Asymmetric Digital Subscriber Line 
adsl
To see if ADSL is available in your area go to www.btopenworld.com
analogue dial-ups are lucky to reach their max speed of 56k: broadband can reach 512k and even up to2mbps
ordinary BT telephone lines send & receive ADSL data. voice  is sent as an analogue signal and data as digital
a combined ADSL / telephone point replaces the standard phone socket and an ADSL modem connects to this which is connected  to a PC's / system's USB port
ADSL can be installed by an engineer or with a DIY kit sent from the service provider
you can connect more than one pc to ADSL by using ICS [Windows] or download SurfDoubler from www.vicomsoft.com
ADSL is always on [no call charges] and the  service is between £20-30 per month plus initial connection / setup fees
ADSL is available from BT-Openworld, Pipex, Demon & Freeserve
always on ADSL services offer a nice target for hackers so a firewall is necessary on your system: see www.zonealarm.com
connection to the Internet is always on [no dialup needed] offering instant surfing and EMail delivery
for more on ADSL go to www.adslguide.org.uk.
  For Voice over IP and Voice over Broadband solutions, go to www.sjgl.co.uk/switchserv/sjg/page9.htm
   
gen up on the jargon
Bandwidth rate of data transfer: 56kilobits [56k] per second is the theoretical max on an ordinary telephone line, whilst broadband is normally above 200k
Broadband A permanent 'always on' connection to the internet using high speed data transfer
Dial-up analogue connection to the internet established by the modem dialling the number of an ISP
ISP Internet Service Provider [eg Demon]
narrowband analogue connection to the internet [below 56k]
  For a jargon-fest, go to the massive definitions site at: www.sjgl.co.uk/glossary-of-terms.htm
   
Click here for a jargon-fest and go to the massive jargon-buster definitions site

Click here For Voice over IP and Voice over Broadband solutions