[Acronym] for __A__synchronous __D__igital __S__ubscriber __L__ine. 

  

 A technology that uses the frequencies above human hearing to send data at high speed to the exchange. It's limited in range, the closer you are the faster the top speed you can get, up to 8mbit downstream. It's Asynchronous because the upstream and downstream rates are different, upstream being much lower than downstream. Much of this is academic however, as most [ADSL] providers cap your bandwidth anyway. You'll need a special [ADSL] modem to use ADSL, and need special equipment at the exchange. Because [TelecomNZ] owns most of the LocalLoop in NewZealand, you can only get [ADSL] through them. They call it JetStream.