Data-Rate Tables
| DSx/Tx/Ex - North America, Europe & ROW, and Japan | ||||||
| Digital Signal | DS Level |
Data Rate | DS0 Multiple | U.S. T-carrier | Europe & ROW E-carrier | Japan J-carrier |
| DS0 | 0 | 64 Kbps | 1 | - | - | |
| DS1 | 1 | 1.544 Mbps | 24 | T-1 | - | J-1 |
| - | 2.048 Mbps | 32 | - | E-1 | ||
| DS1c | 3.152 Mbps | 48 | - | - | ||
| DS2 | 2 | 6.312 Mbps | 96 | T-2 | - | J-2 |
| 7.786 Mbit/s | 120 | J-2 (alt) | ||||
| - | 8.448 Mbps | 128 | - | E-2 | ||
| 32.064 Mbit/s | 480 | J-3 | ||||
| - | 34.368 Mbps | 512 | - | E-3 | ||
| DS3 | 3 | 44.736 Mbps | 672 | T-3 | - | |
| 97.728 Mbit/s | 1440 | J-4 | ||||
| - | 139.264 Mbps | 2048 | - | E-4 | ||
| DS4/NA | 139.264 Mbps | 2176 | - | - | ||
| DS4 | 4 | 274.176 Mbps | 4032 | - | - | |
| DS5 | 5 | 400.352 Mbit/s | 5760 | |||
| - | 565.148 Mbps | 4 E4 channels | - | E-5 | J-5 | |
NOTE: The orange cells designate the rates above T-3, E-3 etc - which are normally now on optical systems
|
Optical Signal Hierarchy |
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| Hierarchy | Data Rate | SONET | SDH | OCx |
| Level Zero | 155.52 | STS-3 | STM-1 | OC-3 |
| Level One | 622.08 | STS-12 | STM-4 | OC-12 |
| Level Two | 2488.32 Mbps | STS-48 | STM-16 | OC-48 |
| Level Three | 9953.28 Mbps | STS-192 | STM-64 | OC-192 |
| OC vs STS vs STM Data Rates | ||||||
| Optical Carrier | Data Rate (Line Rate) |
Overhead Rate | Payload-SONET (SPE) (Data Rate - Overhead) |
User Data Rate (Mbps) | SONET STS (ANSI) |
SDH STM (CCITT) |
| OC-1 | 51.84 Mbps | 1.728 Mbps | 50.112 Mbps | 49.536 | STS-1 | -- |
| OC-3 | 155.52 Mbps | 5.184 Mbps | 150.336 Mbps | 148.608 | STS-3 | STM-1 |
| OC-9 | 466.56 Mbps | 451.044 Mbps | 445.824 | STS-9 | STM-3 | |
| OC-12 | 622.08 Mbps | 20.736 Mbps | 601.344 Mbps | 594.824 | STS-12 | STM-4 |
| OC-18 | 933.12 Mbps | 902.088 Mbps | 891.648 | STS-18 | STM-6 | |
| OC-24 | 1244.16 Mbps | 1202.784 Mbps | 1188.864 | STS-24 | STM-8 | |
| OC-36 | 1866.24 Mbps | 1804.176 Mbps | 1783.296 | STS-36 | STM-12 | |
| OC-48 | 2488.32 Mbps | 82.944 Mbps | 2.4 Gbps | 2377.728 | STS-48 | STM-16 |
| OC-192 | 9953.28 Mbps | 331.776 | 9.6 Gbps | 9510.912 | STS-192 | STM-64 |
| OC-768 | 40Gbit/s | 1327.104 | 38.5 Gbps | - | STS-768 | STM-256 |
| OC-3072 | 160Gbit/s | - | - | STS-3072 | STM-1024 | |
STS-1 - Synchronous Transport Signal 1: SONET over OC-1 optical fiber at 51.84 Mbps.
STS-n - Synchronous Transport Signal "n" : (where n is an integer) SONET standards for transmission over OC-n optical fiber by multiplexing "n" STS-1 frames, (e.g., STS-3 at 155.52 Mbps STS-12 at 622.08 Mbps and STS-48 at 2.488 Gbps).
