Cable Broadband Providers
There was a time when BT and BT related service providers were the only option when choosing a broadband package to access the internet. Now not only is cable broadband an option but is considered by many as one of the most advanced broadband providers around. The technology cable broadband currently uses such as fibre optic cabling that has been rolled out nationwide allows it to compete with its ADSL broadband rivals for speed and accessibility throughout the country.
Who will choose cable broadband?
When users are choosing which broadband service provider to go with there are usually two main considerations to make. The first is the best speed for the lowest price and while cable broadband isn't currently the fastest broadband provider out there it does offer excellent value for money when comparing its fastest packages with the ADSL2+ broadband services. The second is whether they can access the fastest speeds where they live and again with the level of access to services, on cable broadband it is far easier to gain the highest access speeds than its rival. So in simple terms the kind of users that will go for cable broadband are the one who are looking for high-speed broadband access that is almost guaranteed to work where they live.
How does cable broadband compete with its rivals?
For cable broadband to compete effectively with ADSL and ADSL2+ it needs to either be faster, have a wider coverage, or offer something unique that its rivals don't. And as previously mentioned the speed of cable broadband is ahead of ADSL but a little behind that of ADSL2+ at the moment. Also, coverage against ADSL is a little behind but way ahead of ADSL2+. Now for the unique part which is where cable broadband currently offers something neither of the ADSL services offer and that is fibre optics. The biggest problem for cable broadband competitors is that they currently allow access to its broadband services through the old copper wire from telephone exchanges. This means that the further you are from an exchange the weaker the signal and the slower your internet access becomes. Cable broadband on the other hand has laid down fibre optic cabling from its exchange which means that the signal from its exchanges degrades far less and so users get the same speeds 100 metres from the exchange as they do if they were a mile away.
The future of cable broadband
Due to the technology cable broadband uses compared to that of ADSL and other broadband technologies it has allowed itself to advance at its own pace. This means that it doesn't have to wait for the next advancement of DSL before it can increase the speed of its lines nor does it need to wait for BT to upgrade its exchanges before it can improve. Cable broadband is already testing 50Mbps broadband and in time will far exceed the speeds that ADSL2+ manage and will be more than ready to compete with any DSL line that BT releases.
