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Communications Books Media The Internet Book Reviews Technology

Planet Broadband 113

Posted by timothy from the painful-and-ongoing dept.
Joel Natt writes "Planet Broadband is not a Star Trek episode or another Sci-Fi title. It is the title of a new book by Rouzbeh Yassini which answers the question of where the term 'broadband' originated and why is it used when discussing cable internet services." Read on for the rest of Natt's review of Planet Broadband.
Planet Broadband
author Rouzbeh Yassini
pages 140
publisher Cisco Press
rating 9
reviewer Joel Natt
ISBN 1587200902
summary The birth and growth of High Speed Internet

When I first received the book, my initial thoughts were focused on the cable Internet environment, but the book addresses the DSL side as well. This small book of 140 pages, including index, not only explains how the concept of broadband communication evolved, but also delves into possible directions it may head.

This book is clearly a history of how the concept of broadband was developed and the growth of the Internet that it has led to, not a how-to-guide suited to setting up broadband service. I can foresee future generations of children reading this book in a college course on Information Technology. When one considers that only three to five percent of the American public use any form of broadband services, the growth potential presented is unbelievable.

For me, a detail-oriented reader, it took about eight hours to read Planet Broadband. That may seem slow, but considering the topic and the scope of events occurring within the world of telecommunications, it's better than I expected. As I read this book, I would pause from time to time and comment to myself on how Yassini's predictions and descriptions of possibilities offered by broadband access are already manifesting themselves. Some of the concepts presented include virtual training (which many universities are now offering) and virtual meetings with individuals all around the world. While Yassini does point out that not everything is available on demand in this day and age, in time we will witness more and more bandwidth-heavy services that are.

Yassini points out the concept of being able to check the items in the refrigerator from work, or have the washing machine place a service call to the manufacture before you know there is a problem. These are features of a true broadband planet -- and perhaps time our children and their children will not know a world where analog modems are still used to connect to the internet. But as you read, you realize that while today is the birth of broadband, this book is more the introduction to tomorrow's internet. To prove the point that Planet Broadband is an introduction, my baby-boomer mother (who works in the cable industry in customer service) took the book from me and read it cover to cover one day and told me 'This is where we are going.' If a 50+ year old parent can see it, we know that the world will be there some day.

Near the end of the book, Yassini focuses on telecommuting and a comparison of that to working at the office. While he clearly points out that telecommuting is not for everyone or all the time, it has productivity advantages and will only grow with time. I think one of his best examples is in Chapter 6, where he recalls an MCI commercial depicting a woman working at home and changing a presentation on the fly for clients and co-workers halfway across the country. That image is an example of how the world has changed thanks to the advances of broadband.

This book is not designed for the IT world, but for the general public. Just the same, I would recommend this as an excellent addition to anyone's library and especially to individuals in the information technology community. For management or others it is an excellent resource to justify a telecommuting policy or practice, or a good reason why they should upgrade from the modem and narrow band to the world of high-speed Internet.

You can purchase Planet Broadband from bn.com. Slashdot welcomes readers' book reviews. To see your own review here, carefully read the book review guidelines, then visit the submission page.
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Planet Broadband More

Planet Broadband

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  • Whole book? (Score:1, Insightful)

    by inkdesign ( 7389 )
    Do we really need an entire book dedicated to the roots of a term like "Broadband?

    • Re:Whole book? (Score:3, Informative)

      by Davak ( 526912 )
      The introduction to the review is silly. The book would be better described as the history, present, and future of various aspects of broadband. Work, miltary, science, family life -- broadbands impact on all of these type of things are explored.

      Several of my friends who are in the venture-side of investing are using this book to see where they need to put their money. The author has a good vision.

      And yes, it's already a little out dated. It still takes a while to publish these prehistoric things the

      • Re:Whole book? (Score:4, Insightful)

        by garcia ( 6573 ) * on Wednesday July 07, 2004 @04:09PM (#9635105)
        The author has a good vision.

