 to 200 Mbps are needed to transmit a single channel.
It may not come as a surprise to know that the 'internet' is a bigger part of the British economy than education, health-care or construction. Britons generate more money online than any other G20 nation. For the time being, wireless is the future of broadband, with the added complication of trying to meet the rapidly growing demand of its customers even as most of the profits flow to Apple.
Whatever may the kind be, wired or wireless, the broadband services are here to stay for sure for not only the development of the world's economy but as well as for greater technological advancements.
