Cable Access

Cable access is becoming more widespread than DSL connection. With the failure of several of the smaller DSL providers such as Flashcomm, it's easy to see why consumers turn to the cable companies. Providers who just provide DSL service have had a harder time than companies that provide a mix of services, such as cable companies. It's hard to state specific reasons why a number of DSL providers have failed.

The coaxial cable connection you have coming into your home provides the Internet connection through the same line as your cable TV and is easy to bundle with your cable service. It is not even necessary to have cable TV reception to have Internet access. Cable service is an always-on connectivity. Many ISPs offer DSL, but to get cable access, you must go through the cable companies.

Cable access reaches about 40–50% percent of the United States. Cable coverage is steadily increasing, but more heavily populated markets get coverage first. It's simple to check if your cable company provides access. Just call them or go to their Web site and you will easily be able to check whether your street gets cable access. The monthly fee that your cable company will charge can vary anywhere from $20 to $70 typically, plus the cost of rental of the cable modem or purchase of the cable modem and setup fee.

Cable speeds can reach up to 5Mbps, but with shared access on your local neighborhood network, you most likely won't get speeds faster than 2Mbps. Your cable company can't guarantee the fastest speed. Your cable connection is similar to your office connection. When more people are in the office and sharing the network, you will typically get slower connectivity to the Internet. If you have seen some of the DSL commercials on TV, they tout faster speeds than cable modems because they don't have the same type of bandwidth sharing that cable modems have. If all your neighbors simultaneously download some MPEG files from Napster or the latest movie trailer, you will see a definite decrease in speed.

To get that connection through your cable company, you are limited in your choice. If your cable provider does not have it, you can't really go to other cable companies who do not provide access in your neighborhood. Legally, you have more options if your current cable provider does not provide you access. In June of 2000, in the case of AT&T Corp. versus City of Portland, the court ruled that cable modem access as telecommunications access has subjected the cable industry to the same open access requirements applicable to telephone company-provided broadband service.

Limitations

The dangers of cable connectivity come from more than just the hackers. The sales pitch says that you can get super-fast connectivity for $30–$40 a month. Well, that's sort of true. You do get faster access than dial-up, but the rate can vary, as we just mentioned. Also, more people on your local network can slow down your connection speed. The costs of the modem, whether you purchase or rent it, can be somewhere between $150–$200. You also must pay a setup fee and wait for the cable guy to show up to install it. In most cases, self-installation is not a viable option.

The cable company does not provide direct security over your cable connection. If someone using their system uses the connection to hack and someone complains, the cable company does sometimes notify the user to desist hacking activities. Because you are on a local area network (LAN), it is possible for your neighbors to sniff (capture) your traffic and perhaps watch what you are doing if you allow access to your computer or do not use encryption over your e-mail and other Internet functions.

One good and bad feature of cable access is the static IP address that is provided. This can be helpful if you want to set up a Web server, but it can make you a target over time to an attacker because the attacker can always reach you via the same IP address.

An always-on cable connection can be “mostly-on.” Like DSL and dial-up, the connection can have outages sometimes, or your computer can have a problem that requires a reboot. Cable will be up more than DSL in most cases.