In reply to a post by Thaumaturge:

notwithstanding any end to end encryption that I might be able to deploy .

e2e isn't breakable itself, but the areas beyond the e2e "bridge" are snoop-able. Anyways its far easier, to do the old email virus, or even webpage. Given that the some USA agencies have created their own os, to bring down a crime network, which would in turn render e2e pointless.

In another words you are more or less right

In reply to a post by candlerb:

I raise you Prestel 1200/75 (bits per second, not megabits per second). And people complain about asymmetric speeds these days

Prism VTX/5000 on a Sinclair Spectrum and Prestel/Micronet 800. Those were the days

You used a screen?

A 33 ASR Teletype and a shoe-box sized Post Office BT Datel 600 (?) modem started me off in 1975/76. I still have a roll of paper tape for a program to produce 5-figure random groups of letters for Morse practice. ISTR that there was also a modem that fitted beneath a 700 series telephone, but for the modem I was using I am sure that the connection to the phone line was via a round Cannon type plug/socket and not the PO plugs such as the type 420.

Cheers!

In reply to a post by Ancient_Mariner:

You used a screen?

Impressive, I missed that era.

As I recall, "broadband" originally meant bit rate greater than the baud rate. V.32 qualified under that definition. I think it used a QAM modulation on a 2.4kHz baseband carrier - details are somewhat hazy now. Came in late 80s. I was certainly using the internet from home from around 1993, and I think that must have been with V.32 or V.32bis because 56K modems didn't really arrive till the late 90s. Not sure what broadband means these days, other than vaguely high bandwidth.

But I accept that this is special pleading, and binary has a point. 20+ years is nearer the mark. Too long, anyway. Through ADSL and now FTTC, BT's wire (both copper and some aluminium, OR have admitted to me) has caused nothing but trouble which armies of OR engineers have failed to fix. I can't wait to be rid of it all for good.

But I/we digress. Sorry.

I took "narrowband" as meaning "uses voice frequencies", and "broadband" as meaning "uses a wider range of frequencies" (and hence higher data rate).

Everything sensitive is going to be encrypted from your side anyway - how many websites do you use that don't have TLS?

PON is fine. If you've so many enemies with the funding that you're worried about your PON being tapped I would suggest bespoke malware is probably a bigger concern.

In reply to a post by Thaumaturge:

As I recall, "broadband" originally meant bit rate greater than the baud rate. V.32 qualified under that definition. I think it used a QAM modulation on a 2.4kHz baseband carrier - details are somewhat hazy now. Came in late 80s. I was certainly using the internet from home from around 1993, and I think that must have been with V.32 or V.32bis because 56K modems didn't really arrive till the late 90s. Not sure what broadband means these days, other than vaguely high bandwidth.

But I accept that this is special pleading, and binary has a point. 20+ years is nearer the mark. Too long, anyway. Through ADSL and now FTTC, BT's wire (both copper and some aluminium, OR have admitted to me) has caused nothing but trouble which armies of OR engineers have failed to fix. I can't wait to be rid of it all for good.

But I/we digress. Sorry.

No, digression is great! I remember looking longingly at 56K modems in the late 90's, whilst using a 28.8 or 33.6 kbit/s internal one that came with the PC. Given the costs and inconvenience of dial-up, it was hard to justify an upgrade.

Regarding those earlier times, I recall a family member who keenly took to email but didn't really get their head around the web until the arrival of (ADSL) broadband. The advent of 'always-on' internet connections in the home made all the difference.

I also remember noting on many occasions how the North American software design just assumed that local calls (to ISP's POPs/ access numbers) were free/inclusive, totally failing to take account of Europe (and elsewhere) where such calls were charged per minute... meaning every second online counted!

Anyway I am off to watch something on my HD telly, though I still haven't got my head around the fuss regarding 'high definition television', given that it's been around since 1936...

Yes, thanks, I agree, I am reassured by what you guys have told me. FAPP I'm happy now that PON is as secure as most other stuff I use.

As I indicated earlier, FTTP has only just become a possibility where I live. I haven't previously looked into the details. Now I understand a bit about the encryption, key exchange etc, it all makes more sense.

In reply to a post by binary:

No, digression is great! I remember looking longingly at 56K modems in the late 90's, whilst using a 28.8 or 33.6 kbit/s internal one that came with the PC. Given the costs and inconvenience of dial-up, it was hard to justify an upgrade.

I remember 56K modems but in my case I decided to go for it. I was paying £10 a month to NTL for dialup access on an 0800 number.

It then took a little twist because my employer decided it to have a teleworking trial which I managed to get on because I lived 50 miles from the office. They installed and paid for an ISDN30e connection and I discovered that the NTL 0800 number supported ISDN so had access to a 128 Kbps internet connection.