[WEB4LIB] cable modems for public internet PCs

[Dan Lester]

Friday, December 28, 2001, 8:06:09 AM, you wrote:
RT> We're considering going to cable modems for our public Internet PCs.  The
RT> City IT department is anxious to do this, but I can see pros and cons to it.

These comments are from a happy cablemodem user, but for home network
access, not in the library.  A few thoughts, though.

First, you say "modems".  I'm assuming you mean one modem and a router
for each group of PCs.  You should be able to put several PCs on each
router.  Even at home, I have a 5 port router that cost me a hundred
bucks on sale.  It even has a printer port so I don't have to print
through any of the PCs.  Regardless of how the PCs are connected to
the cable, they're all going to use the same bandwidth, so I'd
certainly not spend on multiple modems (which cost a couple hundred
each, typically), and not spend on getting coax to each of the PCs.

RT> The concerns we have - off the tops of our heads - are subscription database
RT> access, filtering potential, networking for printing & sign-up, bandwidth
RT> setup for multiple PCs, and flexibility for a temporary location while our
RT> new Main Library is being built.

Most cable companies will give you a fixed IP for an extra fee.
Otherwise, your router will be on DHCP.  That one fixed IP will make
it easy to handle the subscription database issues, as would a DHCP
block as used by the cable company, if the database provider will
allow that.

RT> The benefit we can see is getting the PCs on a separate connection than the
RT> staff PCs which is currently a big security, bandwidth and cabling
RT> nightmare.

It sounds like there will still be a bunch of cabling issues.  As
someone else noted, a lot will depend on how many PCs you'll have and
how much bandwidth you're buying from the cable company.  One other
issue with a cable modem is how many other subscribers are on the
cable you're on.  Most home user early adopters find that their
speed declines as more in the area sign up and their share of the
bandwidth declines.

I'd certainly want some guarantees from the cable company as far as
bandwidth availability.

Happy new year,

dan

-- 
Dan Lester, Data Wrangler  dan at RiverOfData.com 208-283-7711
3577 East Pecan, Boise, Idaho  83716-7115 USA
www.riverofdata.com  www.gailndan.com  Stop Global Whining!