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58-479: Sympatico was launched on November 29, 1995. Originally a national service operated jointly by Canada's incumbent local exchange carriers and operational run as a content portal by MediaLinx , the companies other than Bell (including Aliant ) have since retreated to their own brands. Starting in Summer 2003, Sympatico tried to differentiate its service from its competitors by adding value-added services . This meant

116-440: A digital subscriber line access multiplexer (DSLAM) at one end and a DSL modem at the other end. It is possible to set up a DSL connection over an existing cable. Such deployment, even including equipment, is much cheaper than installing a new, high-bandwidth fiber-optic cable over the same route and distance. This is true both for ADSL and SDSL variations. The commercial success of DSL and similar technologies largely reflects

174-427: A subscriber can connect to a service such as an Internet service provider or other network services, like a corporate MPLS network. The underlying technology of transport across DSL facilities uses modulation of high-frequency carrier waves , an analog signal transmission. A DSL circuit terminates at each end in a modem which modulates patterns of bits into certain high-frequency impulses for transmission to

232-455: A telephone modem to provide Internet access. Bell's digital subscriber line (DSL) services are based on ADSL , ADSL2+ and VDSL2 technology. The main differences in both equipments vary from the speed of signal, its length and its ability to overcome the noise of a phone line. Except for very few grandfathered customers, Bell has monthly data transfer limits for all of their tiered Internet services. Both downloads and uploads count towards

290-408: A DSL service without a traditional home phone service. Bell does not charge any additional fees for dry DSL service; previously, there was a charge of $ 4 per month. Bell charges resellers a monthly fee ranging from $ 7.25 to $ 25.10 and a one-time activation fee for dry DSL service. Although Bell still attributes a phone number to a dry DSL line, it cannot be used for phone calls. When one attempts to call

348-515: A certain distance without such coils. Therefore, some areas that are within range for DSL service are disqualified from eligibility because of loading coil placement. Because of this, phone companies endeavor to remove loading coils on copper loops that can operate without them. Longer lines that require them can be replaced with fiber to the neighborhood or node ( FTTN ). Most residential and small-office DSL implementations reserve low frequencies for POTS, so that (with suitable filters and/or splitters)

406-616: A dry DSL phone number, they receive the following message: "The number you are calling cannot receive incoming calls. This is a recording." The message is then repeated in French. Since April 11, 2013, Bell offers McAfee Security on all of its current Internet plans. These are services offered by Bell Internet in addition to DSL or FTTH services, either for free or at additional costs: Bell previously offered Portable Internet and Rural Internet services in select rural regions, similarly to what Rogers Communications offered. These services used

464-484: A filter or splitter integrated in the DSLAM or by specialized filtering equipment installed before it. Load coils in phone lines, used for extending their range in rural areas, must be removed to allow DSL to operate as they only allow frequencies of up to 4000 Hz to pass through phone cables. The customer end of the connection consists of a DSL modem . This converts data between the digital signals used by computers and

522-439: A monopoly to serve a community and continues to do so, or a successor company if it is bought and absorbed. ILECs are obligated to serve the entire exchange area as a "provider of last resort", while CLECs can choose which locations to serve, be it by facilities of their own or by resale of services of an ILEC or another CLEC. Digital subscriber line Digital subscriber line ( DSL ; originally digital subscriber loop )

580-618: A remote computer via a digital data carrier system. The motivation for digital subscriber line technology was the Integrated Services Digital Network (ISDN) specification proposed in 1984 by the CCITT (now ITU-T ) as part of Recommendation I.120 , later reused as ISDN digital subscriber line (IDSL). Employees at Bellcore (now Telcordia Technologies ) developed asymmetric digital subscriber line (ADSL) by placing wide-band digital signals at frequencies above

638-621: A single subscriber to receive two separate services from two separate providers on one cable pair. The DSL service provider's equipment is co-located in the same telephone exchange as that of the ILEC supplying the customer's pre-existing voice service. The subscriber's circuit is rewired to interface with hardware supplied by the ILEC which combines a DSL frequency and POTS signals on a single copper pair. Since 1999, certain ISPs have been offering microfilters. These devices are installed indoors and serve

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696-589: A unconditioned local loop (ULL); in Belgium it is known as "raw copper" and in the UK it is known as Single Order GEA (SoGEA). It started making a comeback in the United States in 2004 when Qwest started offering it, closely followed by Speakeasy . As a result of AT&T 's merger with SBC , and Verizon 's merger with MCI , those telephone companies have an obligation to offer naked DSL to consumers. On

