last mile.

About last mile

The last mile, or last kilometre, in the telecommunications, cable television and internet industries refers to the final stage of a telecommunications network that delivers services to retail end-users (customers). More specifically, the last mile describes a service provider's access network, or the portion of the telecommunications network chain that physically reaches the end-user's premises. Examples are the copper wire subscriber lines connecting landline telephones to the local telephone exchange; coaxial cable service drops carrying cable television signals from utility poles to subscribers' homes, and cell towers linking local cell phones to the cellular network. The word "mile" is used metaphorically; the length of the last mile link may be more or less than a mile. Because the last mile of a network to the user is conversely the first mile from the user's premises to the outside world when the user is sending data, the term first mile is also alternatively used.