Bandwidth of common
telecom and datacom transmission systems

Here is some useful information comparing the bandwidth capacity (speed) of various common telecom and network facilities:

Dial-up
An analog modem using twisted pair copper phone lines.

Bell 103 300 bit/s
Bell 212 1200 bit/sec
v.22bis 2400 bit/sec
v.32 9.6 Kbit/sec
v.32bis 14.4 Kbit/s
v.34 33.6 Kbit/s
v.90 53.3 Kbit/s
v.90 up* 33.6 Kbit/sec
v.92 53.3 Kbit/sec
v.92 up* 48.0 Kbit/sec
56k 53.3 Kbit/s
ISDN 128.0 Kbit/s

*Note: Some connections are asymmetrical, they download faster than they upload.


Cable
Uses coaxial copper cable.

Average 2.0 Mbit/s
Maximum 10.0 Mbit/s
Upstream avg* 500.0 Kbit/s

*Note: Some connections are asymmetrical, they download faster than they upload.


DSL
Digital Subscriber Line uses twisted pair copper phone lines.

IDSL 128.0 Kbit/s
UADSL 1.5 Mbit/s
UADSL up* 512.0 Kbit/s
HDSL 1.50 Mbit/s
SDSL 2.00 Mbit/s
RADSL 7.00 Mbit/s
RADSL up* 1.00 Mbit/s
ADSL 8.00 Mbit/s
ADSL up* 1.00 Mbit/s
VDSL 51.64 Mbit/s
VDSL up* 19.20 Mbit/s

*Note: Some connections are asymmetrical, they download faster than they upload.


T-carrier
Usually delivered by fiber optic or microwave, although T1 may use two twisted pair copper phone lines.

T-1 1.54 Mbit/s
T-3 44.74 Mbit/s


Optical Carrier
Fiber optic point-to-point, often used for "backbone" facility.

OC-3 155.52 Mbit/s
OC-12 622.08 Mbit/s
OC-48 2,488.32 Mbit/s
OC-96 4,976.64 Mbit/s
OC-192 9,953.28 Mbit/s
OC-255 13,219.20 Mbit/s


Ethernet
Used for local area networks (LANs) over multiple twisted pair copper cable, except for the obsolete 10base2 which uses coaxial cable.

10base2 2.00 Mbit/s
10baseT 10.00 Mbit/s
100baseT 100.00 Mbit/s
Gigabit Ethernet 1,000.00 Mbit/s


Wireless
May be fixed or mobile.

HomeRF 1.20 Mbit/s
WiFi 802.11a 54.00 Mbit/s
WiFi 802.11b 11.00 Mbit/s
WiFi 802.11g 54.00 Mbit/s
WiFi 802.11n 100.00 Mbit/s
CSD 9.6 Kbit/s
CDMA 14.4 Kbit/s
iDEN 19.2 Kbit/s
CDPD 19.2 Kbit/s
1XRTT 144.0 Kbit/s
HSCSD 56.0 Kbit/s
CDMA 2.5G 64.0 Kbit/s
GPRS 171.2 Kbit/s
EDGE 384.0 Kbit/s
3G 384.0 Kbit/s
UMTS 2.00 Mbit/s
3G1xEV-DO 2.40 Mbit/s
3G1xEV-DV 5.00 Mbit/s

*Note: Some connections are asymmetrical, they download faster than they upload.


Based on information provided by various sources including Bandwidth Place (http://www.bandwidthplace.com)


Membership in BNUG is FREE.     Join today!