754-458: A user ID and password. Transmission methods vary by market, region, carrier, and equipment. DSL technologies (sometimes collectively summarized as xDSL ) include: The line-length limitations from telephone exchange to subscriber impose severe limits on data transmission rates. Technologies such as VDSL provide very high-speed but short-range links. VDSL is used as a method of delivering triple play services (typically implemented in fiber to

812-492: Is a family of technologies that are used to transmit digital data over telephone lines . In telecommunications marketing, the term DSL is widely understood to mean asymmetric digital subscriber line (ADSL), the most commonly installed DSL technology, for Internet access . In ADSL, the data throughput in the upstream direction (the direction to the service provider) is lower, hence the designation of asymmetric service. In symmetric digital subscriber line (SDSL) services,

870-402: Is a schematic of a simple DSL connection (in blue). The right side shows a DSLAM residing in the telephone company's telephone exchange. The left side shows the customer premises equipment with an optional router. The router manages a local area network which connects PCs and other local devices. The customer may opt for a modem that contains both a router and wireless access. This option (within

928-507: Is a way of providing only DSL services over a local loop . It is useful when the customer does not need the traditional telephony voice service because voice service is received either on top of the DSL services (usually VoIP ) or through another network (E.g., mobile telephony ). It is also commonly called an unbundled network element (UNE) in the United States; in Australia it is known as

986-522: Is then split into two different frequency bands for upstream and downstream traffic, based on a preconfigured ratio. This segregation reduces interference. Once the channel groups have been established, the individual channels are bonded into a pair of virtual circuits, one in each direction. Like analog modems, DSL transceivers constantly monitor the quality of each channel and will add or remove them from service depending on whether they are usable. Once upstream and downstream circuits are established,

1044-644: The BBC studios in Newcastle-upon-Tyne and the Pontop Pike transmitting station . However, these cables had other impairments besides Gaussian noise , preventing such rates from becoming practical in the field. The 1980s saw the development of techniques for broadband communications that allowed the limit to be greatly extended. A patent was filed in 1979 for the use of existing telephone wires for both telephones and data terminals that were connected to

1102-672: The Inukshuk Wireless network. Bell is discontinuing these offerings. Customers are encouraged to use Bell Mobility Internet services instead, which generally offer a much lower bandwidth cap. Bell Entertainment was a bundle offer which included Bell Fibe TV service and 25 Mbit/s "Fibe" DSL. It was only available in some parts of the GTA (Greater Toronto Area). Customers can now add any DSL Internet plan to their Fibe TV service. Despite being an IPTV service, Bell does not charge usage-based billing for Bell Fibe TV. Personal Vault

1160-632: The Nortel 1-Meg Modem , which connected to only one computer. Later, it added more models with routing and wireless LAN capabilities built-in, eliminating the need to purchase additional hardware. Customers previously had to pay extra for such capabilities. Today, both of these features are standard in both all-in-one devices Bell lends to its customers. Standard DSL customers must rent Bell's 2Wire 2701HG-G device, which can create 802.11g wireless access point. VDSL customers consist of any service with more than 1 Mbit/s of upload speed, and they must rent

1218-593: The Today Just Got Better rebranding . Bell subsidiaries NorthernTel , Télébec and Northwestel continue to brand their Internet services as Sympatico, and users receive an @ntl.sympatico.ca, @tlb.sympatico.ca, or @sympatico.ca email address, respectively. On January 3, 2012, customer advocacy blog Stop The Cap! reported that Bell lowered its bandwidth caps in Ontario and Quebec by 10 GB for all new activations of its Fibe services, except for

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1276-425: The telephone exchange via a local loop , which is a physical pair of wires. The local loop was originally intended mostly for the transmission of speech, encompassing an audio frequency range of 300 to 3400 hertz ( commercial bandwidth ). However, as long-distance trunks were gradually converted from analog to digital operation, the idea of being able to pass data through the local loop (by using frequencies above

1334-528: The Cellpipe router 802.11n -capable device instead, which also bundles a superior DSL modem. As of November 2021, the Home Hub 4000 is Bell's newest modem, for Internet and Fibe TV customers on different types of Plans. While Bell Internet mostly sells digital subscriber line (DSL) service, they also offer dial-up service to businesses and grandfathered residential customers. This legacy technology uses

1392-690: The FTTH download and upload speeds advertised will be delivered to the Bell equipment. Bell Fibe Internet is offered at the following speeds: 25/25 Mbit/s, 50/50 Mbit/s, 150/150 Mbit/s, 500/500 Mbit/s, 1.5/0.94 Gbit/s, 3/3 Gbit/s, and 8/8 Gbit/s. Bell Aliant offers a similar but different Fibe service under the same branding to certain areas in Atlantic Canada . Naked DSL , commonly known as dry DSL in Canada, consists of

