Everyone wants a broadband connection to the internet to be able to use all the services provided today. But what is “broadband,” how was it developed and how is it delivered today? Test your knowledge.

1. “Broadband” originally referred to ______.

  A. Digital service on copper phone lines

  B. Ethernet on computer networks

  C. Networks on coaxial cable

  D. Radio and television 

2. Broadband internet was developed from ______.

  A. Telephone T1 networks

  B. Computer LANs

  C. CATV systems

  D. ISDN

3. Fiber optics is often preferable to other means of communications because of its ______.

  A. Bandwidth and distance capability

  B. Immunity to electromagnetic interference

  C. Lighter weight than copper wires

  D. All of the above

4. Match the important communications developments to the timeline:

_____ First fiber optic communications system field trials

_____ First transatlantic fiber optic cable

_____ First telecommunications satellite

_____ First cable modem services

5. Match the famous person associated with the communications technology:

6. In the late 1940s, the work of AT&T Bell Labs mathematician Claude Shannon led to ______.

  A. The conversion of communications networks to digital

  B. The development of optical fiber

  C. Cable television

  D. Communications satellites 

7. The cable modem uses the CATV network by converting ethernet signals to radio waves at TV frequencies and transmitting it over a ______ network.

  A. Hybrid fiber coaxial

  B. Coaxial

  C. Fiber

  D. Wireless

8. By ______, digital data traffic over the internet exceeded voice traffic and has grown exponentially since.

  A. 1990

  B. 2000

  C. 2010

  D. 2021

Answers: 

1. C  2. C  3. D  4. B, C, A, D 5. A-2, B-3, C-1  6. A  7. B  8. B