But even though copper wire can theoretically transmit up to 6 Megabits per second if you're within two miles of a central office, and up to 1.5 Mbps if you're within three miles, copper wire has problems at those higher bandwidths. Carrying data at those speeds over the local loop's copper wire requires specialized switches, signal repeaters and other equipment to get copper to carry more bandwidth than a telephone call. Anyone who's ever sat at a computer with a low-speed modem waiting for an Internet page to download knows all about the limitations of the analog local loop. Local phone companies now are beginning to deploy ADSL, or Asynchronous Digital Subscriber Line, to give the local loop the kinds of broadband capabilities that customers are increasingly demanding. But it's not widely available.
Cable TV is a true broadband medium, but until very recently, it's been one-way only.
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