The Cable Modem Revolution
Cable modems are the latest tools used for high-speed Internet access. These modems connect to the Internet via coaxial cable lines rather than telephone lines like conventional modems. By making use of the larger coaxial cables, cable modems are able to transfer much more data than anything in the past. These new modems can connect up to 180 times faster than the fastest analog telephone modems available today. In other words, a file that takes fifteen minutes to download using a 56k modem only takes about five seconds on a cable modem. Currently, cable modems are capable of data transfer rates of up to 40 Megabits per second (Mbps). Although rated as so, most of the cable modems today can realistically transfer around 10Mbps. Like regular telephone modems, cable modems have to modulate and demodulate the stream of data from different computers at different locations. The similarity with analog modems ends there, however. Cable modems also incorporate a tuner (to separate the data signal from the rest of the broadcast stream); parts from network adapters, bridges, and routers (to connect to multiple computers); network-management software agents (so that the cable company can control and monitor
For the most part, using cable lines to access the Internet is still in the pilot stage. Only a dozen or so cities currently offer cable modem service for testing purposes. As mentioned earlier, many technical hurdles have to be overcome before cable modem service is widely available. Furthermore, hardware and transmission protocols must become standardized so that everything can work together and interchangeably. It is projected that cable Internet access won't be widespread until three to five years. And once that happens, you can probably buy a cable modem for about twenty percent higher than telephone modems and get service for about thirty dollars a month. That's quite a deal considering ISDN service of today cost twice that, but connection speeds are only around 128kbps. its operations); and encryption devices (so your data isn't intercepted or sent somewhere else by mistake). Telephone companies aren't just sitting around as the cable Internet access technology prepares to past them up. Many Telephone companies are actively investigating their own weapon. This weapon is ADSL (asymmetrical digital subscriber line) technology that allows the transport of data over plain old copper telephone lines at speeds up to 9Mbps. If they provide this service at a similar price with faster connections to the Internet backbone and better customer service, cable modems will face significant competition. But, until ADSL is deployed and as long as usage patterns stay the same, 10Mbps access through ca
Some common words found in the essay are:
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Approximate Word count = 1014
Approximate Pages = 4 (250 words per page double spaced)
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