At 06:19 AM 10/28/98 , you wrote:
>Ryo,
>
>That was my point. With the cable modem, you are stuck with exactly one service
>provider, like them or not. With a standard modem, you can change to a different
>ISP anytime you want.
The V.90 specification and 56k modems have been listed as the last of
dialup computer modem technology to be released. The telecommunications
industry is lauding the oncoming technology of DSL over the phone lines and/or
cable modems. These two different services are the next stage for home
access to the Internet. Right now the ADSL is widely offered in many communities,
but as a practical matter less than 50% of the people in areas where it is offered
can actually receive ADSL service due to phone line limitations.
Issues like loop back coils, distance from your home to the Central Office serving
your phone line, drop lines on your phone line and distance of copper line vs.
fiber optic can eliminate a phone line from DSL or ADSL service. It mostly
depends on the age of your phone carrier's equipment and their interest in
updating it.
Cable modems are a different story, however there are instances where older
forms of cable installed in a community will not support data movement,
bi-directional via cable. However, unlike DSL service, cable modems link
the user as part of a wide area network, (you are on a network with all your
neighbors). The important point here is that the band width of your Internet
access will greatly diminish with the number(s) of your neighbors OnLine...
and can trickle way down at times, (much like a large corporate lan with
all users online at once).
The future of DSL service is VDSL, a coming service. Unlike ADSL, VDSL
will offer not only telephone service and data service on one phone line, at
the same time... you will also receive television through the service. So,
your phone company will provide you with cable TV, phone service and
Internet access over one telephone line. This all works if you have state
of the art phone lines, (very few Americans have such service)... so most
of us will be waiting for fiber optic lines to be laid and major upgrades to
our local phone company's Central Office servicing the phone line.
The final analysis is that V.90 56k modems will only provide you with
56k download of data and 33.6k upload of data. This is the intended
as the end of dialup modems... and they are rather inexpensive. Fear of
a single provider is not realistic. Remember that you only have one
power company, one gas company and so forth... this is the future of
Internet access. For the last several years, people starting up new ISPs
have been advised there business plan must include an "end game,"
how are they going to get out of the business...
Small to medium sized ISPs will eventually be either forced out of the
market by high overhead vs. low rates or they will be swallowed by
larger competing groups such as the phone company, the cable provider
or large national ISPs. Fearing the eventuality of limited ISPs offering
service should not be part of a decision in selecting a modem... this is
a reality.
My opinion...
Bob Wright - The NOSPIN GROUP
[log in to unmask] - http://nospin.com
Listserv Owner PCBUILD - PCSOFT
PC-PDA - I-GAMES
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