How Does Cable Internet Access Work?

Overview

Cable Internet has been taking over residential and business Internet service for years now and is steadily growing as more companies add to the network and competition. When Internet first came out, you connected through dial up from a regular home phone connection. Now the most common Internet connection is through cable which uses an Ethernet cord. The basic set up is the same whether it is for a network of computers or just one computer.

The set up

For the setup, the cable company has lines of fiber optics run through the ground that are then divided out to sub stations. From these sub stations they connect a main hub outside each home or apartment building. From there the cable is fed from the main hub outside the home in through the wall into the home. The coaxial cable is connected to the wall and is then connected to cable modem. An Ethernet cord is them plugged from the modem to the router. The router has an incoming Internet plug, this is the plug that is used for the Ethernet cord from the modem. Under the incoming plug, there will be a series of outgoing plugs. These are used to connect the Internet to your computer(s) or any other devices that require the Internet connection such as a home security service or DVR. If the router that is used is a wireless router, it then gives off a WiFi signal so a laptop can be used if it has a WiFi connection or a wireless card. Many cell phones also have WiFi compatibility and if so, then it can also connect and use the Internet connection as well as boost the signal for the phone for making phone calls.

Troubleshooting

For troubleshooting a cable Internet connection, each device should be turned off. The modem and router each have a power cord that should be unplugged. The computer should be shut down. Once all these have been turned off, check that the coaxial cable is tightly connected to the wall. Then check that the coaxial cable is tightly connected to the back of the modem. Next check each Ethernet cord to make sure they are all plugged in securely. Then plug in each device in order. Begin with the modem by plugging in the power cord. Next plug in the power cord for the router. Now turn on the computer. If your connection has further problems, it may be from your actual service provider in which you would call them directly to troubleshoot from their end or see if an outage has occurred. If neither of these are the reason, then the most likely culprit is that your browser has been infected with a virus. An antivirus software will need to be ran and delete any viruses that have attacked your computer.