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View Full Version : External cablem modems?


Ait'al
2004-01-15, 03:13 PM
What is the best Pc external cable modem. No price considerations.

Rbstr
2004-01-15, 04:01 PM
uh the calbe company usualy gives you one, and it deon't realy matter becasue your bandwidth is limited to so much on cable anyway. Like even though i could be getting the whoel amoutn of bandwidth on my node, because there is like one 2 other people on it i still can only get 3mbps at max, i have only gotten the DL speed once becuase most servers can dish that much out to you

Ait'al
2004-01-15, 11:14 PM
But whats the best external cable modem. Im not using one from a cable company. I have my reasons. I just dont know who has what or what the better ones are.

Cyanide
2004-01-15, 11:39 PM
Surfboard is a pretty popular brand. My cousin has a Tayon (or something like that) and it seems ok.

All I can tell you really is, DO NOT get a USB cable modem. USB is prone to bursty speed. Meaning that even thoug its max bandwidth is more than you'll ever get from your connection, it does not maintane that bandwidth very well. It will sometimes completely stop transmitting for pretty much no reason. Make sure the modem is ethernet based and you should be fine.

Personally I would go with the company provided modem, unless it's USB. That way if something goes wrong with it you won't have to buy a new modem, they'll just send you a new one.

Ait'al
2004-01-15, 11:49 PM
I need to buy one ot hook up to a bunch of stuff. Can i hook one up through a tv tooner and other stuff at the same time? I want to be able to use it like a tv and maybe even see if i can record stuff like PSU play on a vcr. I think i saw one from motorola that looked like it had like every type of connection for it.

Phaden
2004-01-16, 12:45 AM
Well the cable modem typically is handled like so:

Coax from wall goes to cable modem

Cable modem goes to router/switch

all devices hitch into router/switch

If you want to watch TV from your PC, you need a video card to support such a thing.

No garuntees as i have not done the TV thing, but this is always how i have seen it done

Ait'al
2004-01-16, 02:16 AM
Hows this, Where can i get a 1gig or up feed. http://www.newegg.com/app/viewProductDesc.asp?description=25-122-104&DEPA=1&sumit=manufactory&catalog=18&manufactory=1566

Rbstr
2004-01-16, 04:08 PM
1 gig feed? sorry but a cable connections thats been uncaped can even do that much.
My connection can get up to 3000kbps or 3mbps and i have NEVER gotten a server that gave me more than 1mbps, something to note internet speed is in bits not bytes!!!! you know how bits and bytes work i hope, alot of people get confused by this

I have a tobisa of some kind, this one's nice, but that other tobisa i had whent haywire.

Also i use an Aver media TV tuner card to watch cable TV, you can't watch cable with a cable modem, its different stuff, unless you can find a place thats streaming it over the net.

Most all cards have a component video out that you can use to record stuff, or plug your TV into, as i have done with my old comp before we got a DVD player

NoSurrender
2004-01-17, 12:25 AM
dude any non USB modem is fine.

Rbstr
2004-01-17, 12:36 AM
i realy recomend using ethernet if at all possible, its far better from my expericance

Cyanide
2004-01-17, 01:10 AM
Ok, explaining the bits and bytes thing, just FYI. A bit is one binary digit. Either a 1 or a 0. There are 8 bits in a byte. That's why you download something with your "56k" modem, the displayed download speed never actually gets anywhere near 56. Now, 56/8 is 7. So you could think that you should be capable of 7K (capital K means kilobytes, lower-case k means kilobits) per second. The problem is that the normal copper phone lines are capped at about 44k per second, or about 5.5 kilobytes (to prevent overheating and leave room for phone traffic). Which is more like the max speed most people see on a dial-up connection.


Anyway. If you want to watch cable TV through your internet line you'll have to find some way of decoding the signal. The TV and internet related signals are in differnt formats, and I'm not even sure a standard cable modem could do anything with a TV broadcast.

About recording to a VCR. If your card has s-video, you can either get a VCR with s-video in, or you can get an adapter box (radio shack carries them) that will convert the s-video to component output (s-video has better quality than component). Then you can plug that into your VCR and/or TV and record the output or watch it on the TV. Remember that your TV's screen resolution is probably MUCH lower than your monitor. So if you try to record in 1024x768 or higher, you might get a lot of nasty looking crap on your TV screen. Try 640x480, or whatever the lowest resolution your card will allow is, then bump it up slowly until you get to the max that your tv is capable of.

