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A cable modem is a device that connects your computer with the cable TV lines. Unlike telephone modems, they operate at speeds up to 10Mbps, nearly 350 times as fast as a 28.8kbps modem. In fact, it's the same speed as an Ethernet network. It is this speed, and the fact that many people already have cable TV service, that makes this technology especially exciting for providing high bandwith to the home. However, cable modems are still experimental and lack standards necessary for widespread acceptance. Even though there are a handful of successful field trials, it may be 2 - 3 years before these modems are widely available. The following animation shows how cable modems work. Cable modems are much more complicated than their telephone modem counterparts. Besides modulating the signal, they act as a tuner, an encryption device, a router, and network card. A cable modem sends and receives data in two different ways. In the downstream direction, the data is modulated and received at 10 Mbps. It sends data upstream at a much slower rate. This upstream signal is particularly susceptible to interference from radios electromagnetic impulse noise from home appliances. Despite the problems, cable modems are likely to play an important part in the way home users access the Internet in the future. At the estimated cost of only $50 per month and the huge increase in bandwidth over today’s option, cable modems appear to be a bright option for the future.

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