STS-nc - Synchronous Transport Signal "n" concatenated: (where n is an integer) SONET standards for transmission over OC-n optical fiber by multiplexing "n" STS-1 frames, (e.g., STS-3 at 155.52 Mbps STS-12 at 622.08 Mbps and STS-48 at 2.488 Gbps but treating the information fields as a single concatenated payload).
STM - Synchronous Transfer Module: STM is a basic building block used for a synchronous multiplexing hierarchy defined by the CCITT/ITU-T. STM-1 operates at a rate of 155.52 Mbps (same as STS-3).
STM-1 - Synchronous Transport Module 1: SDH standard for transmission over OC-3 optical fiber at 155.52 Mbps.
STM-n - Synchronous Transport Module "n" : (where n is an integer) SDH standards for transmission over optical fiber (OC-'n x 3) by multiplexing "n" STM-1 frames, (e.g., STM-4 at 622.08 Mbps and STM-16 at 2.488 Gbps).
STM-nc - Synchronous Transport Module "n" concatenated: (where n is an integer) SDH standards for transmission over optical fiber (OC-'n x 3) by multiplexing "n" STM-1 frames, (e.g., STM-4 at 622.08 Mbps and STM-16 at 2.488 Gbps, but treating the information fields as a single concatenated payload).
SDH/SONET defines a way or packaging capacity into Virtual Containers (VCs) which may be Higher Order Virtual Container (HVC) or Lower Order Virtual Containers (LVC). The term Tributary Unit (TU - used in RoW) or Virtual Tributary (VT - North America) describes a method of mapping PDH (e.g. T1) carriers onto SDH/SONET.
| SONET | SDH | ||
| Name | Speed | Name | Speed |
| VT-1.5 | 1.728Mbit/s | VC-11 | 1.728Mbit/s |
| VT-2 | 2.304Mbit/s | VC-12 | 2.304Mbit/s |
| VT-3 | 3.456Mbit/s | - | - |
| VT-6 | 6.912Mbit/s | VC-2 | 6.912Mbit/s |
| STS-1 | 50.112Mbit/s | VC-3 | 48.960Mbit/s |
| STS-3 | 150.336Mbit/s | VC-4 | 150.336Mbit/s |
| Technology | Speed | Physical Medium | Application |
|---|---|---|---|
| GSM mobile telephone service | 9.6 to 14.4 Kbps | RF in space (wireless) | Mobile telephone for business and personal use |
| High-Speed Circuit-Switched Data service (HSCSD) | Up to 56 Kbps | RF in space (wireless) | Mobile telephone for business and personal use |
| Regular telephone service (POTS) | Up to 56 Kbps | twisted pair | Home and small business access |
| Dedicated 56Kbps on frame relay | 56 Kbps | Various | Business e-mail with fairly large file attachments |
| DS0 | 64 Kbps | All | The base signal on a channel in the set of Digital Signal levels |
| General Packet Radio System (GPRS) | 56 to 114 Kbps | RF in space (wireless) | Mobile telephone for business and personal use |
| ISDN | BRI:
64 Kbps to 128 Kbps PRI: 23 (T-1) or 30 (E1) assignable 64-Kbps channels plus control channel; up to 1.544 Mbps (T-1) or 2.048 (E1) |
BRI: Twisted-pair PRI: T-1 or E1 line |
BRI: Faster home and small business access PRI: Medium and large enterprise access |
| IDSL | 128 Kbps | Twisted-pair | Faster home and small business access |
| AppleTalk | 230.4 Kbps | Twisted pair | Local area network for Apple devices; several networks can be bridged; non-Apple devices can also be connected |
| Enhanced Data GSM Environment (EDGE) | 384 Kbps | RF in space (wireless) | Mobile telephone for business and personal use |
| satellite | 400 Kbps (DirecPC and others) | RF in space (wireless) | Faster home and small enterprise access |
| frame relay | 56 Kbps to 1.544 Mbps | Twisted-pair or coaxial cable | Large company backbone for LANs to ISP ISP to Internet infrastructure |
| DS1/T-1 | 1.544 Mbps | Twisted-pair, coaxial cable, or optical fiber | Large company to ISP ISP to Internet infrastructure |
