[[.. munch ..]]
*IF* you have a _reliable_ cable TV provider, they may offer Internet
> access, and could be worth checking out. If, like many places, the cable
> TV service is subject to frequent short-duration outages, you should take
> into consideration what effect similar outages will have on your Internet > use.
> [TELECOM Digest Editor's Note: In the nearly two years since I decided
> to ditch Southwestern Bell (for everything) and go with CableOne for
> my high speed internet, I do not think there has been five minutes of
> downtime. Well, there was one time I decided to move a television set
> into my computer room so I could watch television while working on the
> Digest, and in the process of hooking up a splitter to the cable line
> and attaching a television/radio combination to the cable which (at
> that point in my system) had just been the internet, I got a splitter
> installed incorrectly. I had that same day installed a Cisco router
> for the computers, and between the ill-advised television/radio on the
> cable line in my computer room and the Cisco router, the Motorola SB-4220
> Surfboard Cable Modem (supplied by CableOne) somehow lost track of what
> it was doing. But the tech guy at CableOne very graciously got me back
> on line in about 10 minutes once I decided to call them and ask for help.
> Cable only rarely goes off line, I have found. PAT]
A lot depends on where you are, and who your cable provider is. "Big city" cable tends to be -less- reliable than smaller-town installation. Probably because bigger cities tended to get wired earlier. Older, more problematic, infrastructure.
Cable TV here -- metro Chicago -- has short-duration outages (i.e.,
3-15 seconds or so) several times a week,
*on*average
*. It looks like an amplifier somewhere power-cycles. I _don't_ know about the Internet service, but the "reliability" of the TV failures does not inspire confidence.
My folks, in another state, have 'cable Internet' -- they don't have any choice, being a couple of thousand feet too far away from the C.O. for DSL. A few weeks ago, the cable company did an over-night 'upgrade' of the head-end equipment. It was FIVE DAYS before my folks Internet connection worked again. Getting the problem resolved took: more than TWELVE HOURS (cumulative) sitting on hold, waiting to speak to a customer-service rep, _and_ *THREE* on-site visits by the cable co. techs, Ultimate determination, it _was_ a problem in the new head-end gear; the site visits didn't accomplish anything, except to establish that what my folks were reporting was the _exact_ truth.
*sigh*.
Cable may be a good choice for some. A lot depends on the provider. Unfortunately, in most locales, you have as much choice for a cable provider as you have for an ILEC.