This table shows the stated data rates for the most
important end-user and backbone transmission technologies.
Technology
|
Speed
|
Physical Medium
|
Application
|
GSM
mobile 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
|