So what will the cable modem give you, that you don't already have with
your analog or ISDN modem connection?
Speed
Cable Modems are much faster. Speeds from x25 to x1000 are possible today,
and we are now only at the beginning of the Cable Modem era! Remember 1200 baud analog
modems?
Compare the speed you get to that of E1/T1 or ethernet. Notice: This is
the speed from you to the CATV operator (ISP). Provided he do not sell too many Cable
Modems in your area and/or upgrade his equipment to keep up with the number of Cable
Modems.
To provide high speed access to other sites the internet, the CATV
operator also needs fairly large proxy cache servers and a very fast connection to the
net. We will see the CATV operators put a lot of (local) content, to which you will have
very fast access.
On-Line
Cable Modems are on-line whenever you turn on your computer. Just like the
network (LAN) used in most offices etc.
This allows a whole new range of applications - just start to think about
it.
Some cable operators do not like you to run web servers or FTP servers
through your Cable Modem, but that may change over time when they realize that they are
selling bandwidth.
Competition
The phone company will now have serious competition. You actually do have
an alternative to connection through the phone lines.
Note: Some systems actually do provide telephony through
the CATV network also.
This is the end of the tutorial, use the [Next] link below to get back to
the tutorial overview.
cable-modems.org
