Adsl Faq; How Does Adsl Compare To Cable Modems; What Is The Expected Throughput; What Is The Microfilter Used For - ZyXEL Communications P-660HN-T1A Support Notes

P-660HN Series Support Notes

ADSL FAQ

1. How does ADSL compare to Cable modems?

ADSL provides a dedicated service over a single telephone line; cable
modems offer a dedicated service over a shared media. While cable modems
have greater downstream bandwidth capabilities (up to 24 Mbps), that
bandwidth is shared among all users on a line, and will therefore vary, perhaps
dramatically, as more users in a neighborhood get online at the same time.
Cable modem upstream traffic will in many cases be slower than ADSL, either
because the particular cable modem is inherently slower, or because of rate
reductions caused by contention for upstream bandwidth slots. The big
difference between ADSL and cable modems, however, is the number of lines
available to each. There are no more than 12 million homes passed today that
can support two-way cable modem transmissions, and while the figure also
grows steadily, it will not catch up with telephone lines for many years.
Additionally, many of the older cable networks are not capable of offering a
return channel; consequently, such networks will need significant upgrading
before they can offer high bandwidth services.

2. What is the expected throughput?

In our test, we can get about 1.6Mbps data rate on 15Kft using the 26AWG
loop. The shorter the loop, the better the throughput is.

3. What is the microfilter used for?

Generally, the voice band uses the lower frequency ranging from 0 to 4KHz,
while ADSL data transmission uses the higher frequency. The micro filter acts
as a low-pass filter for your telephone set to ensure that ADSL transmissions
do not interfere with your voice transmissions. For the details about how to
connect the micro filter please refer to the user's manual.

4. How do I know the ADSL line is up?

You can see the DSL LED Green on the P-660HN-T1A's front panel is on
when the ADSL physical layer is up.

5. How does the P-660HN-T1A work on a noisy ADSL?

Depending on the line quality, the P-660HN-T1A uses "Fall Back" and "Fall
Forward" to automatically adjust the date rate.
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