Ait'al
2004-01-17, 01:32 AM
IM using a computer moniter but now that you mention it maybe ill plug in my tv too.
IM pretty sure the cable companies here and in northwest ohio all have internet feed specificaly. They make a point of it i think, atleast in Ohio. I know buckycable did and so did the other local ones. We have a lot of high end cabling in that region to keep up with technology. Toledo college has internet sercive and crap it runs cable thought there servers or something, not that they need to. We ahve/had heavy tech there. blah blah blah. Edit: i think it was that they had stuff so you could run it through your comp, but i think there new digital stuff might run over the net.

Whatver im trying ot say i should be able to find someone easily from back home atlease who had it. I just hope they will let me use the feed across state. ;)

Edit: thinking about it i think i was looking at 1-10 megbyte modems. Anyone have any idea where i could have seen it. Hows the one i linked to? the motorola one?

http://www.newegg.com/app/viewProdu...anufactory=1566 (http://www.newegg.com/app/viewProductDesc.asp?description=25-122-104&DEPA=1&sumit=manufactory&catalog=18&manufactory=1566)

Phaden
2004-01-17, 09:30 AM
Thats the same one i have. I get now where near the amount that you are talking. But i get messed up with teh bits and bytes. But i basicall DL at 100-200 KB. Upload is of course much slower. I really haven not heard of anything like the speeds you are talking, aside from OC25 or mult T3's. And those are a little of the price range you are looking for.

Ait'al
2004-01-17, 02:57 PM
I dont have a price range. I have never said i had a price range. What do they cost and wheres a link?

NoSurrender
2004-01-17, 03:27 PM
check here for availability. http://orderdsl.net/biz-dsl-goog.htm

Cyanide
2004-01-17, 05:14 PM
10 megabit is as fast as cable internet can go. So if the modem supports that speed, then it will be more than good enough for you. You'll probably never see anywhere near that kind of speed.

Phaden
2004-01-18, 05:29 AM
You want an OC25 or mult T3's Ok a T1 is 800 a month. T3 substantially more. An OC25 i cannot even fathom a price and it would all be handled typically through AT&T or another LARGE firm. Im gonna have to call shenanigans if you say that you are really intrested in any of these, as this is teh wrong place to look. :rolleyes:

Ait'al
2004-01-18, 06:03 AM
If i can ever afford it. :) One day i say! If im ever rich. Im just going ot start with that one though i think. It had an RF female conector. I thought that was a cable one? Its been along time since ive played with cables but...

Rbstr
2004-01-18, 03:14 PM
Ait its not the modem that controls the internests speed its your cable company, cable modems work with different bands than the cable tV signals do so you can't watch TV with it, unless a company have a server that you can go to to download the video. And you would have to have lots of money to have an oc25, or even a t1

Ait'al
2004-01-18, 05:11 PM
CAble companies have software or whatever to use the signals on pcs man. Unless they all got rid of them. And i want a bigger modem so i can hook several things up through it. Not just my internet line. And cable cable tv is just a dead singnal that comes throught the line man. Im not talking digital cable service. Thats why tv receivers are so cheap, you just need something that can turn it into a picture. Cable tv receivers are not exactly high tech things man.

Either way tv signals are not that intensive. You could get tv through your computer back before the pentiums existed. All you need is a modem with the right connecter and a peice of software to emulate a tv if thats even needed. You can always just use it dead to your moniter, but you wont get any real control over it, not that that doesnt require a little software to tell it to go to the moniter like a tv basically.

Rbstr
2004-01-18, 05:39 PM
Its a router that you want then, not a modem(well you need one of those too). A router will alow the internet to be put though a LAN to your computers. All that goes though a cable Modem is internet you don't get anything else out of it period, thats that.

You don't need any software to use cable net all you need is to coinfigure your ethernet adaper right.

I know about getting TV to my computer, infact i'm watching the History channel right now. You can't get TV though your cable modem to your computer/monitor, you either need a TV tuner card, a cable to CRT thing that i have never seen or heard of (that doesn't acctualy go though the computer just the monitor), or a video card with TV in.