Abbreviated ADSL. A high-speed data transmission technology originally developed by Bellcore and now standardized by ANSI as T1.413. ADSL delivers high bandwidth over existing twisted-pair copper telephone lines. Also called Asymmetric Digital Subscriber Loop.
ADSL supports speeds in the range of 1.5 to 9Mbps in the downstream direction (from the network to the subscriber) and supports upstream speeds in the range of 16 Kbps to 640 Kbps; hence, the term asymmetric.
See also Digital Subscriber Line; High-Bit-Rate Digital Subscriber Line; Rate-Adaptive Digital Subscriber Line; Single-Line Digital Subscriber Line; Very-High-Bit-Rate Digital Subscriber Line.