DS0, or Digital Signal Zero, is a standard digital transmission rate for digital telecommunications.
What is DS0?
DS0 stands for Digital Signal Zero, and it is a standard digital transmission rate for digital telecommunications. DS0 defines a transmission rate of 64 Kbps and can carry either a single voice channel or data.
Telecommunication carriers transmit digital signals in multiples of DS0 called DS1, DS2, and so on. These multiples differ depending on whether you are dealing with the T-carrier system of North America or the E-carrier system of Europe and other continents.

The following table lists the common DS-series transmission rates and their T-series or E-series equivalents (when defined). For example, you can see that a T1 data transmission is equivalent to 24 DS0 transmissions multiplexed together and can transmit data at a rate of 1.544 Mbps.
DS-Series Transmission Rates
DS Type | Multiple of DS0 | Data Rate | T-Series | E-Series |
DS0 | 1 | 64 Kbps | N/A | N/A |
DS1 | 24 | 1.544 Mbps | T1 | N/A |
N/A | 32 | 2.048 Mbps | N/A | E1 |
DS1C | 48 | 3.152 Mbps | N/A | N/A |
DS2 | 96 | 6.312 Mbps | T2 | N/A |
N/A | 128 | 8.448 Mbps | N/A | E2 |
N/A | 512 | 34.368 Mbps | N/A | E3 |
DS3 | 672 | 44.736 Mbps | T3 | N/A |
N/A | 2048 | 139.264 Mbps | N/A | E4 |
DS4 | 4032 | 274.176 Mbps | N/A | N/A |
N/A | 8192 | 565.148 Mbps | N/A | E5 |