Cable Modem: New media to surf Internet world
Cable Modem: New media to surf Internet world
Perhaps the cable network is not well known in Indonesia, but a cable network with a background from CATV network is very popular in the United States and Europe to deliver high speed Internet access with cable modem. This media will give convenient and speed of access directly to your PC at your home. Compared with other technology to access the Internet, the cable modem is much faster, more than 100 times the ordinary conventional modem. Usually it is a flat rate service, depending on the bandwidth you like to buy.
Comparing the current ways consumers can connect to the Internet from their home, cable access comes out a clear winner. At roughly the same cost of dial-up access with a dedicated telephone line, and cheaper than ISDN or ADSL connections, cable modem connections are by far the fastest, and will have those Websites on your computer screen in the blink of an eye.
If you have a dedicated modem line and one of the latest modems, you are probably paying between Rp 95,000 and Rp 162,000 per month for dial-up Internet access at speeds up to 56kbps (phone line plus ISP). If you are using ISDN, you can expect to pay between Rp 300,000 and Rp 500,000 per month for speeds up to 128kbps, and ADSL users will pay a similar amount for speeds up to 384kbps. But if you can get Internet access from your cable company, expect to pay around Rp 300,000 per month for unlimited, "always connected" access at speeds up to 10Mbps (that's 10,000kbps!).
Cable Modem: What is it?
A cable modem is a device that connects to your existing cable feed and to an Ethernet network card in your PC (also called a "NIC" for Network Interface Card). A cable modem is a true modem -- MO for modulates and DEM for demodulates -- but it is a much different device than common dial-up modems.
A dial-up modem may be an internal or external device, and connects to a serial port on your computer at a maximum speed of 56kbps. Today's cable modems are external devices that connect to a network card in your computer, and support much higher speeds than dial-up devices.
At this time the cable modem you need to use is determined by your cable company. There are many manufacturers making cable modems, although Motorola has the largest market share. Initially, there were no standards and the different cable modems could not talk to each other.
Recently the industry has come together and agreed on the Data Over Cable Service Interface Specification (DOCSIS) standard. This will allow third-party vendors to make compliant cable modems, and should result in lower equipment costs. The first batch of DOCSIS certified modems are due out late this year. In all cases, the other end of the cable modem connects to an Ethernet network card in your computer.
The cable TV network and the coaxial cable that brings it into your house are capable of very high data transmission rates. Some cable networks claim speeds up to 36Mbps, but the practical top speed a modern PC with an Ethernet card can support is 10Mbps. The cable network is designed to support the highest speeds in the "downstream" direction, which is from the Internet to your computer. This downstream speed affects the performance of downloading Web pages and software. The "upstream" bandwidth -- the data sent from your computer to the Internet (mainly mouse clicks and e-mail messages) -- is typically less, in the range of 200kbps to 2Mbps. Error! Not a valid filename.
You want it, connect it
At this time, it's rather hard to get the cable network subscription, because it's not so popular for the CATV network in Indonesia. The first thing if you wish to obtain the Cable Modem line is to have the CATV network that already been upgraded to deliver two-way interactive services.
Besides the upgrade activity, the condition of the network itself usually has problem, because of the wrong design, or subscriber noise that affects the network so it cannot fully deliver the high speed Internet access.
When they are already built, the cable network, besides for delivering high-speed Internet access it also can deliver CATV services, Pay per View or Pay per Channels, Home Shopping, Home Banking and Telecommuting for home office.
So, maybe next year in Indonesia if the cable network is already built, it can fulfill the hunger of high speed Internet access to surfers directly in their home.
Getting connected
Most modern home computers can be equipped to use a cable modem. Cable modems connect differently to your computer than standard dial-up modems, though, and an additional network card is required. This is usually provided by the cable companies who offer Internet access. Your computer must have an available slot for the Ethernet card.
The basic requirements for a system to work with today's cable modems are either a PC with at least a 66 Mhz 486 processor or a Macintosh with at least a 68040 processor, and 16 Mb of memory. Of course, performance will improve with faster processors and more RAM on either platform. The Road Runner service recommends 32 Mb of RAM and a 166 Mhz Pentium or 250 Mhz PowerMac.
Getting started with cable modem Internet access is quite a bit different than with a regular dial-up ISP. In most cases, when you subscribe to Internet access from a cable provider they send a technician to install the cable modem and verify the quality of your cable.
