i'm a bit confused. is wireless a type of broadband like dsl and cable?

Well, sometimes.

Wireless is just a radio signal of a network data stream from one device to another. In a home or public wireless network, the source of the data stream is a hardwired, Ethernet based network, such as a cable or DSL network. That signal is then beamed out via a radion wave to wi-fi devices.

There is also wimax, which is a wireless system that's used by companies like Clear. That's broadcast through the air and picked up by devices designed to grab the signals. It's really nothing more than a variation on what I described above.

All wireless-capable data signals come from somewhere. In nearly every case, there's a wired network in the mix.