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To: Glenn D. Rudolph who wrote (11807)	12/6/1997 11:12:00 PM
From: craig crawford	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 45548

<< It would interesting to know why they need to wait. Do they not wish to bother? Do they not understand the technology, etc. The 75 ohm coax is all that is needed as far as infrastructure. >> I'll give you all the relevant details. My cable company used to be Viacom until it was bought out by TCI. They said they were rolling out service in west Seattle but it wouldn't be on the "eastside" (where Microsoft is located) until 1999. I live within walking distance of Microsoft. I think I DESERVE faster internet service considering my homestate is the mecca of Airplanes, Windows, Starbucks, Grunge, Hendrix, Griffey, Bruce Lee, Kenny G, etc.

To: Glenn D. Rudolph who wrote (11807)	12/7/1997 2:45:00 AM
From: Bill Martin	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 45548

Re: The 75 ohm coax is all that is needed as far as infrastructure. Wrong. A cable system isn't just a coax from the central office running down the street with "tee" taps at each house. It also has to have a system of distribution amplifiers carefully scattered about to repower the signals periodically, keep impedances matched, line levels balanced, etc. You don't want one TV failing and putting 110v on the whole system and destroying every TV in town for example. The fundamental problem is that the old systems were designed with the idea that they were just sending a signal from their office to your house so the distribution amplifiers were one way -- there was no way to get a signal from your house backwards through the amplifier to their office. It's like trying to yell into your loudspeakers and expecting to get sound to come out of your tape deck. Later on the cable companies thought about "pay per view" and decided it would be nifty if your set top box could talk back to the central office. These newer systems were built with bidirectional distribution amplifiers -- though I think they're much slower on the uplink than on the downlink. If your local cable plant was built with the old distribution system, then you don't have the infrastructure necessary for internet access through cable -- though some systems played with skirting the issue by making you use your telephone for the uplink and the cable for the downlink. Big money required to upgrade the entire system. If your cable system was built more recently with bidirectional distribution amplifiers, then it's possible to add internet access without too much grief for the cable company. Hope this explains the why you get different answers from different cable companies. Bill

To: Glenn D. Rudolph who wrote (11807)	12/7/1997 12:07:00 PM
From: Andreas Helke	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 45548

To provide good cable modem service you first have to upgrade your net to HFC. The cable companies only have about 10% of their nets converted and can't afford to upgrade their entire networks in a short time. Therefore the customers that happen to live in the wrong place will have to wait a long time for cable modems. Andreas

To: Glenn D. Rudolph who wrote (11807)	12/8/1997 9:48:00 AM
From: Riskmgmt	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 45548

My experience re: cable modems. Glenn and all I got a cable modem from mediaone last week. At present it is 1-way, downloading and using the telephone line up. Modem is by General Instrument. Cost is $34.05 per month for unlimited use but I saved $19.95 by cancelling NETCOM. So actual cost is about $14 per month. Installation is offered free and takes about 90 mins. It downloads graphics and such so much faster I should have gotten it months ago. I highly recommend it. They are going to have 2-way in "a few months" according to the company. regards, Ray