cable setup questions !!

[silverspear]

i am soon going to get cable for my computer. but i had a few questions.

1. i have a NIC do i have to buy a cable modem.... if so then which is a good one.

2. if they say it is 512kb/s does it mean i will get that speed or will it be lower.

Thanks

 

[todays]

You can use your NIC.
You can lease a cable modem, or some companies will give you a discount for owning one. I lease mine.
512 is fast, in reality count on it being slower.

 

[sojin]

cable for 512 kbps? you mean, they told you to expect 512 kilo-BIT per sec?

that's slower than what i heard, right? my adsl is able to sustain streaming at 80kByte/s, that's 640kbps pure data rate...

well, how am i thinking switching to cable connection?!

 

[JackMDS]

There is a big variation in Cable services across the US.

A typical service is about 2Mb/s (Meg bits per second).

8 bits = 1 Byte

2Mb/s = 250KB/s (Kilo Byte per second, Capital B is Byte).

10/100 NIC is rated 100Mb/sec. or 12.5 MB/sec.

That means that the NIC is 50 time faster then Home Cable Internet.

 

[spidey07]

nothing beats the speed of cable, at least that's my experience. You really can't get any faster (in my area).

spidey

<disclaimer> performance may vary. I thing 512 kbs is rather slow. I get greater than 5 Mbs

 

[TBP]

spidey How can you get that fast? Mine is only 2Mbps (usually speed test gives me anywhere from 700K-2M).

512K is kinda too low. You can't really enjoy what cable means.

 

[Dreadogg]

I have cabal and i find it very hard to belive you get 5 mbs!!!! im about 2mbs on a good day!!

 

[spidey07]

yeah, i don't believe it either. but my downloads are consistently 400-600 Kbytes/sec.

Which is really weird because the service is sold as 128k up 2.8 Meg down. I really don't get it.

 

[JackMDS]

Unlike DSL, Cable service is a share bandwidth node. It is possible that you are currently on a node with few others or no others. At the moment that they will add clients to the node (i.e. more people will share the same bandwidth), your speed will go down.

 

[sadb0i]

to answer your question
1. no u dont..the cable company normally leases you one..included in your 39.99 monthly charge or whatever including cable tv

2. at 512 you are i assume promised 64KB a sec...which isnt bad but aint too good either be happy its not a 56k modem..youll know the difference...plus if you dont download too much it doesnt really matter..your surfing will be so much easier