Residential Broadband first provides some historical context, explaining how Western Union provided transcontinental telegraph service--and made a profit doing it--in the 19th century. Then, the author details how a standard telephone line into a home works--fascinating reading for anyone who's always taken such technology for granted. From there, Maxwell makes the leap into data- communications technologies, including standard modems (which Maxwell helped invent), ISDN lines, various Digital Subscriber Line (DSL) schemes, and cable modems. The author shuns wireless residential broadband technologies, saying that adequate bandwidth can be had only through satellites, which are too expensive.