A Frequency Division Multiplex'd communications channel.

See also Dictionary:Broadband

Compare BaseBand

(From old Broadband node) A nice fast connection to the Internet?, for some reason defined as 128kb by TelecomNZ.

Technically BroadBand means that the signals are converted to analog then transmitted then converted back to digital signals at the other end. BaseBand is defined as signals being transmitted digitally. The technical definition has no limits on speed. A "56k modem" would be BroadBand while 10BaseT is BaseBand. Of course this has somehow been corrupted by general use, so everyone thinks "!BroadBand" means >128k. People are weird.

Sorry to nitpick, but most of the references I've seen (Network Engineering stuff, the dictionary link above, WikiPedia, etc..) say that broadband refers to using different parts of the frequency spectrum for different signals.

They also acknowledge that BroadBand has become synonymous with fast, high-bandwidth networking.

Normal phone service uses approximately 300Hz-3.2KHz for voice signal, 75V at 20Hz for ringing, and a DC loop current to signal on/offhook and supply a small amount of power to subscriber equipment.

A pair of copper wires, however, can carry frequencies far above 4KHz. ADSL uses this extra Analog BandWidth to carry analog-encoded data between the subscriber and teleco without interfering with normal phone service.

You could argue that POTS is already broadband since it uses loop current to signal when the line is in use.. but that's really stretching the definition.