h. THE DISADVANTAGES? Are there any disadvantages to this? Well there are a couple of minor disadvantages. Since the network would be a "tree and branch" network, any interference in the network would be combined with all other noise and could make for a noisy connection, and with the large bandwidth of the network there will be a little more noise. However, the producers have done something to fight this. They have developed two main modulation schemes, QAM, which sends data at up to 10Mbps and QPSK, which works at up to 36Mbps. The QAM is more popular right now, because it minimizes the noise produced by the network. While the QPSK is much faster, it is "more robust scheme than higher order modulation techniques in a noisty environment." Also since there are so many different "frequencies" inside the cable, if a noisy connection is detected, it can automatically be switched to one with minimal noise. We may just have to settle for our cable modem being 1000 times faster rather than 3000 times. COSTS? The big question that everyone is going to ask is, how much. How can I get this kind of revolutionary service at a price I can afford? You have to look at it overall. It costs around $200 for the modem itself and about $100 to install it. These prices may sound high but when you can pay a monthly rate for unlimited service, you are going to save a lot of money in the long run. This will especially benefit the people in the telecommuting business. Their cost would be approximately three times less than that of an ISBN network of a telephone modem network. WILL IT CATCH ON? Will this new technology catch on nationwide as well as telephone modems have? If you ask me, I would say definitely. These modems will probably catch on at first, to LAN's such as college campuses. These networks will see the greatest advantage in cost. Even if, for an individual user, the cost is a little higher it's worth it. Plus, after a whil, just like all other co...
