Cable modem

Cable modems are hardware devices that allow your computer to communicate with an Internet Service Provider over a cable connection. A cable modem works by connecting a coaxial cable to the back of the cable modem and a Cat5 (Ethernet) cord from the modem to a computer or a network router if you want to share your Internet connection between multiple computers. In the picture to the right, is an example of a traditional cable modem from Motorola.

Cable offers a significant speed increase in Internet performance when compared to a dial-up connection and is one of the fastest broadband solutions. Comcast and Time Warner are examples of cable Internet providers in the United States.

Tip: If the cable modem or Internet is not working, unplug the cable modem power cable, wait a few seconds, and plug it back in to reset the modem.

Also see: Broadband, Cable, Internet definitions, Modem