Certified Information Systems Security Professional (CISSP) Practice Exam 2025 – All-in-One Guide to Mastering Your Certification!

The technology that allows a computer to communicate over telephone lines is dial-up. Dial-up connections use traditional phone lines to establish a connection to the internet, where a modem dials a phone number associated with an Internet Service Provider (ISP). This process involves the conversion of digital data from the computer into analog signals that can be transmitted over telephone lines.

Dial-up was one of the earliest methods for connecting to the internet and typically offers slower connection speeds compared to modern technologies. It requires a physical phone line, and the connection can be disrupted if the line is used for voice calls, as the same line supports both voice and data transmission.

Other technologies listed, like Ethernet, are network protocols that operate over local area networks and do not utilize telephone lines. Digital subscriber line (DSL) also uses telephone lines but is not dial-up; it provides a faster, continuous connection and separates voice and data transmissions. Broadband refers to high-speed internet access that can include various technologies, such as DSL, cable, and fiber optics, but it is a broader category that encompasses multiple connection types beyond traditional phone lines.