adsl

adsl — noun

1. the short form of 'Asymmetric Digital Subscriber Line': a technology that pushes

1.noun
Definition

the short form of 'Asymmetric Digital Subscriber Line': a technology that pushes high-speed internet down an ordinary copper phone wire, so a household can browse the web while still making voice calls on the same line.

Example

Esme signed up for ADSL so the family could stream films and answer phone calls together.

noun used attributively: sign up for ADSL

The village school finally got an ADSL line after years of slow dial-up internet.

collocation: ADSL line

Common collocations
  • ADSL line
  • ADSL modem
  • ADSL router
  • ADSL connection
  • ADSL service
  • install ADSL
  • switch from ADSL to fibre
Synonyms
  • broadband

    broader umbrella term covering ADSL, cable, and fibre; preferred in everyday speech

  • DSL

    the parent family of technologies; ADSL is one specific type

Antonyms
  • dial-up

    older, much slower phone-line internet that blocks voice calls while online

  • fibre-optic

    newer technology using glass cables; far faster than ADSL

Grammar Patterns

ADSL connection / line / modem / router

Usage Note

Almost always written in capitals. Frequently used attributively before another noun (ADSL line, ADSL modem, ADSL router) rather than on its own.

Common Mistakes

I bought an ADSL yesterday.
I bought an ADSL modem yesterday.
ADSL names the technology, so it usually needs another noun (modem, line, router) after it.
My adsl is broken.
My ADSL connection is broken.
write the term in capital letters and add the thing (connection, line) that is actually broken.

Word family

Synonym discussion

Sense: noun/1

These five terms all describe ways of connecting a home to the internet, but they are not interchangeable. ADSL is a specific technology that runs fast internet over an ordinary copper phone line and lets you talk on the phone at the same time. DSL is the wider family of phone-line technologies, of which ADSL is the most common type. Broadband is the everyday umbrella word — any always-on, reasonably fast connection, including ADSL, cable, and fibre. Fibre-optic uses glass cables and is much faster than ADSL, while dial-up is the old slow system that blocks the phone while you are online. So a Taiwanese household might say, 'We upgraded from dial-up to ADSL, and last year we switched again to fibre — the broadband bill went up, but video calls finally stopped freezing.'

ADSL ↗broadband ↗DSLfibre-opticdial-up

Common collocations

Nouns

  • ADSL line
  • ADSL modem
  • ADSL router
  • ADSL connection
  • ADSL service
  • ADSL provider
  • ADSL speed

Phrases

  • install ADSL
  • switch from ADSL to fibre
  • upgrade from dial-up to ADSL

Prepositions

  • over ADSL
  • via ADSL
  • on ADSL

Etymology

GreekLatinEnglish

ADSL is an initialism formed in the late 1980s from Asymmetric Digital Subscriber Line. 'Asymmetric' (from Greek a- 'not' and symmetria 'shared measure') marks the key feature: download speed is much faster than upload speed. 'Digital' contrasts with the older analogue phone signal, 'subscriber' refers to the home customer of the phone company, and 'line' is the copper wire itself. The technology spread to ordinary homes in the late 1990s and became, for many years, the main way Europeans and Asians got fast internet at home before fibre took over.