Is a Cable ISP Needed to Have Broadband?

Broadband is basically fast Internet.

ISP stands for Internet service provider. An ISP provides you with access to the Internet. The Internet has become a basic utility for most people. Broadband has also become an almost expected part of daily life. Early on, it was thought that most of the public wouldn't pay the high prices for broadband Internet. Since then, however, the Internet has become ingrained in most American's daily lives, and the cost has come down while the speeds have continued to increase.

Broadband Defined

Broadband is basically anything except dial up web connection. Dial up Internet is limited to 56 Kbps, but that is a theoretical limit and you can't even reach that speed. In most cases, you are limited to about 44Kbps. Broadband indicates a lot of bandwidth (breadth) available to move information faster. Compared to dial up, the slowest broadband ISPs are around one Mbps, approximately 20 times faster for all Internet activities.

Cable Providers

Cable companies were among the first to provide broadband Internet access. Cable companies had the coaxial cable infrastructure in place that had plenty of bandwidth for fast Internet, while still delivering a high quality cable television picture. Cable companies have continued to do very well at providing broadband Internet, but they are far from the only businesses to do so.

Other Providers

Phone companies are also a major provider of broadband. While phone companies started out serving slower DSL broadband, DSL has become significantly faster than when it was first available. DSL speeds can reach 10Mbps or more. Other companies also exist that provide DSL using local phone company phone lines. Satellite Broadband also exists, but doesn't get faster than roughly 2Mbps, and its cost is higher.

Advantages of Broadband

The obvious advantage of broadband is that it's much faster than dial up. This means less waiting for things to download and upload. Without broadband, watching videos online and other multimedia applications are essentially impossible. The other main advantage of broadband connections is that they are always on. The advantage of using a cable company as an ISP is that they frequently bundle cable TV, Internet and phone services at a lower price.