How ADSL works

On the wire

ADSL uses two separate frequency bands, referred to as the upstream and downstream bands. The upstream band is used for communication from the end user to the telephone central office. The downstream band is used for communicating from the central office to the end user. With standard ADSL (annex A), the band from 25.875 kHz to 138 kHz is used for upstream communication, while 138 kHz – 1104 kHz is used for downstream communication.

Each of these is further divided into smaller frequency channels of 4.3125 kHz. During initial training, the ADSL modem tests which of the available channels have an acceptable signal-to-noise ratio. The distance from the telephone exchange, or noise on the copper wire, may introduce errors on some frequencies. By keeping the channels small, an error on one frequency thus need not render the line unusable: the channel will not be used, merely resulting in reduced throughput on an otherwise functional ADSL connection.

Vendors may support usage of higher frequencies as a proprietary extension to the standard. However, this requires matching vendor-supplied equipment on both ends of the line, and will likely result in crosstalk issues that affect other lines in the same bundle.

There is a direct relationship between the number of channels available and the throughput capacity of the ADSL connection. The exact data capacity per channel depends on the modulation method used.

A common error is to attribute the A in ADSL to the word asynchronous. ADSL technologies use a synchronous framed protocol for data transmission on the wire.