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The Source for Mac Performance News and Reviews
By Robert Tynda | |
| I finally got my Media One (formerly Continental Cable) cable modem installed last week and at this point all I can is that I'm blown away by the download speeds I'm experiencing. When I heard that Media One was going to be offering cable modem service last December, I called then and was told "service will be available in your area the last quarter of 1998". True to their word the service is now available in my area of Los Angeles (Hancock Park area between Beverly Hills and downtown Los Angeles).
I've broken down this report into sections on Installation and Setup, 56k Modem vs Cable Modem Download Tests, and Final Comments.
INSTALLATION AND SETUP The cable modem I received is Bay Networks LANcity LCP. This modem is capable of 10 mbps upstream as well as downstream. More info on this modem can be found at: http://www.cnet.com/Content/Features/Techno/Cablemodems/ss03a.html.
   I’m leasing this modem from Media One and the cost is included in the 39.95 per month Internet service charge and billed on the same invoice as my cable TV services. I've got the modem standing on end (center figure). Measurements this way are 6 3/4" high and 10 1/4" long and it's 2 1/2" wide. It weighs about six pounds and is dark metallic gray. Standing up this way it doesn't take a lot of space on my desk. Actually I think it looks very high-tech and I don't mind if it takes a bit more space than the old 56k. Installation took about 2 hours from start to finish. The first Media One employee spent about a half hour bringing in a new cable line into my office and it was as easy as plugging the RJ 45 connector from the cable modem into my G3's internal ethernet 10BaseT RJ45 connection. He then attached the cable coaxial line he had routed into my office into the back of the LANcity modem. His job was done. We spent the next hour talking while we waited for the second Media One employee to show up to set the configurations on the computer. I jokingly said, he must be working on a Windows machine and is having problems. The second guy finally showed up and sure enough he said "I couldn't get a new IBM Aptiva to properly install Netscape 4.5." He was obviously annoyed at the delay and apologized, I didn't care — I've waited a year for the cable modem. The first cable guy and I had a good laugh about the fact that we knew he was delayed because of a Windows machine. In fact, both these guys told me they use PC's at home but the still slammed Microsoft Win95/98. I digress. The last part of the installation consisted of just setting up the TCP/IP control panel to get the modem operational. Remote access control panel is no longer needed as the cable modem connection is just on as soon as the computer boots — no more busy signals, bad connect rates or dropped connections. The TCP/IP Control Panel now looks like this:  After the TCP/IP Control Panel was set up and configured. He rebooted, configured the Netscape settings and we were off! The first thing he did was use the Download button within Netscape and demonstrated how quickly Netscape could be downloaded — truly amazing! I had gotten so used to waiting 35-45 or more minutes and now it came through in a matter of about 2 minutes! He then went to Yahoo and did a search for sex sites, I didn't request this info, and the results flew onto the screen. I told him I prefer to use Eudora and he was nice enough to set the configurations for. After they left went crazy downloading…
DOWNLOAD TESTS - 56K vs CABLE MODEM I had been using the Global Village 56K Flex/V.90 modem but never was able to achieve connect rates higher than 46k no matter what modem script I used. I think the 56k standard should have been called 50k because I know of no one that has ever connected any higher. This modem has only been on my desktop for about 8 months and overall I've been disappointed with its performance. It didn't seem much faster than the old 28.8 modem that had been flashROM upgraded to 33.6. The image below shows the best connect rate I was able to obtain with the 56K modem.
 To test the 56k modem I connected it to a Power Computing PowerWave 180 604e and did the tests on that machine. These tests were done between 1-2 PM Pacific Standard time — typically a busy time on the net. I connected at even a lower speed than my G3 was getting. I tried to connect several times and still only was able to achieve a 44k connection. [This is typical of most G3 and PB G3 modems as well, even with the V.90 update.-Mike] The speeds at which WEB pages load varies but I can say that with the disk cache cleared, the 56k modem can take a few seconds or up to several minutes depending on the site. The cable modem is only a matter of seconds to load all pages all the time — a second in some cases. The following graph shows download performance comparisons by getting several popular files from various FTP servers using Netscape. Net conditions and server traffic varies of course but the advantage of the cable modem is obvious and consistent:
The cable modem does not require the Remote Access or PPP control Panel to connect — it's operational at all times. These tests were done between 1-2 PM Pacific Standard time — typically a busy time on the net.
These tests are just to give examples of the difference between the download speeds of the 56k modem and the cable modem and are not meant to be scientific results : ) Honestly, I didn't want to sit and wait for the downloads to complete on the PowerWave using the 56k. After I started the download on the G3 using the cable modem I would walk to the other room to start the same download using the 56k and when I got back to the G3, in many instances, the same download was done, unstuffed and on my desktop. CLOSING COMMENTS The cable modem is amazing and I have developed a new respect for the Internet. I remember 5 years ago when I got my first 14.4 modem then moved up to a 28.8 and finally the 56k. I knew that things would change although I had no idea that it would become so fast. This cable modem is capable of DL'ing and UL'ing at 10 mbps but Media One limits speed to 1.5 mbps — is fast enough for me. I have reached DL's speeds as high as 400k/sec leveling off to about 200k/sec and from what the cable guys said things will get faster as they upgrade and tweak the service. DL times seem to vary from server to server. The reliability has been incredible, I don't have to deal with using a phone line or worrying about dropped connections. I live in area where this service is just becoming operational and I wonder if things will change once more subscribers come on board. The ethernet on my G3 is 10BaseT and I'm wondering if 100BaseT would make any difference -not that I'm disappointed. As you probably have gathered writing reviews is not my profession and this is just a loose review of the cable modem after three days of use. Here are a few pages I found relating to Cable modems:
If you live in an area where cable modem service is available, I would say don't delay — get the service now! If you have cable TV, chances are you will get it eventually get some kind of cable modem service in the future. My roommate doesn't want the 56k modem anymore since the second cable modem hookup is 19.99 per month — less than what he pays for his PacBell account. Pacific Bell recently put a cap on the amount of time you can be online before they begin charging by the hour. Media One has no such limitation. He gets his cable modem connection tomorrow and our friends won't complain about busy signal again! I'm sure I left out a lot of info but feel free to email me and I'll try my best to answer your questions.  Copyright © Mike, 1998.
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