Just checking in how's the game going.

[Rrralphster]

actualy modern cable connections use the (euro)docsis 2.0 protocal.
that means everybody has their own didicated frequenties he uses, so its basicly the same same as with ADSL, you have your own bandwidth that nobody else can use.
if your cable company hasnt updated yet to docsis2.0 by now you should probably go look for a new ISP (its been available for a couple of years allready).
yes updating to docsis2.0 would be a big inventment but from a customer point of view its more then worth it.

and with ADSL you only get your own wire up to your local telephone line center. after that its 1 line for everybody again.

One cable is just one cable. It's like a road. Only so many cars can drive over it at a time, fast cars and slow cars still use the same piece of road.
And even though everyone can his his own frequency it is still a matter of electrical pulses. And that also has a limit, just like the example with the cars.
And the cable running from the area connection box to the ISP's server has a much bigger capacity then those 2 copper wires of ADSL or that single wire of a cable connection. Docsis2.0 or no Docsis2.0.

 

[The_Countess]

One cable is just one cable. It's like a road. Only so many cars can drive over it at a time, fast cars and slow cars still use the same piece of road.

actualy one cable has many many many roads that can all opperate independantly of each other. the only limit is in what "resolution" you can distinguase each frequentie from the other.
the beter you are at that the more frequenties you have available to you.
(think if it in terms of a optical wire, you can use different colors (frequenties) of light to increase your bandwidth.
the better you are at sorting one color from the other the more colors you have available and the bigger you bandwidth.
its exectly the same with electrical impulses be it through air or through a wire)

ofcourse you have to take into account the fackt that signal frequenties change slightly with increased distance and with interferiance but in theory one cable can give the whole neigherhood a 100mbit up and down connection.
and there are allready tests running in the netherlands to test this out.

ADSL can never reach those speeds unless you live basicly next to the telefoon center. because its a unshielded network its verry limited in the distances it can travel befor the signal becomes unusable.
also because of that the amount of frequenties they can use is verry limited, because the higher the freqeuntie the smaller the distance it can travel.
thats also why ADSL is faster closer to the central, more frequenties avaiable.
cable however has MANY more frequenties available, because its shielded and the center wire is a A LOT thicker then the data wires of ADSL.

btw, most ADSL centrals are overbooked by a ratio of 1 to 25.
even with docsis 1.1 cable has a verry simular amount of overbooking.
the big problem of docsis 1.x was that you had to wait for your neigher to finish befor you could have a go at sending data.