        The author HAD a good vision. He's the one that created the Cable modem. He's also the one that started the DOCSIS standard and he's also the president of LANCity cable modems (if they still exist).

        There's nothing new to develop with cable modems now. DOCSIS takes care of most everything users could want (upgrades over the wire, bandwith throttling, etc).
        • LANCity is long, long dead.

          Rouzbeh is, last I heard, running the data products division at Terayon. (Oh, the irony!)

          DOCSIS is a trainwreck of a standard, but it mostly works. It's a nightmare from a networking perspective, though.

          And there's plenty of room for development in CM technology, especially in the PHY layer, to get better throughput from any given SNR.

    • Do we really need an entire book dedicated to the roots of a term like "Broadband?

      Actually, the question should be "Do we really need TWO [dummies.com] books dedicated to broadband?"


    • ...and I always thought that "Broadband" was a term that some marketing t*t foisted on the world...
    • With all the people I meet on the Internet these days, a book called Planet Bonehead might be more to the point.

  • Oh That's Easy (Score:5, Funny)

    by dannyelfman ( 717583 ) on Wednesday July 07, 2004 @03:43PM (#9634878)
    The Bangels, They are a broad band, right?
    • You said "Bangles" right? Not Destiny's Child or even the Spice Girls! Not Trolling, I'm just glad to know someone as old as me is still on Slashdot......
    • You have no idea.

      Back in the day, Terayon* hosted the big party at the Western Cable show. We had The Bangles play the party...with exactly that tagline.

      *Terayon is (among other things) a cable modem vendor where I worked at the time, and where Rouzbeh works now.

  • There is a confusion (Score:3, Informative)

    by gustgr ( 695173 ) <gustgrNO@SPAMgmail.com> on Wednesday July 07, 2004 @03:43PM (#9634882)
    Here in Brazil there are companies providing 128/64 DSL services and calling it "broadband".

    • Re:There is a confusion (Score:5, Informative)

      by WeirdKid ( 260577 ) on Wednesday July 07, 2004 @03:53PM (#9634976)
      Covad used to sell DSL at that speed here in Michigan, but they called it "IDSL". This was most likely because of it really being ISDN.

      When I was college (back in 1990), the Telecom 101 professor spent a good amount of time talking about BISDN -which stands for Broadband ISDN. I can't remember the data speeds he was talking about, but he did use the term frequently in reference to a lot of the services typically offered by the modern cable provider (i.e. video-on-demand, VOIP, etc.) I always just figured the term Broadband referred to the transfer medium required to provide these types of services.
      • He wasn't talking about an ISDN B-channel or a BRI?

        A typical BRI (Basic Rate Interface) ISDN setup uses two B-channels (Bearer) and one D-channel (Data). The B-channels are 64 kbps each and IIRC the D-channel is 16kbps. It is possible to merge the B-channels to get one 128 kbps link and it's also possible to use the signaling D-channel to transfer data, but the exact nature of this latter feat escapes me at the moment. A Primary Rate Interface consists of 23 bundled B-channels which can be used as separat

      • IDSL is not the same as ADSL-over-ISDN. The latter is the same as ADSL over analogue, but shifted a bit w.r.t. frequencies to stay clear of the slightly wider band of frequencies used by ISDN. The ADSL "channels" are actually modulated using (usually) OFDM.

        IDSL uses a simple 2B1Q modulation (same as ISDN), and is pretty slow at only 144 kbps. Plus, you don't get a voice line, only data - the data channel replaces the voice channels.

    • Re:There is a confusion (Score:3, Informative)

      by foobsr ( 693224 )
      Broadband [intersil.com] -A type of transmission that shares the bandwidth of a medium--such as copper or fiber optic cable--to carry more than one signal. Broadband facilities have a bandwidth (capacity) greater than a voice grade line of 3 kHz. Such a broadband facility--typically coaxial cable--may carry numerous voice, video and data channels simultaneously. Each "channel" will take up a different frequency on the cable. "Guardbands" (empty spaces) exist between the channels to make sure that each channel does not

  • From the review (Score:5, Insightful)

    by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday July 07, 2004 @03:44PM (#9634883)
    This book is not designed for the IT world, but for the general public

    Seriously. Why is this posted on /. if it is for general public? This is supposed to be for us geeks/nerds.

