Date: Sat, 6 Jul 1996 23:31:02 -0400 (EDT) From: Troy Arie Cobb <troy@circle.net> To: hardware@freebsd.org Subject: Re: cable vs. ISDN Message-ID: <Pine.BSF.3.91.960706232528.16197B-100000@demeter.circle.net> In-Reply-To: <Pine.LNX.3.91.960706201052.21047A-100000@gallup.cia-g.com>
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All questions/issues of bandwidth aside, the real issue as I see it w/ cable networking is that it is BROADCAST ethernet. That is, every one in your cable-division (i.e. all of those houses connected to the same switch as you are) will get the same packets. Drop a wee little packet sniffer on your own line and BOOM, you can find out what the Jones' down the street are surfing to, emailing to, etc. *shudder* Of course, the natural response would be: What about encryption? Know of any machine that can handle destination-based encryption on the fly, fast enough to support 10MB/s? These are, I think, the real issues. Sure, bidirectional cable is provably possible. But the security of the technology is abominable. And of course, the cable folks will probably screw it all up. So, take heart ISPs! Just be ready to move quickly, who knows when your local cable company might want to buy their access thru you? Or consulting, too... :) Just my $.02 - troy Troy Arie Cobb troy@circle.net ------------------------------------------------------ | Circle Net, Inc. | global internet access | | http://www.circle.net | for western north carolina | | info@circle.net | and beyond... | | 704-254-9500 | | ------------------------------------------------------
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