Etherloop is a kind of
DSL
Digital subscriber line (DSL; originally digital subscriber loop) is a family of technologies that are used to transmit digital data over telephone lines. In telecommunications marketing, the term DSL is widely understood to mean asymmetric dig ...
technology that combines the features of
Ethernet
Ethernet () is a family of wired computer networking technologies commonly used in local area networks (LAN), metropolitan area networks (MAN) and wide area networks (WAN). It was commercially introduced in 1980 and first standardized in 1 ...
and DSL. It allows the combination of voice and
data transmission
Data transmission and data reception or, more broadly, data communication or digital communications is the transfer and reception of data in the form of a digital bitstream or a digitized analog signal transmitted over a point-to-point o ...
on standard phone lines. Under the right conditions it will allow speeds of up to 6 megabits per second over a distance of up to 6.4 km (21,000 feet).
Etherloop uses
half-duplex
A duplex communication system is a point-to-point system composed of two or more connected parties or devices that can communicate with one another in both directions. Duplex systems are employed in many communications networks, either to allow ...
transmission, and as such, is less susceptible to interference caused by poor line quality,
bridge tap
Bridged tap or bridge tap is a long-used method of cabling for telephone lines. One cable pair (of wires) will "appear" in several different terminal locations (poles or pedestals). This allows the telephone company to use or " assign" that pair t ...
s, etc. Also, etherloop modems can train up through
line filters (although it is not recommended to do this).
Etherloop has been deployed by various internet service providers in areas where the loop length is very long or line quality is poor. Some Etherloop modems (those made by
Elastic Networks) offer a "Central Office mode", in which two modems are connected back to back over a phone line and used as a
LAN extension. An example of a situation where this would be done is to extend Ethernet to a building that is too far to reach with straight Ethernet.
See also
*
Ethernet in the first mile
Ethernet in the first mile (EFM) refers to using one of the Ethernet family of computer network technologies between a telecommunications company and a customer's premises. From the customer's point of view, it is their first mile, although from th ...
(especially
2BASE-TL)
References
{{DSL technologies
Computer networking