10 to Watch -- New Products From the Comdex Show
9. Cable modem
For the average home Web user, one of the most frustrating aspects
of browsing is speed, or lack thereof.
One developing technology that promises relief involves piping the
Internet over the same cable that carries TV signals into the
household, also known as cable modems.
This is a costly venture for cable companies, but several are taking
the plunge, at least on a trial basis. (Some Seattle area customers
are part of a pilot project being run by Tele-Communications Inc.,
under its cable franchise contract with the city).
At Comdex, 3Com's US Robotics pushed the technology by introducing
the first cable modem to meet standards set by an industry group
known as the Multimedia Cable Network System, comprising of Comcast,
Cox, TCI and Time Warner.
US Robotics say its modem has the capability of delivering up to 38
megabits per second, which is more than 1,000 times faster than
today's widely used 33.6 kbps modem. (The upstream flow - data going
from a user to a Web site - would remain at 33.6 kbps, at least
initially).
Because a "node" of several hundred users would share a cable modem
feed, a single surfer's speed likely will slow down (depending on how
many other users are online) to "only" 100 times faster than today's
norm.
The cost of the modems, set to ship next spring, are about $200. In
West Seattle, where TCI started testing last spring, the monthly fee
for cable-modem access is $40.
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