How does DSL work?
I’m sure everyone has heard of DSL (Digital Subscriber Line), but how does it work?
Not the over-the-top technical version, but the simple version that your mom would have a chance at understanding?
Here goes: Using your telephone to call a friend or to order take-out uses a limited frequency range over the phone lines. The lines themselves can handle a lot of other frequencies too, it just doesn’t because it doesn’t need to for voice calls.
Those are the frequencies that DSL uses.
Think of your telephone line as a handful of straws, each one representing a different frequency.
When you’re talking with someone on the phone you’re using just a few of the straws, so a lot of them are just sitting there, empty, waiting for something to do.
Those are the straws that DSL uses and that’s why you can be on DSL and one a phone call at the same time–different straws (frequencies).
Filed under: how does it work, tech
