cable modems

CABLE MODEMS--Wave of the Future? If you think about the future, what is the first thing that comes to mind? Well, in the minds of most people the word computer or Internet will come to mind. Since the introduction of PC's in the late seventies and early eighties, the technology involved in computers has grown exponentially. The internet, which came into widespread use only five or six years ago has grown unimaginably. Anybody can find virtually anything they want over the Internet. The first way to access the internet was through dial up telephone modems brought through ISP's such as Prodigy, AOL, Compuserv and many other providers. These providers were slow and sometimes you couldn't even get through the busy phone lines. the phone modem industry has grown greatly since then, but it still has its flaws. ISDN's have become popular in the business world and provide better service than telephone modems, but they also have their flaws. The wave of the future as far as Internet access is concerned is cable modems. Cable modems are faster, more efficient, more cost efficient and easier to use than any other Internet access that's ever been introduced. WHAT IS A CABLE MODEM? A cable modem is "a device that allows high speed data access (such as to the Internet_ via a cable TV network." In other words rather than running the Internet through the telephone, it will be run through cable TV. HOW DO CABLE MODEMS WORK? There are five main components to the operation of cable modems: 1. the headend 2. the trunk cable 3. the distribution cable in the neighborhood 4. the drop cable to the home and in house wiring 5. the terminal equipment. It's really a fairly simple process. A cable modem network is described as a "tree and branch" network. This means there is a main station (headend_ that has a trunk cable that distributes feeder cables to all of the neighborhoods. These feeder cables branch off into drop cables that go into the homes of the indi...