et traffic is composed generally of small cars (e-mail) and some trucks (graphics) and only rarely a convoy of trucks (large audio/video files or programs). Traffic flows smoothly most of the time. However, if the composition of Internet traffic shifts heavily towards audio and video files, it would mean more and more truck convoys will be on the highway, taking up whole lanes and reducing the space available for other traffic. The future looks bright for cable modems, but the powers that be must insure the Internet can handle the increased traffic that will result from the growth of cable data networks. The future holds a lot of competition for the cable modem industry. There are other high-speed data technologies on the horizon which are going to be in fierce competition with cable data networks. Right now, cable modems offer the simplest, fastest and cheapest broadband access. But this could easily change in the future. The phone companies are looking to give the cable companies some more competition in the high-speed Internet access market. Asynchronous Digital Subscriber Lines (ADSL) are just starting to come on line. ADSL speed should be comparable to cable modems. However, speed will depend on the users distance to the next telephone company switch. A potential ADSL customer can no be any further from 15,000 feet from the switch if 26-gauge twisted-pair wire is used. However, this distance increases to 18,000 feet if 24-gauge wire is used (Clark, 1999). With ADSL, the closer one is to the telco switch, the higher the connection speed. Like a traditional dial-up modem, ADSL will provide the user with a dedicated, always on, line to his ISP. Because there is a dedicated connection, there will not be any shared bandwidth concerns like there are for cable modems. ADSL uses filters to split the existing copper phone line into three separate frequency channels. A 0- to 4-KHz band carries the traditional analog tele...
