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A cable modem puts surfer in the fast lane
October 16, 1997
Web posted at: 1:09 p.m. EDT (1709 GMT)By Lawrence J. Magid
For many Internet users, WWW stands for World Wide Wait. You hear about a great Web site, enter its address and have to wait and wait and wait while the site tries to pump tons of text and graphics through servers, routers, phone lines and, eventually, your modem and PC.
Sometimes the process goes quickly, but there are times when it seems to take forever -- especially on sites with audio and video.
You can't solve all the problems associated with delays on the Net, but if you're lucky enough to live in an area with cable modem service, you can at least do something about that modem on your desk.
A growing number of cable TV companies are offering Net service that takes advantage of the coaxial cable that delivers video signals to your TV. That same cable can also deliver data at many times the speed of standard phone lines.
I recently had a cable modem installed at my house and, although there are still some delays, the Internet, for me, is much faster than it was before. I especially notice it when I download large files like the new versions of Microsoft's Internet Explorer and Netscape's Navigator.
I also notice the improvement when I go to Web sites, though even with a cable modem there are sometimes delays that are due to other Internet bottlenecks. I live in Palo Alto, California, where my cable company, Cable Coop, offers cable modem service, starting at 500 kilobits per second, for $99 a month.
Most other cable companies offer faster service for lower prices. Cox Cable in Orange County, California, for example, charges $44.95 a month with a $149 installation charge, which includes the modem, the necessary Ethernet card and the service to install the hardware to configure your machine.
The system I use has a Com21 cable modem that plugs into either a PC's Ethernet card or a network hub. In my case, it's plugged into a hub, which makes the modem available to other machines on my network, so my kids and I can surf the Net at the same time. We even use the cable modem to log on to America Online. We not only avoid busy signals, but also access the service at a much faster speed.
The speed and cost of cable modems depend on what, if anything, is available where you live. Before you start to salivate, check with your cable company. Most cable companies, unfortunately, are not yet offering cable modem service. Even though your cable operator provides a coaxial cable into your house, chances are that it hasn't yet made the investment at its central office -- the "head end" -- to equip its system to transmit and receive data.
As I indicated earlier, having a faster connection to the Internet doesn't solve all the problems. A cable modem will bring data into your house anywhere from 15 to 120 times faster than a regular modem, but if you're using a slow PC, or if there is a bottleneck elsewhere on the Internet, you may still experience slow performance when visiting some sites.
@Home Network (http://www.home.net/) alleviates that problem, in part, by storing popular sites on its own servers, so customers who visit the site never have to go over the main part of Internet. They're just going to the @Home server, which has a mirror image of the site. @Home Network, which has TCI and several other cable companies among its investors, offers its service through participating cable systems.
Although the added speed is indeed a bonus, what I like most about having a cable modem is that I now have a permanent, full-time connection to the Internet. I don't have to sign on every time I want to visit a site or read my e-mail. As soon as I turn on my PC, I'm on the Net.
Unlike people who keep their dial-up connections running 24 hours a day, I'm not being a bad Netizen by keeping my Internet connection open all the time. I'm not tying up any phone lines or modems at my service provider. I could even host my Web site if I wanted to turn my PC into a Web server.
The Internet, according to Milo Medin, @Home's vice president for networks, is designed to support machines with full-time connections. "Internet protocols assume that every one is always connected."
There are several issues to consider when deciding on cable service. One is whether the service is one-way or two-way. Some cable systems are not equipped to let users upload data. In other words, they can send data down to your PC, but you must use a standard telephone and modem to send commands and data to the server.
That takes away two major advantages of a cable modem -- you no longer have a full-time connection, and you must tie up a phone line. Another issue is whether they offer a dial-up alternative in case the cable system is down or you're on the road. Recently, a windstorm in Palo Alto brought down our entire cable system, but I was able to get my e-mail by dialing in with a standard modem. When checking on price, ask if it includes the necessary hardware -- typically an Ethernet card and a cable modem. Most cable companies include the rental of the cable modem in the price, and some offer a free Ethernet card as part of the installation fee. Be sure to ask if the installation fee includes installing and configuring the Ethernet card.
Be careful when evaluating speed or throughput claims. Some cable modems are capable of operating at up to 30 megabits per second, but, in most cases, the PC's Ethernet card is limited to 10 megabits. But, regardless of what speed the cable company claims, ask what they guarantee to the customer.
In many cases, the speed claims are based on how much bandwidth they provide to a neighborhood cluster of customers. You may be sharing this bandwidth with your neighbors, so your speed could be less if they are using their modems at the same time.
For an excellent primer on cable modems, point your browser to http://www.cnet.com/Content/Features/Techno/Cablemodems/
(Lawrence J. Magid is editor-at-large at NetGuide and HomePC magazine. You may send him e-mail at magid@latimes.com or visit his World Wide Web site at http://www.larrysworld.com.)
Copyright 1997 Los Angeles Times Syndicate
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- Cable modems, DSLs speed computer use - June 13, 1997
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