DSL modem vs cable modem

This page on DSL modem vs cable modem describes difference between DSL modem and cable modem.


DSL modem is based on digital Subscriber line interface technology. It also provides higher data rate compare to standard telephone system. This modems are external to PC and are wired either to ethernet or USB ports. DSL modems support frequencies from 25kHz to 1MHz which is other than voice frequency band to avoid interference.

One variant of DSL technology ADSL modem support 8Mbps data rate in the downstream while 640kbps rate in the upstream. Both QAM and DMT modulation schemes are adopted here. Synchronous DSL modems support equal bandwidth in both upstream and downstream traffic.


cable modem provides high data rates compare to standard telephone system. Only provision is that cable TV system should be in place to take care of this technology. cable modems utilize 64QAM for downstream to achieve about 30Mbps data rate and QPSK modulation in the upstream to achieve data rate of about 10Mbps.

Total bandwidth supported by cable modem system is about 750MHz,which is divided into channels having bandwidth of 6MHz each.The frequency spectrum in cable system is divided as follows.
• 7 channels are allocated in 5 to 50MHz band used for upstream
•  83 TV channels are allocated in 50 MHz to 550MHz
•  33 channels are allocated in 550 to 750MHz

RELATED LINKS

difference between ADSL and VDSL
DSL modem basics and vendors
cable modem basics and vendors

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