The cable technician will install a splitter onto your existing cable, which allows you to connect to the Internet while still using this wire for your cable TV access as well. There is no problem using the Internet connection and watching cable TV at the same time. A cable modem will be installed on the coax cable at an outlet near your computer.
The cable company will also arrange for the installation of the network card in your PC, if it does not already have one. You may be asked to take your computer to a repair shop authorized by your cable company to do this installation, or you may even decide to do it yourself if you are comfortable opening up your computer and installing a card.
Whatever the specific arrangements your cable company makes with you, rest assured they will be much more involved in setting up your connection than a standard dial-up Internet service provider. Gone are the days of getting sent some software you are expected to install, or given cryptic configuration information over the phone you need to enter into your computer. Instead, the cable company will visit your house and install your modem, check your wiring and arrange for a technician to install your network card and configure your software.
Potential Downsides
While the speeds and costs associated with cable modem access seem almost too good to be true, like any technology there are potential downsides. With the cable TV network your computer is essentially being put on a Local Area Network (LAN) with other users in your neighborhood, and this presents a couple of possible problems.
Like any LAN, the performance degrades as usage increases. It's a fact that other users on your street, and probably beyond, share the same data "pipe" you are using, so if everyone is downloading at the same time and your performance will suffer. But the cable networks offer downstream speeds greater than any other option, even under worst case scenarios of high neighborhood usage. It is a concern though that as this type of access grows in popularity the cable companies may not be able to maintain the same speed and level of service they can now provide.
Perhaps a more disturbing issue is that of network security. One of the main purposes of a LAN is to allow file sharing among the computers on the LAN. This LAN feature does not work well with cable Internet access, however, as you probably do not want your neighbors accessing your files.
There have been widely reported incidents of this type of breach, where a cable modem user can access files on another user's computer in his neighborhood who inadvertently had their file-sharing settings turned on. It's a very good idea to make sure you do not have file-sharing allowed on your computer if you are going to get cable modem access. Here's how to disable file sharing.
To disable file sharing on PCs running Windows 95, go to the Network Control Panel and click on the Configuration tab. Click on "File and Print Sharing" in the lower part of the window, and make sure the button by "I want to be able to give others access to my files" is not selected. Click "OK" twice and your files will not be visible to anyone else who happens to be on the same LAN as you.
To disable file sharing on a Macintosh, go to the Sharing Setup Control Panel and look for the File Sharing section. If you see "File Sharing is Off" and a button marked "Start", you are fine and your files cannot be accessed. If, however, you see a button marked "Stop" you should click on it, and you will then be prompted for how many minutes the computer should wait until it turns file sharing off. Pick a number and click "OK" and now your files will no longer be accessible.
Where it's going
High growth is expected in this industry from all corners, especially in the next several years. Strategies Group Inc. estimates that cable modem sales will grow from approximately 100,000 in 1997 to 2.7 million in 2000. Comparatively, 11 million 56k dial-up modems were sold last year. Service revenues for cable companies from Internet access is projected to increase from $72 million in 1997 to over $2.1 billion by 2000.
In addition to allowing for smoother Web surfing, cable modem's high speeds and constant connection are facilitating other new interactive applications that could not exist in dial- up settings. Just think, the near future may offer video e-mail and subscriptions to CD-ROM libraries. These libraries will offer the same level of interactivity as if the CD-ROM were being played on your local computer.
The bottom line is that today cable modems provide higher access speed at lower prices than any other method of connecting to the Internet. While availability is still rather limited, this is changing rapidly. You can expect the Internet to come to a cable TV system near you very soon.
Online Resources
Here are links to some of the major service providers and lots more cable modem information: Road Runner Service -- www.rr.com; TCI Online -- www.tci.com; Motorola CableComm Products -- www.mot.com/MIMS/Multimedia/; Cable Modem Info Center -- cabledatacomnews.com/cmic.htm; CATV CyberLab -- www.catv.org; Cable Modem Resources on the Web -- rpcp.mit.edu/~gingold/cable/.
Henri Setiawan W. has worked as a fiber access network engineer in RisTI Division of PT Telkom Indonesia since 1996. RisTI Division is the support division of PT Telkom which conducts R&D activity. He has been responsbile foor access to HFC technology since 1997, written some technical specification documents for HFC and several guidelines related to building the HFC network.