The "upstream" and
"downstream" pipelines for ADSL have different capacities. The ADSL
"pipeline" for sending data is much smaller than the pipeline for receiving
data. This asymmetry is not a problem for the most common uses of the Internet.
ADSL broadband can transfer data at rates of
1.5 to 9 Mbps (megabits per second) when
receiving data. The ability of ADSL to send data, however, is limited
to between 16 to 640
Kbps. By comparison.
The throughput capacity for ADSL is summarized below in bits/second:
