[39403] in North American Network Operators' Group
Re: broadband clarification
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Christopher B. Zydel)
Thu Jul 5 17:48:36 2001
Date: Thu, 5 Jul 2001 17:41:56 -0400
From: "Christopher B. Zydel" <czydel@cv.net>
To: Larry Diffey <ldiffey@technologyforward.com>
Cc: nanog@merit.edu
Message-ID: <20010705174156.L22532@landsraad.cv.net>
Reply-To: czydel@cv.net
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In-Reply-To: <00b101c1059a$5732e420$d9320a0a@LDIFFEY>; from ldiffey@technologyforward.com on Thu, Jul 05, 2001 at 02:34:52PM -0700
Errors-To: owner-nanog-outgoing@merit.edu
A cable modem is a modem. All signalling between a cable modem and a CMTS
is done over an analog carrier using QAM and QPSK modulation schemes.
On Thu, Jul 05, 2001 at 02:34:52PM -0700, Larry Diffey wrote:
> Alright, for all of you who decided to lecture me on the definition of broadband and it's meaning in strict engineering terms, allow me to clarify (especially for the snotty ones).
>
> First off, words can have more than one meaning and that meaning should be taken in context. For example; I'm sure that none of you really think that a cable modem is a modem since it doesn't do AD/DA conversion but we all understand that it's simply a device used to connect a customer to a provider. After all "cable modem" is nothing more than a marketing term so that customers have a rough understanding of what the device does (not that they always understand that either).
>
> When I chose to use the term broadband as a reference point for my survey, I mistakenly thought that your brains would parse that out to mean "an minimum acceptable level of bandwidth for consumer internet traffic". If you consider that to be current DSL/Cable speeds fine. If you take that to mean some future technology using quantum mechanics fine.
>
> So, if you're going to lecture me on the definition of bandwidth then please stop using the term modem unless you're talking about an actual modem device.
>
>
> The question then remains: What (in your opinion) constitutes broadband according to the services that have been promised to consumers but not yet delivered?
>
> Yes, I understand that it's not just speed, but take everything else into account when you consider the minimum speed.
>
> Feel free to be immature enough to flame me for my lecture.
>
>
> Larry Diffey
