Broadband is a description of a class of connections capable of higher speeds, NOT a specific type of connection. Any connection capable of 64Kbps or better is classified as Broadband.

Much of the advertising material on this subject implies Broadband is a specific type of connection (usually ADSL) which is completely incorrect.

Scoastnet has several Broadband choices ranging in speed from 64Kbps to 1Mbps.

There are several different types of Broadband connections available in the area such as

Each of these has its own advantages and disadvantages.

One common point of confusion is speed measurements and contention ratios, this is explained below.

Bandwidth is normally measured in Kbps which is Kilobits Per Second.

File sizes are measured in Kb which is Kilobytes and this is what is displayed by you Browser or download application (ie 3.5Kb per sec).

There are 8 Kilobits in a Kilobyte.

Therefore a 64Kbps connection such as ISDN can deliver up to 8 Kilobytes per second on a file transfer.

One of the primary differences between the various accounts and providers available for ADSL is different Contention Ratios and the higher (lower performance) Contention Ratios are usually on the lower priced accounts.