Roger -
>>It has been mentioned that one drawback with cable modems is that the more people in your neighborhood who use it, the slower the connection would become.<<<
Each telco Copper Twisted Pair is an independent connection.
Cable is a shared connection. As more people log-in, the narrower
the bandwidth gets.
>>Looking way down the line in the future, will ADSL/VDSL modems be fast enough to bring TV in through phone lines and provide competition for cable TV?<<
With ADSL there is not enough bandwidth to send Real Time Multiple Broadcast signals. ADSL has enough bandwidth to send a VOD, I-Net access at the same time, and of course your normal POTS runing on just one of those 4khz 255 DMT channels.
VDSL has enough bandwidth can handle large #'s of Multiple Broadcast Signals. Once the Telcos get Fiber to the neighborhood (1000 - 6000ft) VDSL allows the telcos to become the cable companies of the world.
If the telcos move fast enough, they will be right on time to put HDTV across VDSL. But Dino moves slow.
JW@KSC
An article from somewhere :
Stand-alone CATV companies are trapped for capital funding which further deters their ability to upgrade and rebuild their cable network. These factors place telephone companies in a better position and enable them a shorter time-to-market advantage over that of CATV companies.
According to a study made by Dataquest of San Jose, the 1996 installed-base of 13,000 Cable Modem units will be surpassed by the xDSL modems by 25,000 units in 1997 (50,000 xDSL modems vs. 25,000 Cable modems), and by more than 400% by the year 2000 (3,700,000 xDSL vs. 900,000 CM). This is easy to understand when one considers the existing telephone and cable infrastructures. With the xDSL technology
utilizing existing embedded twisted pair telephone lines, and its superior financial position over that of the Cable TV companies, it is easy to see the validity of the Dataquest study.
Secondly, only about 5% of CATV companies' cable facilities have been upgraded to two-way digital transmission capability. Trapped by financial shortfalls, most CATV companies will need to pursuit the popular partnering strategy to bail them out.
Notwithstanding the traditional poor service image, CATV customers may have to face with service congestion and connectivity problems due to the shared network nature of the Cable modem network. Unless, a CATV
company limits the number of subscribers per each node in its Cable modem network to reduce packet collisions and errors, and even at a slightly higher rated bandwidth (maximum 10 Mbps) than that of ADSL
modems (maximum 8 Mbps), CATV companies will suffer a shared bandwidth vs. dedicated bandwidth and security issues. Their advantage over LECs remains in the fact that they are already in the business of providing
contents and programming, a factor that LECs must deal with effectively.
In some instances, CATV companies already priced their Cable Modem services below the $40 per month mark. A case in point, as a customer, Ralph Miller paying $24.95 a month to Times Warner (TW) for the Cable modem, software, cable line, and local unlimited Internet access service plus $14.95 a month for the local service (a total of $39.90 per month). Times Warner is betting on the fact that its subsidy of cable modem for the customers will pay offf. By charging them a low
monthly recurring leasing fee for the equipment, software, and the line, this strategy will pay out in the long run when it achieves the critical mass and economies of scale kicks in.
|