    • general public read this my a%$ (Score:5, Insightful)

      by millahtime ( 710421 ) on Wednesday July 07, 2004 @03:54PM (#9634989) Homepage Journal
      Honestly who in the general public would want to read this. My guess is that it will just sit on a few college library shelve for a couple students over the next 30 years to look up a couple things in. What is the point of writing it?
      • What is the point of writing it?

        The author is an artist man! You are trying to crush his poetic vision. We can't keep the man down! He wants to express himself! Share his vision of the world! Let his inner voice speak! Show the world his inner child!

        Either that or he's just trying to make money.

    • Since I wrote the review, I might as well comment on this one. While the book is designed for the general public. IT people should take a look at it. I know several Cable IT Support individual who could take a few lessons in understanding the technology they support by reading this book. Besides we should know what and evaluate items the general public could come at us with. Joel

  • Old information. (Score:5, Informative)

    by jm92956n ( 758515 ) on Wednesday July 07, 2004 @03:44PM (#9634887) Journal
    When one considers that only three to five percent of the American public use any form of broadband services, the growth potential presented is unbelievable.

    1996 called. They want their statistics back.

  • Weak Premise... (Score:5, Funny)

    by barryfandango ( 627554 ) on Wednesday July 07, 2004 @03:44PM (#9634888)

    "... a new book by Rouzbeh Yassini which answers the question of where the term 'broadband' originated ..."

    Is it just me or does this sound like a great premise for, oh, say, a paragraph or two?

  • Re: (Score:1, Interesting)

    by account_deleted ( 4530225 )
    Comment removed based on user account deletion

  • Obvious? (Score:5, Interesting)

    by AKAImBatman ( 238306 ) <akaimbatman@g m a i l . c om> on Wednesday July 07, 2004 @03:46PM (#9634913) Homepage Journal
    It is the title of a new book by Rouzbeh Yassini which answers the question of where the term 'broadband' originated and why is it used when discussing cable internet services."

    Seems a little obvious to me. Even back in the days of modems, we used the term "bandwidth" to mean that "this much data fits in band during this time period". "Broadband" simply meant that we had a very wide (i.e. Broad) data width in band.

    As for the author's "ideas" on what Broadband was supposed to mean, give it time. People are still getting used to having an always-on connection. It's going to take them awhile to adapt to the idea of plugging the bandwidth as a home utility rather than a feature of your computer. Which is actually a good thing, because the bandwidth doesn't quite yet exist to play true TV or Movies on demand. So this adjustment period gives us time to eat away at the problem by both creating better algorithms and lighting up some of our dark fibre.

    • Re:Obvious? (Score:3, Informative)

      by bryansj ( 89051 )

      It's going to take them awhile to adapt to the idea of plugging the bandwidth as a home utility rather than a feature of your computer. Which is actually a good thing, because the bandwidth doesn't quite yet exist to play true TV or Movies on demand.

      That's odd because I've been using Comcast's On Demand feature for months now. It's nice to be able to watch any missing episodes of HBO specials when you wish. Granted, you can only choose what they have to offer at any one time, but the bandwidth to do th

      • "On-Demand" features are carried over the Cable Provider's network. i.e. Directly on the other side of your wire is a set of servers with the movies on their drives. While they may have enough bandwidth to deliver it to you in specific areas, the bandwidth doesn't *quite* exist to reliably stream movies and TV directly from the Internet. Especially since such a venture would be very expensive and would require as large of a market as possible.

