Dedicated Access Line

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What Does Dedicated Access Line Mean?

A dedicated access line is a direct, fixed connection between a phone or computer and a remote terminal outside the computer. For instance, a branch office might get a dedicated access line for connection to the organization’s head office.

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Techopedia Explains Dedicated Access Line

In computer networks and telecommunications, a dedicated line is a communications connection or other hardware resource dedicated to a certain application or use. This is different than a shared connection such as a telephone network or the Internet.

Dedicated access line services may not be offered by one, distinct end-to-end cable. Services do offer guarantees of stable bandwidth availability and near constant latency, which are attributes not guaranteed on more public platforms. These attributes add significant value to the price.

As more all-purpose platforms have been developed, dedicated lines have been gradually replaced with intranets and the Internet. However, dedicated lines are still used for applications where time and bandwidth are important, such as video streaming.

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Margaret Rouse
Technology expert
Margaret Rouse
Technology expert

Margaret is an award-winning writer and educator known for her ability to explain complex technical topics to a non-technical business audience. Over the past twenty years, her IT definitions have been published by Que in an encyclopedia of technology terms and cited in articles in the New York Times, Time Magazine, USA Today, ZDNet, PC Magazine, and Discovery Magazine. She joined Techopedia in 2011. Margaret’s idea of ​​a fun day is to help IT and business professionals to learn to speak each other’s highly specialized languages.