1450-525: The Fibe 25 plan in Ontario which was lowered by 25 GB instead and Fibe 6 and 7 which remain unchanged. In May 2012, Bell launched new fiber-to-the-home (FTTH) plans and simplified its slower DSL plans. FTTH regions can now download and upload at symmetric speeds of up to 175 Mbit/s. The previous changes for lower bandwidth caps were reverted for the new Fibe 15/1 and Fibe 25/7 plans. The Fibe 5/1 plan replaced

1508-432: The ability to download large amounts of data but rarely needed to upload comparable amounts. ADSL supports two modes of transport: fast channel and interleaved channel . Fast channel is preferred for streaming multimedia , where an occasional dropped bit is acceptable, but lags are less so. Interleaved channel works better for file transfers, where the delivered data must be error-free but latency (time delay) incurred by

1566-455: The addition of an unlimited Internet usage add-on for Bell Internet. It costs $ 30/month and can be added to any residential plan. Those who subscribe to telephony ( Bell Mobility or Bell Home Phone) and residential television ( Bell Satellite TV or Bell Fibe TV ) from Bell can obtain a $ 20/month discount on the unlimited Internet usage add-on. When Bell started its DSL Internet service, then known as Sympatico, it simply offered one DSL modem ,

1624-664: The advances made in electronics over the decades that have increased performance and reduced costs even while digging trenches in the ground for new cables (copper or fiber optic) remains expensive. These advantages made ADSL a better proposition for customers requiring Internet access than metered dial up, while also allowing voice calls to be received at the same time as a data connection. Telephone companies were also under pressure to move to ADSL owing to competition from cable companies, which use DOCSIS cable modem technology to achieve similar speeds. Demand for high bandwidth applications, such as video and file sharing, also contributed to

1682-483: The analog voltage signal of a suitable frequency range which is then applied to the phone line. In some DSL variations (for example, HDSL ), the modem connects directly to the computer via a serial interface, using protocols such as Ethernet or V.35 . In other cases (particularly ADSL), it is common for the customer equipment to be integrated with higher-level functionality, such as routing, firewalling, or other application-specific hardware and software. In this case,

1740-421: The curb network architectures). Terabit DSL, is a technology that proposes the use of the space between the dielectrics (insulators) on copper twisted pair lines in telephone cables, as waveguides for 300 GHz signals that can offer speeds of up to 1 terabit per second at distances of up to 100 meters, 100 gigabits per second for 300 meters, and 10 gigabits per second for 500 meters. The first experiment for this

1798-428: The customer over about 2 km (1.2 mi) of unshielded twisted-pair copper wire. Newer variants improved these rates. Distances greater than 2 km (1.2 mi) significantly reduce the bandwidth usable on the wires, thus reducing the data rate. But ADSL loop extenders increase these distances by repeating the signal, allowing the local exchange carrier (LEC) to deliver DSL speeds to any distance. Until

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1856-428: The customer side, a DSL modem is hooked up to a phone line. The telephone company connects the other end of the line to a DSLAM , which concentrates a large number of individual DSL connections into a single box. The DSLAM cannot be located too far from the customer because of attenuation between the DSLAM and the user's DSL modem. It is common for a few residential blocks to be connected to one DSLAM. The above figure

1914-475: The customer's premises. The theoretical foundations of DSL, like much of communication technology, can be traced back to Claude Shannon 's seminal 1948 paper, " A Mathematical Theory of Communication ". Generally, higher bit rate transmissions require a wider frequency band, though the ratio of bit rate to symbol rate and thus to bandwidth are not linear due to significant innovations in digital signal processing and digital modulation methods . Naked DSL

1972-403: The dashed bubble) often simplifies the connection. At the exchange, a digital subscriber line access multiplexer (DSLAM) terminates the DSL circuits and aggregates them, where they are handed off to other networking transports. The DSLAM terminates all connections and recovers the original digital information. In the case of ADSL, the voice component is also separated at this step, either by

2030-467: The downstream and upstream data rates are equal. DSL service can be delivered simultaneously with wired telephone service on the same telephone line since DSL uses higher frequency bands for data transmission. On the customer premises, a DSL filter is installed on each telephone to prevent undesirable interaction between DSL and telephone service. The bit rate of consumer ADSL services typically ranges from 256 kbit/s up to 25 Mbit/s, while

