Asymmetric Digital Subscriber Line (ADSL) is one form of the Digital Subscriber Line

technology, a data communications technology that enables faster data transmission over copper
telephone lines than a conventional voiceband modem can provide. It does this by utilizing
frequencies that are not used by a voice telephone call.[1] A splitter, or DSL filter, allows a single
telephone connection to be used for both ADSL service and voice calls at the same time. ADSL
can generally only be distributed over short distances from the central office, typically less than
4 kilometres (2 mi),[2] but has been known to exceed 8 kilometres (5 mi) if the originally laid
wire gauge allows for farther distribution.

At the telephone exchange the line generally terminates at a Digital Subscriber Line Access
Multiplexer (DSLAM) where another frequency splitter separates the voice band signal for the
conventional phone network. Data carried by the ADSL are typically routed over the telephone
company's data network and eventually reach a conventional Internet Protocol network.

Operation
Currently, most ADSL communication is full-duplex. Full-duplex ADSL communication is
usually achieved on a wire pair by either frequency-division duplex (FDD), echo-cancelling
duplex (ECD), or time-division duplex (TDD). FDD 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.

Frequency plan for ADSL. Red area is the frequency range used by normal voice telephony
(PSTN), the green (upstream) and blue (downstream) areas are used for ADSL.

With standard ADSL (annex A), the band from 26.000 kHz to 137.825 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. These frequency
channels are sometimes termed bins. During initial training, the ADSL modem tests each of the
bins to establish the signal-to-noise ratio at each bin's frequency. The distance from the telephone
exchange and the characteristics of the cable mean that some frequencies may not propagate
well, and noise on the copper wire, interference from AM radio stations and local interference
and electrical noise at the customer end mean that relatively high levels of noise are present at
some frequencies both effects the signal-to-noise ratio in some bins (at some frequencies) may be
good or completely inadequate. A bad signal-to-noise ratio measured at certain frequencies will
mean that those bins will not be used, resulting in a reduced maximum link capacity, but with an
otherwise functional ADSL connection.

The DSL modem will make a plan on how to exploit each of the bins, sometimes termed "bits
per bin" allocation. Those bins that have a good signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) will be chosen to
transmit signals chosen from a greater number of possible encoded values (this range of
possibilities equating to more bits of data sent) in each main clock cycle. The number of
possibilities must not be so large that the receiver might incorrectly decode which one was
intended in the presence of noise. Noisy bins may only be required to carry as few as two bits, a
choice from only one of four possible patterns, or only one bit per bin in the case of ADSL2+,
and very noisy bins are not used at all. If the pattern of noise versus frequencies heard in the bins
changes, the DSL modem can alter the bits-per-bin allocations, in a process called "bitswap",
where bins that have become more noisy are only required to carry fewer bits and other channels
will be chosen to be given a higher burden. The data transfer capacity the DSL modem therefore
reports is determined by the total of the bits-per-bin allocations of all the bins combined. Higher
signal-to-noise ratios and more bins being in use gives a higher total link capacity, while lower
signal-to-noise ratios or fewer bins being used gives a low link capacity.

The total maximum capacity derived from summing the bits-per-bins is reported by DSL
modems and is sometimes termed sync rate. This will always be rather misleading, as the true
maximum link capacity for user data transfer rate will be significantly lower; because extra data
are transmitted that are termed protocol overhead, reduced figures for PPPoA connections of
around 84-87 percent, at most, being common. In addition, some ISPs will have traffic policies
that limit maximum transfer rates further in the networks beyond the exchange, and traffic
congestion on the Internet, heavy loading on servers and slowness or inefficiency in customers'
computers may all contribute to reductions below the maximum attainable.

The choices the DSL modem make can also be either conservative, where the modem chooses to
allocate fewer bits per bin than it possibly could, a choice which makes for a slower connection,
or less conservative in which more bits per bin are chosen in which case there is a greater risk
case of error should future signal-to-noise ratios deteriorate to the point where the bits-per-bin
allocations chosen are too high to cope with the greater noise present. This conservatism
involving a choice to using fewer bits per bin as a safeguard against future noise increases is
reported as the signal-to-noise ratio margin or SNR margin. The telephone exchange can indicate
a suggested SNR margin to the customer's DSL modem when it initially connects, and the
modem may make its bits-per-bin allocation plan accordingly. A high SNR margin will mean a
reduced maximum throughput, but greater reliability and stability of the connection. A low SNR
margin will mean high speeds, provided the noise level does not increase too much; otherwise,
the connection will have to be dropped and renegotiated (resynced). ADSL2+ can better
accommodate such circumstances, offering a feature termed seamless rate adaptation (SRA),
which can accommodate changes in total link capacity with less disruption to communications.

