High-speed transmission

(1) High-speed transmission. The term commonly refers to Internet access via a variety of high-speed networks, including cable, DSL, FiOS, Wi-Fi, WiMAX, 3G, 4G and satellite, all of which are faster than analog dial-up by a huge magnitude.

The term is sometimes used to contrast broadband providers with private networks, such as in the phrase "public broadband works for regular traffic in our branch offices, but we use private lines for our mission critical business."

A Formal Definition

In early 2015, the U.S. Federal Communications Commission (FCC) redefined the minimum broadband speed as 25 Mbps download and 3 Mbps upload, updating the FCC's 2010 rating of 4 and 1 Mbps. The term always referred to a higher-speed connection, but the broadband threshold varied with the times (years ago, the widely deployed 1.5 Mbps T1 line was considered broadband speed). However, with the 2015 definition, more than 50 million rural Americans do not have access to broadband speeds. See broadband router, wireless broadband, T1, cable modem and DSL.