Five years ago, all that people had to worry about when they wanted to connect to the Internet was really what modem they were going to purchase. It was simple. Do I buy a 33. 6Kbps modem or a 56Kbps modem? With the advances in current technologies, that decision has become a bit more difficult. Now people have to make the decision between 56k modems, Asynchronous Digital Subscriber Line (ADSL), Cable Broadband, and Satellite Broadband. I believe the choice to be simple. Cable Broadband, with its widespread availability, is definitely a great investment for the average consumer.
Broadband Daily states, Its fatter pipes and inherent two-way capability promise to deliver everything video, voice, data, text, graphics, and more to both the PC and the TV. (Whats Broadband, 2002, para. 4). The most important factor to take into account for any service is the cost. Most Cable Broadband across the country costs between $40 and $50 per month. To all those who have Insight Communications Cable service in Noblesville also have the ability to receive their Cable Broadband. It costs just $39. 95 per month for their cable customers and $49. per month for non-customers (http://www. insight-com. com/net/roadrunner/rrfaq. html).
Obviously, it pays a little to be a regular customer. They receive a $10 discount. To those that are still using a 56k dial-up service this may seem a bit steep considering that most dial-up services only cost about $22 per month. However, if they were to take into account the fact that most people have a separate phone line for the modem and pay for the dial-up service also, they would see that they are paying around $35 and $45 per month (Cable Modem Guide, 2000, para.
There is only one more cost and that is the one time cost of the cable modem itself. Generally, they cost about $120. That is about the same for a good 56k modem. If someone were to compare the cost of Cable Broadband to ADSL they would find that for the same price ADSL offers slower download/upload speeds (Nismojjang, 2002). Also with most ADSL services they require a one year contract. Cable Broadband services do not. All this definitely shows Cable Broadband to have a very reasonable cost. Most would wonder, How much faster is Cable Broadband?
Why do I need it? The answer is simple. According to Gary Arlen Theres an upcoming generation of consumers who will demand bigger bandwidth, thanks to their college encounter. (2002, para. 11). Cable Broadband can produce download speeds up to 2Mbps (35 times faster than a 56bps modem) and up to 384Kbps uploads (six times faster than a 56Kbps modem) (http://www. earthlink. net/home/broadband/cable/tw/speed/). Speeds such as these are just Mind boggling to me. There is one slight set back for speed on a Cable Broadband system.
That glitch is the fact that Cable modems are a shared bandwidth system (Does Shared Bandwidth Make Cable Modems Slow? , 1998). What this generally means is that people share bandwidth with their neighbors. So the more users logged on in that neighborhood the more potential for speeds to slow down. However, even with the slowdown it is still faster than a 56Kbps modem and only for a very short time thank to the new technologies in information transfers. In the end Cable Broadband is very fast when it comes down to it.
We now know the pricing and speeds for Cable Broadband and how they compare to some common services. Even so, there are still other benefits to going to Cable Broadband. It all pretty much has to do with the connection. For those people who still are using a dial-up service the benefits of not having to dial-up their Internet Service Provider (ISP) is quite evident. With Cable Broadband your connection, it is always on (http://www. earthlink. net/home/broadband/cable/tw/benefits/). That means no more having to wait for long initiation procedures or busy signals from their ISP.
They no longer have to worry about slow connection speeds because of large bandwidth. People are connected through the same line that most receive their cable television on. This means no tying up phone lines for those who still use the same phone line for both the phone and modem. Because of this feature, people would be able to be on-line and use the phone at the same time. The most difficult part of getting connected is installing the new hardware and software needed. Most Cable Broadband providers now have self install kits.
These basically consist of the cable modem and Ethernet card or USB adapter that are installed on the back of the computer. For a fee of about $130 most will install both hardware and software. This will guarantee that it will eventually work. Once set up, Cable Broadband is very reliable. In the end the evidence will speak for itself. Cable Broadband service is cost effective and very fast. Once set up it will be very reliable and once a person tries it, they will be hooked. I recommend and hope that everyone will utilize this great service that is now readily available.