| Universal Mobile Telecommunications Service (UMTS) | Up to 2 Mbps | RF in space (wireless) | Mobile telephone for business and personal use (available in 2002 or later) |
| 2.048 Mbps | Twisted-pair, coaxial cable, or optical fiber | 32-channel European equivalent of T-1 | |
| 3.152 Mbps | Twisted-pair, coaxial cable, or optical fiber | Large company to ISP ISP to Internet infrastructure |
|
| IBM Token Ring/802.5 | 4 Mbps (also 16 Mbps) | Twisted-pair, coaxial cable, or optical fiber | Second most commonly-used local area network after Ethernet |
| DS2/T-2 | 6.312 Mbps | Twisted-pair, coaxial cable, or optical fiber | Large company to ISP ISP to Internet infrastructure |
| Digital Subscriber Line (DSL) | 512 Kbps to 8 Mbps | Twisted-pair (used as a digital, broadband medium) | Home, small business, and enterprise access using existing copper lines |
| E-2 | 8.448 Mbps | Twisted-pair, coaxial cable, or optical fiber | Carries four multiplexed E-1 signals |
| cable modem ** | 512 Kbps to 52 Mbps (see "explanation" below) |
Coaxial cable (usually uses Ethernet); in some systems, telephone used for upstream requests | Home, business, school access |
| Ethernet | 10 Mbps | 10BASE-T (twisted-pair); 10BASE-2 or -5 (coaxial cable); 10BASE-F (optical fiber) | Most popular business local area network (LAN) |
| IBM Token Ring/802.5 | 16 Mbps (also 4 Mbps) | Twisted-pair, coaxial cable, or optical fiber | Second most commonly-used local area network after Ethernet |
| E-3 | 34.368 Mbps | Twisted-pair or optical fiber | Carries 16 E-l signals |
| DS3/ |
44.736 Mbps | Coaxial cable | ISP to Internet infrastructure Smaller links within Internet infrastructure |
| OC-1 | 51.84 Mbps | Optical fiber | ISP to Internet infrastructure Smaller links within Internet infrastructure |
| High-Speed Serial Interface (HSSI) | Up to 53 Mbps | HSSI cable | Between router hardware and WAN lines Short-range (50 feet) interconnection between slower LAN devices and faster WAN lines |
| Fast Ethernet | 100 Mbps | 100BASE-T (twisted pair); 100BASE-T (twisted pair); 100BASE-T (optical fiber) | Workstations with 10 Mbps Ethernet cards can plug into a Fast Ethernet LAN |
| Fiber Distributed-Data Interface (FDDI) | 100 Mbps | Optical fiber | Large, wide-range LAN usually in a large company or a larger ISP |
| 135 Mbps | Optical fiber | ISP to Internet infrastructure Smaller links within Internet infrastructure |
|
| E-4 | 139.264 Mbps | Optical fiber | Carries 4 E3 channels Up to 1,920 simultaneous voice conversations |
| OC-3/SDH | 155.52 Mbps | Optical fiber | Large company backbone Internet backbone |
| E-5 | 565.148 Mbps | Optical fiber | Carries 4 E4 channels Up to 7,680 simultaneous voice conversations |
| OC-12/STM-4 | 622.08 Mbps | Optical fiber | Internet backbone |
| Gigabit Ethernet | 1 Gbps | Optical fiber (and "copper" up to 100 meters) | Workstations/networks with 10/100 Mbps Ethernet plug into Gigabit Ethernet switches |
| 1.244 Gbps | Optical fiber | Internet backbone | |
| SciNet | 2.325 Gbps (15 OC-3 lines) | Optical fiber | Part of the vBNS backbone |
| OC-48/STM-16 | 2.488 Gbps | Optical fiber | Internet backbone |
| OC-192/STM-64 | 10 Gbps | Optical fiber | Backbone |
| OC-256 | 13.271 Gbps | Optical fiber | Backbone |
** Cable modem note: rhe upper limit of 52 Mbps on a cable is to an ISP, not currently to an individual PC. Most of today's PCs are limited to an internal design that can accomodate no more than 10 Mbps (although the PCI bus itself carries data at a faster speed). The 52 Mbps cable channel is subdivided among individual users. Obviously, the faster the channel, the fewer channels an ISP will require and the lower the cost to support an individual user.