5 Differences Between Wideband and Broadband Internet

Most people have become familiar with the term broadband internet but not as many are familiar with the term wideband internet. Wideband was a term that has previously been used in conjunction with radio and television frequencies, not the internet. That has changed in the last couple of years and you will begin hearing it more and more in the future.


Just as broadband has come to mean faster, smoother internet connections that took the consumer to the next level beyond dial-up, wideband is a term that refers to the next step beyond broadband. It provides more than just a higher speed connection, but a whole new level of interaction. Below are five of the current differences between wideband internet access and broadband internet access.

1.Availabilty. You can get broadband internet access in almost any location in the United States at this point, either by cable, DSL or satellite. Wideband just began to become available in 2009 and is now being offered in New York City by TimeWarner and being offered to a growing number of Comcast and Charter cable internet customers in various locations across the U.S.

2.Video streaming. Plenty of people already watch television shows and movies online via broadband. The difference you will find between video streaming with high speed broadband and wideband would be similar to the difference of watching a DVD movie versus watching the movie via your internet connection. A smoother streaming video quality.

3.Gaming. As with the video quality, the internet gaming quality with wideband internet is much more par to an actual gaming console than you would have with broadband internet access. It’s all about wider bandwidth that allows the interactive data to flow much quicker and smoother.

4.Multi-tasking. This is the big selling point for wideband over broadband. The ability to have multiple high bandwidth activities going on in one household via your internet connection. The teenagers can be playing internet video games while others in the same household are watching movies or television shows over the same internet connection without any delays or slowdowns for either of them.

5.Price. Guess what, wideband cost more than broadband. Right now it is the top of the line in internet access. If you can get it in your area, you will have to decide whether it is really worth the extra monthly charges or not. For some high usage households it is. For many others it wouldn’t make enough of a difference to be worth the extra expense.

Technology continues to get faster in speed and smaller in its container sizes. Wideband is just one more step in that direction.

Article provided by Laura Backes and Internet Service Guy. Reprinted with permission.