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Common Concerns
Questions and Answers
- Will a cable modem interfere with my cable TV service?
- I've heard cable modems offer shared access. How does this impact performance?
- Are cable modem connections secure?
- I've heard about some cable modem service problems. Are cable modems reliable?
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Will a cable modem interfere with my cable TV service?
No. High-speed cable modem services are delivered within dedicated cable channels and don't affect other TV programming.
I've heard cable modems offer shared access. How does this impact performance?
Cable households in a limited geographic area -- usually a few thousand homes -- share a downstream 30-million-bits-per-second (mbps) data channel. Common sense dictates that 200 cable data subscribers sharing a 30-mbps connection would each get only 150 kbps of throughput, right? Not quite.
Unlike circuit-switched telephone networks in which a caller is allocated a dedicated connection, cable modem users don't occupy a fixed amount of bandwidth during their online sessions. Instead, they share the network with other active users, like an office LAN or the Internet, and only use the network's resources when they actually send or receive data in quick bursts. So, instead of 200 cable online users each being allocated 150 kbps, they can grab all the bandwidth available -- say, a lot of megabits per second -- during the millisecond they need to download their data packets.
Some telephone companies argue that ADSL is superior to cable modems because it offers a "dedicated" connection, albeit at lower bandwidth. For example, while an ADSL modem may offer a dedicated 256 kbps, a cable modem can burst to speeds many times higher than that.
Think of it this way: Would you like to have a dedicated lane on a highway where you can go a guaranteed 25 mph, but no faster? Or would you prefer to share the highway with other users if there's a 100-mph speed limit? If you prefer the latter, go with a cable modem.
Are cable modem connections secure?
Newer cable modems, particularly those built to the industry's DOCSIS standard, use heavy-duty DES encryption to make sure that other users on the network can't eavesdrop on private data transmissions.
The one area of vulnerability for both cable and ADSL modems is tied to the network settings for file- and printer-sharing options on your Windows or Macintosh computers. To keep hackers out of your files, be sure to disable those settings before connecting your cable modem. If you plan to use those functions, install a router or Internet-sharing device with a firewall between the cable modem and your local area network (LAN).
I've heard about some cable modem service problems. Are cable modems reliable?
There have been a few isolated, but well-publicized, cable modem service glitches of late, including the fallout from Exite@Home's demise. But for the most part, the majority of cable modem subscribers get reliable service. Indeed, most cable modem customer surveys show satisfaction levels above 90%.