Frequency spectrum of modem on ADSL line

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 problems 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.

ADSL initially existed in two versions (similar to VDSL), namely CAP and DMT. CAP was the
de facto standard for ADSL deployments up until 1996, deployed in 90 percent of ADSL installs
at the time. However, DMT was chosen for the first ITU-T ADSL standards, G.992.1 and
G.992.2 (also called G.dmt and G.lite respectively). Therefore all modern installations of ADSL
are based on the DMT modulation scheme.

Interleaving and fastpath

Some[which?] ADSL connections use interleaving of packets to counter the effects of noise bursts
on the telephone line. Each packet to be sent (usually an Ethernet packet) is split into segments,
that are sent over a longer period of time interleaved with data from previous and following
packets. This allows error correction algorithms to recover the packets even if all data is lost
during the burst. A negative side effect of interleaving is an increase of latency by tens of
milliseconds. An ADSL profile with interleaving turned off is referred to as fastpath.

Installation issues
Due to the way it uses the frequency spectrum, ADSL deployment presents some issues. It is
necessary to install appropriate frequency filters at the customer's premises, to avoid interference
with the voice service, while at the same time taking care to keep a clean signal level for the
ADSL connection.

In the early days of DSL, installation required a technician to visit the premises. A splitter or
microfilter was installed near the demarcation point, from which a dedicated data line was
installed. This way, the DSL signal is separated earlier and is not attenuated inside the customer
premises. However, this procedure is costly, and also caused problems with customers
complaining about having to wait for the technician to perform the installation. As a result, many
DSL vendors started offering a self-install option, in which they ship equipment and instructions
to the customer. Instead of separating the DSL signal at the demarcation point, the opposite is
done: the DSL signal is filtered at each phone outlet by use of a low-pass filter for voice and a
high-pass filter for data, usually enclosed in what is known as a microfilter. This microfilter can
be plugged directly into any phone jack, and does not require any rewiring at the customer's
premises.

A side effect of the move to the self-install model is that the DSL signal can be degraded,
especially if more than 5 voiceband devices are connected to the line. The DSL signal is now
present on all telephone wiring in the building, causing attenuation and echo. A way to
circumvent this is to go back to the original model, and install one filter upstream from all
telephone jacks in the building, except for the jack to which the DSL modem will be connected.
Since this requires wiring changes by the customer and may not work on some household
telephone wiring, it is rarely done. It is usually much easier to install filters at each telephone
jack that is in use.

DSL signals may be degraded by older telephone lines, surge protectors, poorly designed
microfilters, radio frequency interference, electrical noise, and by long telephone extension
cords. Telephone extension cords are typically made with small-gauge multi-strand copper
conductors which do not maintain a noise-reducing pair twist. Such cable is more susceptible to
electromagnetic interference and has more attenuation than solid twisted-pair copper wires
typically wired to telephone jacks. These effects are especially significant where the customer's
phone line is more than 4 km from the DSLAM in the telephone exchange, which causes the
signal levels to be lower relative to any local noise and attenuation. This will have the effect of
reducing speeds or causing connection failures.
ADSL standards

Downstream rate Upstream rate Approved

Version Standard name Common name
in
ANSI T1.413-1998
ADSL ADSL 8.0 Mbit/s 1.0 Mbit/s 1998
Issue 2
ADSL ITU G.992.1 ADSL (G.DMT) 12.0 Mbit/s 1.3 Mbit/s 1999-07
ITU G.992.1 Annex ADSL over
ADSL 12.0 Mbit/s 1.3 Mbit/s 2001
A POTS
ITU G.992.1 Annex ADSL over
ADSL 12.0 Mbit/s 1.8 Mbit/s 2005
B ISDN
ADSL Lite
ADSL ITU G.992.2 1.5 Mbit/s 0.5 Mbit/s 1999-07
(G.Lite)
ADSL2 ITU G.992.3 ADSL2 12.0 Mbit/s 1.0 Mbit/s 2002-07
ADSL2 ITU G.992.3 Annex J ADSL2 12.0 Mbit/s 3.5 Mbit/s
ITU G.992.3 Annex
ADSL2 RE-ADSL2 5.0 Mbit/s 0.8 Mbit/s
L
splitterless
ADSL2 ITU G.992.4 1.5 Mbit/s 0.5 Mbit/s 2002-07
ADSL2
ADSL2+ ITU G.992.5 ADSL2+ 24.0 Mbit/s 1.0 Mbit/s 2003-05
ITU G.992.5 Annex
ADSL2+ ADSL2+M 24.0 Mbit/s 3.5 Mbit/s 2008
M

[edit] See also