2088-487: The end customers yet. Initially, it was believed that ordinary phone lines could only be used at modest speeds, usually less than 9600 bits per second. In the 1950s, ordinary twisted-pair telephone cable often carried 4 MHz television signals between studios, suggesting that such lines would allow transmitting many megabits per second. One such circuit in the United Kingdom ran some 10 miles (16 km) between

2146-405: The equipment is referred to as a gateway. Most DSL technologies require the installation of appropriate DSL filters at the customer's premises to separate the DSL signal from the low-frequency voice signal. The separation can take place either at the demarcation point , or with filters installed at the telephone outlets inside the customer premises. It is possible for a DSL gateway to integrate

2204-481: The existing baseband analog voice signal carried on conventional twisted pair cabling between telephone exchanges and customers. A patent was filed by AT&T Bell Labs on the basic DSL concept in 1988. Joseph W. Lechleider 's contribution to DSL was his insight that an asymmetric arrangement offered more than double the bandwidth capacity of symmetric DSL. This allowed Internet service providers to offer efficient service to consumers, who benefited greatly from

2262-443: The existing voice service continues to operate independently of the DSL service. Thus POTS-based communications, including fax machines and dial-up modems , can share the wires with DSL. Only one DSL modem can use the subscriber line at a time. The standard way to let multiple computers share a DSL connection uses a router that establishes a connection between the DSL modem and a local Ethernet , powerline , or Wi-Fi network on

2320-431: The filter, and allow telephones to connect through the gateway. Modern DSL gateways often integrate routing and other functionality. The system boots, synchronizes the DSL connection and finally establishes the internet IP services and connection between the local network and the service provider, using protocols such as DHCP or PPPoE . Many DSL technologies implement an Asynchronous Transfer Mode (ATM) layer over

2378-429: The late 1990s, the cost of digital signal processors for DSL was prohibitive. All types of DSL employ highly complex digital signal processing algorithms to overcome the inherent limitations of the existing twisted pair wires. Due to the advancements of very-large-scale integration (VLSI) technology, the cost of the equipment associated with a DSL deployment lowered significantly. The two main pieces of equipment are

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2436-431: The later VDSL+ technology delivers between 16 Mbit/s and 250 Mbit/s in the direction to the customer ( downstream ), with up to 40 Mbit/s upstream. The exact performance is depending on technology, line conditions, and service-level implementation. Researchers at Bell Labs have reached SDSL speeds over 1  Gbit/s using traditional copper telephone lines, though such speeds have not been made available for

2494-628: The launch of Radial Point's (formerly Zero Knowledge) suite of antivirus , firewall and anti-spyware services. Although a fee was originally required, this is no longer the case, as Bell now provides the service at no extra charge for DSL customers. In 2004, Sympatico added a wireless modem-router hardware upgrade and Microsoft's MSN Premium software to its portfolio. In Summer 2007, Sympatico packaged its Security suite and wireless home networking modem together with its high speed offering as Sympatico Total Internet. Bell Sympatico changed its name to Bell Internet on August 8, 2008, in conjunction with

2552-630: The limit. The following Bell Internet services are only available in Ontario and Quebec , and availability varies by region. Fibe services can only be used where fibre-to-the-neighbourhood (FTTN) technology is deployed. This currently includes urban Hamilton , Montreal , Ottawa and Toronto as well as most major cities around GTA. Non-FTTN regions offer two plans: Bell Internet and Bell Internet Plus. Bell has simplified its DSL lineup to offer only two traditional plans and five FTTN plans. Bell Fibe Internet (FTTH) services are offered by Bell in select regions of Ontario and Quebec. Bell guarantees that

2610-586: The low-level bitstream layer to enable the adaptation of a number of different technologies over the same link. DSL implementations may create bridged or routed networks. In a bridged configuration, the group of subscriber computers effectively connect into a single subnetwork . The earliest implementations used DHCP to provide the IP address to the subscriber equipment, with authentication via MAC address or an assigned hostname . Later implementations often use Point-to-Point Protocol (PPP) to authenticate with

2668-425: The older Essential, Essential Plus, Fibe 6 and Fibe 7 plans. The bandwidth cap for Fibe 5/1, however, was lowered from 25 GB to 15 GB. The Fibe 50/50 FTTH plan was removed from Bell's website by February 2013. In its place, a Fibe 50/10 FTTN plan was made available for the first time. During that same month, usage caps for the 15/10, 25/10 and 50/10 plans were lowered by 15, 25 and 75 GB respectively. February also saw

