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The Author

Leroy Jones, Jr. is the creator of Talking Technology with Leroy Jones, Jr., as well as PoliticalJones.com. He is a Political Commentator and Government Affairs Consultant based in Washington, D.C. For over 20 years, Mr. Jones has worked in federal government affairs, including public service as an aide on both sides of Capitol Hill and the Clinton White House.

Mr. Jones is the host of The PoliticalJones Report with Leroy Jones, Jr. which airs on various radio stations nationwide every Monday and Thursday.

TECH TERMS - ADSL

What is ASDL (Asymmetric Digital Subscriber Line)?

Definition: ADSL is a form of Digital Subscriber Line (DSL) Internet service. ADSL provides greater bandwidth for downloads at the expense of upload speeds. ADSL is the most common form of DSL used in home networking.

ADSL is designed to support the typical home user who frequently downloads large amounts of data from Web sites and P2P networks but upload relatively less often. ADSL works by allocating a majority of the available phone line frequencies for communication of downstream traffic.

In other respects, ADSL possesses all of the characteristics one associates with DSL, including "high-speed" service, an "always on" combination of voice and data support, and availability and performance that is limited by physical distance. ADSL is technically capable of up to 6 Mbps (roughly 6000 Kbps), but ADSL customers in practice obtain 2 Mbps or lower for downloads and up to 512 Kbps for uploads.