Itself A cable modem will typically have two connections, one to the cable wall outlet and the other to a computer. An asymmetric cable modem scheme is most common. In the downstream direction, the digital data are modulated and then placed on a typical 6 MHz television channel, somewhere between 50 MHz and 750 MHz. The reverse path is typically transmitted between 5 and 42 MHz. A single downstream 6 MHz TV channel may support up to 27 to 36 MBPS of downstream data throughput from the cable headend.
Cable modems are an order of magnitude more complicated than their telephone counterparts.
Some vendors are working to serve existing telephone systems by offering the combination of a cable modem for fast downstream transmission and a telephone modem to handle upstream communications over public telephone lines. Demand for consumer cable data services is being driven primarily by the need for faster downstream speeds. The Future Cable Internet services will be available only to a minority of consumers for some time, due to a lack of cable system plant expansions. All rights reserved. Articles contained herein by authors from other organizations retain their original copyright.