        The big advantage to Internet movies and TV is that the storage
    • As part of Yet Another Self-Study course years ago (I think it was for the CCNA exam), I remember reading something about the term Broadband as opposed to Baseband.

      Baseband (as in 10Base-T, 100Base-T etc) was defined as for connection to a single device, where as broadband was for carrying data to multiple devices. Therefore, an old-fashioned coax link to a desktop would be referred to as 10Base-T, whereas a gigabit copper backbone would be 1000Broad-T.

      I've never seen this repeated anywhere, and it certai
      • The common definition of "broadband" seems to come from marketing people, or at least people who know nothing about comms. I refuse to use the word on principle, since what is intended is "high capacity".
      • It's quite common for companies to attempt to "redefine" a term once it has entered common usage. By doing this, they can latch onto the term to promote their own products or services. Personally, I find that this drives me bonkers. I get used to the technical term, then someone comes along and says "well, it REALLY means X" where "X" is something stupid and made up by a marketing department.

        In the strictest sense, "Broadband" means that the transmission method is capable of carrying multiple bits simultan
        • I design analog modems for a living and 56k modems transmit 16 bits per baud. That's a lot more than one bit after another. Analog modems actually transmit more bits per baud than a lot of DSL systems. They just have much less bandwidth.
          • You're correct of course. I was trying to make as much sense as possible without confusing people with "baud" and "transmission channels". It's more correct to say that a modem has one channel that serially transmits a baud, while broadband uses multiple channels that are each able to serially transmit a baud, thus allowing for more simultaneous information. While cable is built for these types of transmissions, phone lines have been able to co-opt high range frequencies and separate these into channels. Is

  • It comes from... (Score:5, Funny)

    by ResidntGeek ( 772730 ) on Wednesday July 07, 2004 @03:48PM (#9634935) Journal
    Two Greek words: "broad", mneaning "a word", and "band", meaning "that has something to do with the internet."
    • Two Greek words: "broad", mneaning "a word", and "band", meaning "that has something to do with the internet."

      This is the LAMEST excuse for karma trolling I've ever seen. (Apologies to the parent if he's just trying to be funny.) From dictionary.com [reference.com]:

      A specific range of wavelengths or frequencies of electromagnetic radiation.

      "Broad"-band means that the "band" of frequencies has been broadened to provide more "in-band" data transfer. In english, the bandwidth problem was solved by simultaneously transm
    • So it's, like, a word that has something to do with the internet? Man, those greeks have a term for everything!

  • No big deal (Score:1)

    by Anonymous Coward
    People are still getting used to having an always-on connection. It's going to take them awhile to adapt to the idea of plugging the bandwidth as a home utility rather than a feature of your computer. As for the author's "ideas" on what Broadband was supposed to mean, give it time. This is actually a good thing, because the bandwidth doesn't quite yet exist to play true TV or Movies on demand. So this adjustment period gives us time to eat away at the problem by both creating better algorithms and lighting
    • This same text is found a couple of posts up. Just to satisfy my curiosity, did you copy it from that post or from a third party?
    • my hungarian mother in law watches markiza
      http:://live.markiza.sk when she is visiting.

      (need a reason to hate a mother in law? I had to load freaking media player 9 for her to watch it)

      the faxt is, the bandwidth is there.. yer average tv has 300 scan lines? blown up across the entire tv? if you expand markiza to full screen, it looks like crap- pixellated and blocky... but at 320X240 or so, it's very detailed, only to small to see well..

      it's not quite there to play video over broadband at the

  • ...it's a book dedicated to talking about a broadband connection.

    Please excuse my rudeness, should I start snoring too loudly.
  • some of the concepts presented include virtual training (which many universities are now offering) and virtual meetings with individuals all around the world

    Wow, this guy is a true clairvoyant. I dont know where we would be if people like this man werent brilliant enough to come up with such UNUSUAL and CREATIVE ideas such as "Virtual Meetings".

  • I support any book out there which entices people to use broadband. That is just that many more access points I will be able to leech off of.
  • The guy wrote a book to describe where broadband signaling came from?

