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Broadband Internet access, often shortened to just broadband, is high-speed Internet access – typically contrasted with dial-up access over a modem.

Dial-up modems are generally only capable of a maximum bit-rate of 56 kbit/s (kilobits per second) and require the full use of a telephone line – whereas broadband technologies supply at least double this speed and generally without disrupting telephone use.

Although various minimum speeds have been used in definitions of broadband, ranging up from 64 kbit/s up to 1.0 Mbit/s, the OECD report is typical in counting only download speeds equal to or faster than 256 kbit/s as broadband, and the US FCC use 200 kbit/s in their definition.

Speeds are defined in terms of maximum download because several common consumer broadband technologies such as ADSL are “asymmetric” – supporting much slower maximum upload speeds than download.

“Broadband penetration” is now treated as a key economic indicator throughout the world, surprisingly with South Korea in the forefront with data rates of around 14Mbps for regular internet access lines.

via [Wikipedia]