Cable Modem Installation

During the last week of December, I decided to start the year off right with broadband cable Internet access.  I spoke with Lynette, the high speed data specialist, at Charter Cable Internet in Newtown.  After a detailed series of questions, she determined that my 400 MHz Pentium II with 128 MB RAM had plenty of “resources” and would provide snappy performance.  Because the computer is not located in the same room as the television/cable connection, I would require a “wall fish”  – installation of cable through the wall — to the upstairs area to the computer room.  A two-week delay resulted.  The installation was set for January 12.

Two-Part Installation

At 9 am sharp, Richie knocked on the front door.  He worked for a private contractor that performs wiring installations.  He quickly determined that my finished basement would make fishing a category 5 wire through the wall prohibitive.  Therefore, he opted to run the wire outside the house, under the shingles and through the exterior wall.  First, however, he installed a properly grounded junction box outside the house.  When the cable wire comes from the street, a splitter inside the box allows one side for the cable TV and the other side for the Internet.  Once the wire came through the wall, a wall plate completed the installation inside the computer room.  The total elapsed time for installation was just under one hour.  With no need for a wall fish, normally a $45 installation, there was no bill for the visit.

The installation of the software and hardware was scheduled between 2 and 4 pm.  At 1:55, Paul and Ed arrived.  Prior to the visit, I had installed a 10Base-T NIC (Ethernet Network Interface Card) purchased on eBay for $19 into one of the available EISA slots in the PC.  (Normally, a cable modem installation requires the technician to remove the cover of the PC to insert a NIC.)  Paul connected a coax wire (category 5) from the wall plate to the General Instrument Surfboard cable modem model SB3100.  A short 10 Base-T cable connected the modem to the NIC.  The Windows 98 recognized that new hardware was added to the system.  Next Ed phoned the Charter support center in Newtown and the Internet signal was activated.  Once “setting” fields were properly filled in the Windows 98 operating system (adding the dynamic IP – Internet Protocol address), my computer responded to the IP (internet protocol) packets.

E-mail Setup

Next Ed set up the three Outlook Express mailboxes.  While Charter is the carrier, the Internet Service Provider is Earthlink.  Next, he sent test mail messages to each of the three accounts provided by Earthlink.  Everything worked perfectly.  Total installation time: 50 minutes.  The installation was trouble-free.

Software Adjustments

The only adjustment made was to the JUNO software.  The connection option was changed from “modem connection” to “network.”  Surprisingly, the USR V.90 modem does not conflict with the cable modem.  In fact, dialing out to an ISP will override the cable modem.  If I could find a way to bond the signals from the V.90 and cable modems, that would be spectacular.  On those rare occasions (at least rare so far) when the cable is out, connection to the Internet connection via modem performs flawlessly.

Performance

Charter offers three download connection speeds: 256, 512 and 768 thousand bits per second (kbps).  I opted for the 256kbps at a monthly cost of $29.95.  (Note: upload transfers are limited to 56kbps.)  In all honesty, I am disappointed.  I expected better performance.  In many cases, the repainting of the screens using Internet Explorer 5.0 is often only marginally better than a 56k bps modem connection.  The primary problem is that most Web sites are not willing to pay for high volume pipes out to the Internet.  Essentially, cable modems can pull in data significantly faster than a Web site is willing to deliver it.  This means high bandwidth applications, like viewing movies (avi, mov, mpeg and others) over the Internet remain a pipe dream.  Frankly, with rare exceptions, the Internet does not deliver fast Web sites.

The Economics

The monthly cost of my dial-up ISP was $18.68/month.  The second telephone line from SNET (no longer needed) carried a cost of $18.60/month.  It has been disconnected.  The monthly Internet cable (connected to the Internet 24 x 7) cost $29.95/month (added to the cable bill).  The cable modem can be rented for an additional $15/month or purchased for $237.  The cable installation cost was $62.44 (remember, I used my NIC card purchased on eBay).  While Charter also sells a 512kbps speed connection for $49.95/month, it is doubtful that this will provide better performance than the 256kbps pipe.

The Future

My plan is to squeeze out as much performance as possible from the Charter cable connection.  For me, there is no turning back.  As I find ways to improve performance, you will be able to find the tips here.  At this point, I remain shell shocked from the disappointment.  Broadband access (whether cable or xDSL) has a long way to go.  I wish I had better news.

URLs (Uniform Resource Locators) of interest:

http://www.computworks.com/Charter/welcome_to_charter_pipeline_tm__.htm

http://www.surfboard.com

(This is the 190th of a series of elementary articles designed for surfing the Internet.  Next, Ebay Addict? Really? is the subject on tap.  Stay Tuned.  Until next week, happy travels through cyberspace.  Previous issues of Internet Info for Real People can be found: http://www.thebee.com.  Please e-mail comments and suggestions: rbrand@JUNO.com or editor@thebee.com.)