    It's passing different signals on different frequencies over the same wire -- multiplexing of sorts.

    DSL is a broadband service - voice and data on different frequencies on the same wire. Cable is the same idea -- different frequencies carrying the different data.

    Why does he need to write a book to describe something that's been around since as long as electrical signals have been?
  • I remember when "Broadband" was used to refer to everything from a PRI to ISDN.

    • Funny, I remember when "Broadband" was used to refer to anything that was not "Baseband", ie, anything that only used part of the available physical spectrum for transmission.

  • The analog modem (Score:2, Insightful)

    by logicassasin ( 318009 )
    I seriously doubt that the analong modem will go away anytime soon in favor of "broadband" devices. Much like everyone predicted the floppy would go away, here we are in 2004 still using them (although fewer people rely on them as each day goes by). There are people in remote areas that will probably never see a broadband provider in their rural neighborhood and they will rely on a 56K modem for their internet access. There will be a few people that may think that broadband isn't necessary because they only

  • I don't let my Washing Machine use the phone (Score:4, Insightful)

    by cfulmer ( 3166 ) on Wednesday July 07, 2004 @04:17PM (#9635178) Journal
    Does anybody really want the Washing Machine to call its own repairman? Ok, maybe if there was a new Washing Machine firmware update. But, repairmen are expensive and come at inconvenient times -- I don't want somebody trying to charge me $60 for a missed appointment that my Whirlpool made on my behalf. Heck, the thing's broken and who in their right mind lets a broken washer spend their money?

    Then there's the idea of having the refrigerator keep track of how long things have been in the refrigerator: how does it know what's in there? Is it going to recognize the 3-day-old leftover lasagna or the jar of homemade jam? What happens when my little girl decides to stick her baby doll in there? I really want a fridge to tell me which shelf the mustard is on, not when I'm almost out of milk -- that I can figure out for myself.

    Traditional household appliances are not good users of broadband networks. Now, if I can remotely program my TIVO to record Law & Order so I can download it and watch it later from my laptop, that sounds good.
  • [kirk voice]

    Broadband - the final frontier.

    These are the voyages of Microsoft Internet Explorer.

    Her five-year mission to explore strange new worms,

    to seek out new exploits,

    to boldly go where no browser has gone before.

    [/kirk voice]

  • This book is not designed for the IT world, but for the general public. For management or others it is an excellent resource to justify a telecommuting policy or practice... I agree: after 15 years of fulltime coding,, reading something like this is refreshing,, it lightly takes you back to when we dreamed about what it would be like having something more than a 2400, and all the cool things we can do with it. It's easy to get too focused and lose the ability to imagine the end users perspective. My tw
  • I checked this out at FOLDOC, [ic.ac.uk] and got a simple definition in two short paragraphs. Unless the author thinks he needs to describe in great, redundant detail every service now used over broadband, I find it hard to see how he got past ten pages or so, even with a long section guessing what might be done with it in the future. I don't think I'm going to bother buying it.
  • MediaOne was the company that really popularized the term "Broadband". They spent a lot of money on vague television ads circa 1997/98 that generated all this hype about what Broadband was going to mean to the world but without explaining what the heck it really was. This was around the time that they were spending megabucks upgrading the coaxial network for cable modem service, starting in and around Culver City, CA (where I now live).

    They could have just said it was high speed internet but they didn't.

  • who is Yassini? (Score:2, Informative)

    by gordona ( 121157 )
    It wasn't mentioned in the review or any of the followup postings that I could find, but Yassini could be considered to be the father of the cable modem. He was responsible for leading a team in the development of open standards and certification of the DOCSIS Cablemodem specifications.
  • Looks like broadband isn't for everyone [vmsk.org] - but wait, there's a rebuttal [ka9q.net]!

  • I remember when there were two types of network cabling.. Baseband and Broadband... then one day Broadband just meant "fast."

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