Last Mile Overview (Last-Mile Technology)
 

Last-mile technology is any telecommunications technology, such as wireless radio, that carries signals from the broad telecommunication along the relatively short distance (hence, the "last mile") to and from the home or business. Or to put it another way: the infrastructure at the neighborhood level. In many communities, last-mile technology represents a major remaining challenge to high-bandwidth applications such as on-demand television, fast Internet access, and Web pages full of multimedia effects.

Today, in addition to "plain old telephone (dial-up) service", last-mile technologies to deliver voice, data, and TV can include:

1: ISDN, a somewhat faster technology than regular phone service

2: Digital Subscriber Line (DSL) over existing telephone twisted pair lines

3: Cable and the cable modem for data, using the same installed coaxial cable that already is used for television

4: wireless, including services such as DirecTV

5: Less frequently because of the installation expense, optical fiber and its transmission technologies