Q. Who is ADSL aimed at?
A. ADSL service will
be aimed primarily at the consumer market, teleworkers and
Small & Medium Enterprise’s (SME's). It
offers a faster connection than conventional
dial-up, but at a lower cost than a leased line
Internet connection.
ADSL also leaves the telephone line free to
make and receive voice calls. Customers
who spend a lot of time on the Internet via
a dial-up connection may find ADSL an
attractive alternative. However, ADSL does not
offer all of the facilities of a leased
line connection, which is still the preferred
connection for high bandwidth business
requirements.
Q. Is ADSL available to everyone?
A. No. In order to
receive an ADSL service, customers must have a standard SLT
telephone line which is connected to an
ADSL enabled local telephone exchange.
Q. What can I do if ADSL
is not available in my area?
A. If ADSL is not
available in your area, you can access an Availability monitoring
service form SLt web site. We will make aware
that you require ADSL and we will
monitor your local exchange and put on to the
SLT web page when it has been
enabled for ADSL.
Q. How will ADSL compare
with a Dial – up connection?
A. There are
a number of differences between an ADSL Internet connection,
and
a SLT Dial-up Internet connection:
- Price - ADSL connections will cost more than a standard
SLT Dial-up connection.
This is simply because ADSL offers far superior connection
speeds and provides
you with a 24-hour a day, 7 day a week connection, all for
a fixed monthly fee
which includes the cost of Internet calls.
- Speed - The fastest access speeds currently available
through standard analogue
modems are 56.6 Kbps for download (data from the Internet)
and 33.6 Kbps
upload (data to the Internet). ADSL will provide speeds
of up to 2Mbits for download
and amaximum 512 Kbps upload. And because you would be connected
all day
every day,you don't have to wait while you establish a connection
before browsing
the web or downloading emails. The download speeds available
will be 512Kbps
and 2Mbps depending on the ADSL service chosen.
- In addition, because of the distance limitation, ADSL
will not be available to
premises more than approximately 5.5km away from their local
telephone exchange.
It is also sensitive to the quality and maintenance standard
of the copper wire used
within thetelephone line, so not everyone within the 5.5km
limit will be able to take
advantage of ADSL.
Q. How will ADSL Compare
with ISDN?
- Price - Depending on the ADSL service you choose, ADSL
is comparable in price
to ISDN whilst offering significant advantages including
permanent connectivity
and greater speeds, all for a fixed monthly cost. With ISDN
you will be required to
pay a monthly line rental fee and both Internet call charges
and voice call charges.
With ADSL you pay your line rental and a single monthly
fee which covers the cost
of your Internet access and Internet call charges. You would
still be charged for
standard voice calls by your telephone provider.
- Speed - Under optimum operating conditions ADSL will generally
offer higher download
speeds than would be obtained using ISDN. It may not offer
any speed improvement
when sending data out to the Internet however.
- Asymmetry - ADSL is asymmetric because most of its two-way
or duplex bandwidth
is devoted to the downstream direction, sending data to
the user. Only a small portion
of bandwidth is available for upstream or user-interaction
messages, whereas ISDN
is symmetric because the data rate is the same in both directions.
- Always on - ADSL-based Internet access is a 24-hour a
day, 7 day a week connection
meaning there is no wait while you connect to the Internet.
ISDN does require you to
dial-up and connect to the Internet when access is required.
Q. Will ADSL work on any
telephone line?
A. No, ADSL is only
available to customers using a standard SLT telephone line
of sufficient
quality
Q. Will need to change my
telephone number?
A. No, because ADSL
has been designed to use your existing SLT telephone line,
your
telephone number remains the same. If you use
an alternative provider, you will be
required to install a SLT telephone line in
order to receive ADSL. This may mean a change
in telephone number
Q. Will still be able to
make telephone calls through my ADSL line?
A. Yes, ADSL will
allow you to make telephone calls even while you are accessing
the
Internet. If you make calls whilst connected
to the Internet through ADSL, you may notice
a slight drop in the connection speed. This
is because when a telephone call is made, a
small piece of the ADSL bandwidth is used for
the call.
Q. Will still need to pay
for my telephone line rental and telephone calls?
A. Yes, ADSL only
enables you to use the Internet without paying ongoing call
charges to SLT.
Your standard voice telephone calls and line
rental will be charged by SLT in the normal way.
Q. With other SLT services
such as “ Call waiting “ still work?
A. Yes they will.
SLT Select Services such as 'Call Waiting', 'Caller Display'
will all continue to
be supported by SLT. |
