What is Cable Broadband?

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What is Cable Broadband?

Cable broadband is not as readily available as ADSL, although it is on the increase in the UK and is already well-established in the United States.

How it works is a cable modem allows data to be sent using the cable television infrastructure by utilising the unused bandwidth on the network. Hence access to cable broadband is subject to you living in an area that is served by cable. However, the plus side of this is that you do not require a BT phone line unlike ADSL broadband.

Virgin Media are the leading supplier of cable internet in the UK, since taking over ntl:Telewest, in 2006.

If you are not currently connected to a cable line, you will need to discuss with a provider the possibilities of connection and what it will cost. Installation usually includes a cable modem attached to a coax cable from the property into a cabinet in the street. In order to work with your PC, it is usually necessary to install a LAN card which you can do yourself or speak with the provider about assistance from an engineer. Even though it is often called a ‘cable modem’, it acts more like a network router.

Many cable modems will also incorporate their own router alongside the modem functionality and as a result, both the wireless router and the cable modem will have their own distinct IP and MAC addresses.

Usually cable modems are available as part of a broadband package from most leading providers. Alternatively as with other services you can buy or rent a cable modem directly from the supplier.

Download speeds are much higher than the speeds achievable for uploads although cable speeds generally are much faster download speeds than ADSL. Speeds reaching 50Mb are available for some business broadband packages and some cable companies allow you to run your own web server at home. However one thing to consider with this is that your IP address may be replaced periodically which can make access difficult.