High-speed access to the Internet over phone lines will be simplified thanks to approval from the United Nations standards body on Monday.
The International Telecommunications Union wrapped up a full set of standards for ADSL (asymmetric digital subscriber line), the next-generation Internet access technology for speeding data over standard copper phone lines.
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"Before, if you wanted to [use ADSL modems] you had to find out if your phone company supported a proprietary standard," said Dick Stuart, chairman of the ITU's network access transceiver group for the DSL family of specifications. "If you picked up and moved, it [might] not work."
No more, he said.
"Now that we have [a true international standard], you'll be able to buy these things in computer stores and take it anywhere you want it. And all the phone companies are behind this standard, as they have been for regular modems."
All regional telephone companies in the United States, as well as foreign telcos such as British Telecom, have endorsed the approved ADSL recommendations as the national standard.
The effect will be similar to when 56-Kbps modems were standardized, after a long battle among proprietary technologies, Stuart said.
"The market really didn't take off until V.90 (the 56K standard) was announced, which was the standard recommended by the ITU."
By the end of the year, consumers will be able to go to stores such as CompUSA and Fry's and buy ADSL modems that meet the new uniform standard.
The consumer version of ADSL -- promoted by the Universal ADSL Working Group (UAWG) and also known as ADSL lite and g.lite -- speeds data into homes at up to 1.5 megabits per second (Mbps).
The full-rate version, or g.dmt, can deliver data at up to 7Mbps.
Stuart said that prior to the establishment of the standard, the projection for ADSL connections was approximately 2 million users by 2001.
"Now, an international volume will move projections to what they were for regular modems, which is millions per month as they roll out." That means more than 10 million by 2001.
Next, modem and telco equipment vendors will build compatibility tests to prepare their products for market, Stuart said.
