DSLNetz

DSLNetz is a term used to describe a broadband access network based on Digital Subscriber Line technologies that leverages existing copper telephone lines to deliver high-speed internet, voice, and sometimes video services. It is typically operated as a wholesale infrastructure by a network provider and used by multiple retail ISPs to reach end customers.

Core technologies include ADSL, ADSL2+, VDSL2, and higher-speed variants such as VDSL2 profile 17a and G.fast. Municipal and wholesale deployments may employ vectoring and channel bonding to improve speeds. The network terminates at street cabinets or at local exchanges, with fiber backhaul from the cabinet to the core network.

Performance depends on distance to the street cabinet and line quality. ADSL yields up to around 24 Mbps downstream in many lines; VDSL2 commonly provides hundreds of Mbps within short loops; with vectoring and bonding, practical speeds higher than 200 Mbps are possible. G.fast can reach 500 Mbps to 1 Gbps over very short copper runs in some deployments, but availability varies.

ISPs combine DSLNetz access with customer equipment and services such as IP-based telephony and IPTV. The wholesale nature enables competition among ISPs on the retail side. Network maintenance, fault management, and regulatory access obligations are typically governed by national telecom regulation and wholesale agreements.

While fiber to the premises is increasingly preferred for new deployments, DSLNetz remains relevant for dense urban areas and rural regions where fiber rollout is slow. Ongoing upgrades focus on vectoring, bonding, and G.fast to extend performance without full fiber. Security and quality-of-service measures are implemented at the DSLAM and edge routers.