Listed below is the technology name followed by Maximum Throughput Speeds and it'sCommon Uses.
| Technology
| Maximum Throughput Speeds
| Common Uses
|
| GSM mobile telephone services
| 9.6 to 14.4 Kbps
| Wireless technology used for personal and business mobile telephones
|
| Regular telephone (POTS, for Plain Old Telephone Service)
| Up to 56 Kbps
| Home and small business access to an ISP using a modem
|
| X.25
| 56 Kbps
| Provides communication between mainframes and terminals
|
| ISDN
| 64 Kbps to 128 Kbps
| Small to medium-size business access to an ISP
|
| IDSL (ISDN Digital Subscriber Line
| 128 Kbps
| Home and small business access to an ISP
|
| DSL Lite or G.Lite
| Up to 384 Kbps upstream and up to 6Mbps downstream
| Less expensive version of DSL
|
| ADSL (Asymmetric Digital Subscriber Line)
| 640 Kbps upstream and up to 6.1 Mbps downstream
| Most bandwidth is from ISP to user
|
| SDSL (Symmetric DSL)
| 1.544 Mbps
| Equal bandwidth in both directions
|
| HDSL (High-bit-rate DSL)
| Up to 3 Mbps
| Equal bandwidth in both directions
|
| Cable modem
| 512 Kbps to 5 Mbps
| Home or small business to ISP
|
| VDSL (very-high-rate DSL)
| Up to 55 Mbps over short distances
| Future technology of DSL under development
|
| 802.11b wireless
| Up to 11 Mbps
| Currently, most popular wireless
|
| 802.11a wireless
| Up to 54 Mbps
| Shorter range then 802.11b, but faster
|
| 802.11g wireless
| Up to 54 Mbps
| Compatible with 802.11b, but faster
|
| Frame relay
| 56 Kbps to 45 Mbps
| Businesses that need to communicated internationally or across the country
|
| Fractional T1
| N times 64 Kbps (where n is the number of channels or portions of a T1 leased
| Companies expecting to grow into a T1 line, but not yet ready for a T1
|
| T1
| 1.544 Mbps
| To connect large companies to branch offices or an ISP
|
| Token Ring
| 4 or 16 Mbps
| Used for local network
|
| Ethernet
| 10 or 100 Mbps
| Most popular technology for a local network
|
| T3
| 45 Mbps
| Large companies that require a lot of bandwidth and transmit extensive amounts of data
|
| OC-1
| 52 Mbps
| Base rate of transmission used by SONET and ATM. Multiples are called Optical Carrier levels (OCx).
|
| FDDI
| 100 Mbps
| Supports network backbones from the 1980s and early 1990s; also used to connect LANs across multiple buildings
|
| ATM
| 25, 45, 155, or 622 Mbps
| Large business networks and LAN backbones; uses different OC levels
|
| OC-3
| 155 Mbps
| Internet or large corporation backbone
|
| Gigabit Ethernet
| 1 Gbps
| Latest Ethernet standard
|
| OC-24
| 1.23 Gbps
| Internet backbone, uses optical fiber
|
| OC-256
| 13 Gbps
| Major internet backbone, uses optical fiber
|
| SONET (Synchronous Optical Network)
| 52 Mbps to 20 Gbps
| Major backbones make use of different OC levels
|
| Cable systems
| Speed
| Cables and Connectors
| Maximum Cable length
|
| 10Base2 (ThinNet)
| 10 Mbps
| Coaxial uses a BNC connector
| 185 meters or 607 feet
|
| 10Base5 (ThickNet)
| 10 Mbps
| Coaxial uses an AUI 15-pin D-shaped connector
| 500 meters or 1640 feet
|
| 10BaseT and 100BaseT (twisted-pair)
| 10 or 100 Mbps
| UTP or STP uses an RJ-45 connector
| 100 meters or 328 feet
|
| 10BaseF, 10BaseFL, 100BaseFL, 100BaseFX, 1000BaseFX, or 1000BaseX (fiber-optic)
| 10 Mbps, 100 Mbps, or 1 Gbps
| Fiber-optic cable use an ST or SC fiber-optic connector
| 500 meters up to 2 kilometers (6,562 feet)
|
| 1000BaseT (Gigabit Ethernet)
| 1 Gbps
| Twisted pair cable with RJ-45 connectors or Fiber-optic
| 100 meters or 328 feet
|
