Cable internet access

Cable networks use fibre-optic cables or coaxial cables to deliver television and internet access to homes. Widely used in the US and Europe, cable networks are very fast but generally must split their bandwidth between live cable television broadcasts and internet delivery.

Most cable networks in Australia provide internet access options that can be much faster than ADSL connections. Optus provides residential and business plans at up to 9.9Mbps/128Kbps, Telstra up to 17Mbps/256Kbps and TransACT provides business plans up to 10Mbps/1Mbps. Because each cable generally services a number of homes, quoted speeds may be subject to the number of people simultaneously connecting to the internet or using other cable services at the same time. As more people connect, cable speeds can fall.

Cable networks are much more expensive to roll-out than adding ADSL or ADSL2+ to the existing telephone network and are only available in limited areas in Australia. This has helped make cable a much less common way of connecting to the internet than DSL.