Cable Broadband

There are 11 bigger cable broadband providers, biggest of whom is Comcast with over 6 million customers.

It has been estimated that about 17% of cable TV subscribers have also chosen to receive cable Internet.

That translates to about 17.5 million customers for cable Internet at the end of 2Q04 (vs 11.2 million for DSL).

Cable Internet service is offered using the same lines that deliver cable TV. This means that availability of cable is also restricted to cable TV network coverage areas.

If you're unsure whether you can get a broadband service through cable in your area, most cable companies provide a checker tool (online) for you to look up whether you can get the service.

Most of the cable Internet services offer speeds up to 3Mbps, or about twice what DSL companies offer on average.

However, the cable Internet connection is shared with a limited amount of other users, which slows down the actual connection a bit.

Therefore, the 3Mbps is rarely reached in actual cable Internet use.

Cable Broadband Companies

• Comcast (6 million subscribers)
• Time Warner (3.6 million subscribers)
• Cox (2.3 million subscribers)
• Charter (1.7 million subscribers)
• Cablevision (1.2 million subscribers)
• Adelphia (1.2 million subscribers)
• Bright House Networks (0.7 million subscribers)
• Mediacom (0.3 million subscribers)
• Insight (0.3 million subscribers)
• RCN (0.2 million subscribers)
• Cable One (0.2 million subscribers)

Of the cable Internet subscribers, according to FCC, only about 0.2% are classified as small businesses or non-residential customers (vs. 6% for DSL).


From Cable Broadband page to Broadband Guide index