From owner-freebsd-hardware  Sat Jul  6 15:53:41 1996
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To: richard@pegasus.com (Richard Foulk)
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In-reply-to: Your message of Fri, 05 Jul 1996 20:53:31 -1000.
             <199607060653.UAA29144@pegasus.com> 
Date: Sat, 06 Jul 1996 18:52:37 -0400
From: "Jacob M. Parnas" <jparnas@jparnas.cybercom.net>
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In message <199607060653.UAA29144@pegasus.com>you write:
>} >Cable has a good chance of blowing ISDN away.  Much faster and cheaper.  And
>} >it will be available in many places this year.  More, next.
>} >
>} >Keep your eye on the cable companies.
>} >
>} >
>} >Richard
>} 
>} Cable is a pain.  It works only one way.  If you want to send a large file
>} you still have to go slow.  And, you still need to be a member of a ISP
>} as you can't write to cable, from what I've read.
>
>Slow compared to what?

Well, what were we comparing it to?  ISDN.

>There are a few different configurations.  Eight megabits in, three
>megabits out is one.  Still way faster than other modes, even on the
>slower half.  As far as I know, the slowest slow in cable modems is
>still fast.

But I think if you research carefully its receive only.  Send must be done
through some other channel like a V.34+ modem.

>Our cable company here in Honolulu is apparently going to use modems that
>provide 6Mb in both directions.  The promise is $50/month.  The cable
>modem connects to your ethernet.  The cable company is becoming an ISP,
>in a big way.

Is it bidirectional (ie can you send) or does that have to go through some
other channel?

>Imagine how that kind of throughput could change the landscape.

Well, that's in theory.  If it was widely marketed at that price and 
bidirectional, that 3-8 mbits/second,  Usually without putting a whole new
set of cables underground (or above), its bandwidth would be split by many
users and the for 1000 users, on average, that's the same as 3-8 Kbits per
second.  And if you have to move, you may be out of luck.

>Richard
>
Jacob