So if you are wondering what broadband is and how it works then we can give you a basic guide for an answer. Obviously as this is meant to be a relatively easy to understand guide we won't go into too much detail so not to confuse people with information that most won't find useful or interesting.

For starters the best thing is to say what Broadband actually is. Broadband is also known as ADSL) and got it's name from the term "broad bandwidth". It is basically a medium that is able to transmit and receive much larger frequencies and data.

Broadband allows users to connect and use the internet and use the telephone simultaneously on the same telephone line so both can be used at the same time without interrupting the other. With dial up Internet this was not able to be achieved as both the telephone and the dial up Internet were using the same part of the telephone line for the data. With broadband the telephone data and Internet data can be separated (by using a microfilter/splitter) so the data can be channeled to the correct location.

To use broadband your telephone exchange needs to have been enabled, you also need to be within about 3.5 miles from the exchange for your broadband to work also. You can check your broadband availability to check if your line is enabled for free online and it only takes a minute.

Lets start at your computer.
Your computer will be connected to a broadband modem or a router (if you want to connect more than 1 computer).
From the router you will plug into a micro filter (used to split the telephone and broadband connections). The micro filter has 2 sockets, one of the cable going to the modem/router and one that the telephone jack plugs into. The microfilter is then plugged into the telephone socket.

In it's simplest form that is all you are likely to physically see within your home/office for your broadband connection.

When you set up your broadband make sure you add a Micro Filter to all the phone sockets that share the same line as the broadband connection (even if they do not have any physical connected between that socket and the modem/router). You will find that unless you have these on all the sockets then if a call is made or received then the broadband connection will get interrupted. Adding the micro filters to all the phone sockets will mean that the broadband continues to work even when calls are made or received. The Micro Filter is designed to separate voice (telephone) and data (Internet) so they get sent to the correct place with no interruptions.