| This table shows the stated data rates for the most important end-user and backbone transmission technologies. | |||
| Technology | Speed | Physical Medium | Application |
|---|---|---|---|
| GSMmobile telephone service | 9.6 to 14.4 Kbps | RF in space (wireless) | Mobile telephone for business and personal use |
| High-Speed Circuit-Switched Data service (HSCSD) | Up to 56 Kbps | RF in space (wireless) | Mobile telephone for business and personal use |
| Regular telephone service (POTS) | Up to 56 Kbps | twisted pair | Home and small business access |
| Dedicated 56Kbps on frame relay | 56 Kbps | Various | Business e-mail with fairly large file attachments |
| DS0 | 64 Kbps | All | The base signal on a channel in the set of Digital Signal levels |
| General Packet Radio System (GPRS) | 56 to 114 Kbps | RF in space (wireless) | Mobile telephone for business and personal use |
| ISDN | BRI: 64 Kbps to 128 Kbps PRI: 23 (T-1) or 30 (E1) assignable 64-Kbps channels plus control channel; up to 1.544 Mbps (T-1) or 2.048 (E1) | BRI: Twisted-pair PRI: T-1 or E1 line | BRI: Faster home and small business access PRI: Medium and large enterprise access |
| IDSL | 128 Kbps | Twisted-pair | Faster home and small business access |
| AppleTalk | 230.4 Kbps | Twisted pair | Local area network for Apple devices; several networks can be bridged; non-Apple devices can also be connected |
| Enhanced Data GSM Environment (EDGE) | 384 Kbps | RF in space (wireless) | Mobile telephone for business and personal use |
| satellite | 400 Kbps (DirecPC and others) | RF in space (wireless) | Faster home and small enterprise access |
| frame relay | 56 Kbps to 1.544 Mbps | Twisted-pair or coaxial cable | Large company backbone for LANs to ISP ISP to Internet infrastructure |
| DS1/T-1 | 1.544 Mbps | Twisted-pair, coaxial cable, or optical fiber | Large company to ISP ISP to Internet infrastructure |
| Universal Mobile Telecommunications Service (UMTS) | Up to 2 Mbps | RF in space (wireless) | Mobile telephone for business and personal use (available in 2002 or later) |
| E-carrier | 2.048 Mbps | Twisted-pair, coaxial cable, or optical fiber | 32-channel European equivalent of T-1 |
| T-1C (DS1C) | 3.152 Mbps | Twisted-pair, coaxial cable, or optical fiber | Large company to ISP ISP to Internet infrastructure |
| IBM Token Ring/802.5 | 4 Mbps (also 16 Mbps) | Twisted-pair, coaxial cable, or optical fiber | Second most commonly-used local area network after Ethernet |
| DS2/T-2 | 6.312 Mbps | Twisted-pair, coaxial cable, or optical fiber | Large company to ISP ISP to Internet infrastructure |
| Digital Subscriber Line (DSL) | 512 Kbps to 8 Mbps | Twisted-pair (used as a digital, broadband medium) | Home, small business, and enterprise access using existing copper lines |
| E-2 | 8.448 Mbps | Twisted-pair, coaxial cable, or optical fiber | Carries four multiplexed E-1 signals |
| cable modem | 512 Kbps to 52 Mbps (see "Key and explanation" below) | Coaxial cable (usually uses Ethernet); in some systems, telephone used for upstream requests | Home, business, school access |
| Ethernet | 10 Mbps | 10BASE-T (twisted-pair); 10BASE-2 or -5 (coaxial cable); 10BASE-F (optical fiber) | Most popular business local area network (LAN) |
| IBM Token Ring/802.5 | 16 Mbps (also 4 Mbps) | Twisted-pair, coaxial cable, or optical fiber | Second most commonly-used local area network after Ethernet |
| E-3 | 34.368 Mbps | Twisted-pair or optical fiber | Carries 16 E-l signals |
| DS3/T-3 | 44.736 Mbps | Coaxial cable | ISP to Internet infrastructure Smaller links within Internet infrastructure |
| OC-1 | 51.84 Mbps | Optical fiber | ISP to Internet infrastructure Smaller links within Internet infrastructure |
| High-Speed Serial Interface (HSSI) | Up to 53 Mbps | HSSI cable | Between router hardware and WAN lines Short-range (50 feet) interconnection between slower LAN devices and faster WAN lines |
| Fast Ethernet | 100 Mbps | 100BASE-T (twisted pair); 100BASE-T (twisted pair); 100BASE-T (optical fiber) | Workstations with 10 Mbps Ethernet cards can plug into a Fast Ethernet LAN |
| Fiber Distributed-Data Interface (FDDI) | 100 Mbps | Optical fiber | Large, wide-range LAN usually in a large company or a larger ISP |
| T-3D (DS3D) | 135 Mbps | Optical fiber | ISP to Internet infrastructure Smaller links within Internet infrastructure |
| E-4 | 139.264 Mbps | Optical fiber | Carries 4 E3 channels Up to 1,920 simultaneous voice conversations |
| OC-3/SDH | 155.52 Mbps | Optical fiber | Large company backbone Internet backbone |
| E-5 | 565.148 Mbps | Optical fiber | Carries 4 E4 channels Up to 7,680 simultaneous voice conversations |
| OC-12/STM-4 | 622.08 Mbps | Optical fiber | Internet backbone |
| Gigabit Ethernet | 1 Gbps | Optical fiber (and "copper" up to 100 meters) | Workstations/networks with 10/100 Mbps Ethernet plug into Gigabit Ethernet switches |
| OC-24 | 1.244 Gbps | Optical fiber | Internet backbone |
| SciNet | 2.325 Gbps (15 OC-3 lines) | Optical fiber | Part of the vBNS backbone |
| OC-48/STM-16 | 2.488 Gbps | Optical fiber | Internet backbone |
| OC-192/STM-64 | 10 Gbps | Optical fiber | Backbone |
| OC-256 | 13.271 Gbps | Optical fiber | Backbone |
Key and Explanation