2726-517: The opposing modem. Signals received from the far-end modem are demodulated to yield a corresponding bit pattern that the modem passes on, in digital form, to its interfaced equipment, such as a computer, router, switch, etc. Unlike traditional dial-up modems, which modulate bits into signals in the 300–3400 Hz audio baseband, DSL modems modulate frequencies from 4000 Hz to as high as 4 MHz. This frequency band separation enables DSL service and plain old telephone service (POTS) to coexist on

2784-444: The popularity of ADSL technology. Some of the first field trials for DSL were carried out in 1996. Early DSL service required a dedicated dry loop , but when the U.S. Federal Communications Commission (FCC) required incumbent local exchange carriers (ILECs) to lease their lines to competing DSL service providers, shared-line DSL became available. Also known as DSL over unbundled network element , this unbundling of services allows

2842-412: The regional monopoly on landline service before the market was opened to competitive local exchange carriers , or the corporate successor of such a firm. An incumbent local exchange carrier is a local exchange carrier (LEC) in a specific area that The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) may, by rule, provide for the treatment of an LEC (or class or category thereof) as an ILEC if: ILECs have

2900-487: The retransmission of error-containing packets is acceptable. Consumer-oriented ADSL was designed to operate on existing lines already conditioned for Basic Rate Interface ISDN services. Engineers developed high speed DSL facilities such as high bit rate digital subscriber line (HDSL) and symmetric digital subscriber line (SDSL) to provision traditional Digital Signal 1 (DS1) services over standard copper pair facilities. Older ADSL standards delivered 8  Mbit/s to

2958-459: The same cables, known as voice-grade cables. On the subscriber's end of the circuit, inline DSL filters are installed on each telephone to pass voice frequencies but filter the high-frequency signals that would otherwise be heard as hiss. Also, nonlinear elements in the phone could otherwise generate audible intermodulation and may impair the operation of the data modem in the absence of these low-pass filters . DSL and RADSL modulations do not use

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3016-616: The same duties as a LEC and in addition: In the United States , ILECs were companies in existence at the time of the breakup of AT&T into the Regional Bell Operating Companies (RBOCs), also known as the "Baby Bells". Various regional independents also held incumbent monopolies in their respective regions. The largest of these was GTE , the second largest ILEC after the Bell System. GTE

3074-573: The same purpose as DSL splitters, which are deployed outdoors: they divide the frequencies needed for ADSL and POTS phone calls. These filters originated out of a desire to make self-installation of DSL service possible, and eliminate early outdoor DSL splitters which were installed at or near the demarcation point between the customer and the ISP. By 2012, some carriers in the United States reported that DSL remote terminals with fiber backhaul were replacing older ADSL systems. Telephones are connected to

3132-462: The system is configured. Allocation of channels continues to higher frequencies (up to 1.1 MHz for ADSL) until new channels are deemed unusable. Each channel is evaluated for usability in much the same way an analog modem would on a POTS connection. More usable channels equate to more available bandwidth, which is why distance and line quality are a factor (the higher frequencies used by DSL travel only short distances). The pool of usable channels

3190-532: The voice-frequency band so high-pass filters are incorporated in the circuitry of DSL modems filter out voice frequencies. Because DSL operates above the 3.4 kHz voice limit, it cannot pass through a loading coil , which is an inductive coil that is designed to counteract loss caused by shunt capacitance (capacitance between the two wires of the twisted pair). Loading coils are commonly set at regular intervals in POTS lines. Voice service cannot be maintained past

3248-472: The voiceband) took hold, ultimately leading to DSL. The local loop connecting the telephone exchange to most subscribers has the capability of carrying frequencies well beyond the 3400 Hz upper limit of POTS . Depending on the length and quality of the loop, the upper limit can be tens of megahertz. DSL takes advantage of this unused bandwidth of the local loop by creating 4312.5 Hz wide channels starting between 10 and 100 kHz, depending on how

3306-474: Was a backup service, available nationwide both for customers and non-customers. While inMusic remains available as a music news portal, both the online music store and subscription service were discontinued. *Currently being sold to other owners pending approval of the CRTC. Incumbent local exchange carrier An incumbent local exchange carrier ( ILEC ) is a local telephone company which held

3364-446: Was later absorbed into Verizon , an RBOC . In some areas, an independent telephone company is responsible for providing local telephone exchange services in a specified geographic area. In Canada , ILECs are the original telephone companies such as Telus ( BC Tel and Alberta Government Telephones ), SaskTel , Manitoba Telecom Services (MTS Allstream), Bell Canada and Aliant , as well as any other company that previously held

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