Gene, I think the article was referring to the services and interfaces a web/tv should have, not technological limitations of cable access. With cable access, you get everything on the "free" Web/Internet that you do with your 56K modem, except MUCH FASTER. Cable modems usually download at 5-10Mbps. The only technological limitation that I am aware of is that cable access is asymetrical, meaning download is much faster than upload. This may affect appliacations like videoconferencing, for example.
I respectfully disagree that xDSL will become more popular than cable modem. There has been a lot of hype about ISDN (the past 10 years) and now xDSL. The bottom line is that the phone cos. have not delivered, and there are many reasons for this. I'll only name a few: ISDN requires a new digital line installed to your home, and is a nightmare to install/service. Plus, it only gives you 128K. xDSL requires existing twisted pair phone lines to be "conditioned", it also requires a new switch at the CO, etc. Bottom line, if the phone cos. want to push ISDN/xDSL, there needs to be significant investments in technological improvement of the technology. Right now, telephone cos. are more concerned with deregulation and lawsuits that have resulted from it. The economics/performance favor cable modems by a long shot. Just my opinion.
joey |
