Cable modem (Wave, Wave@Home)

• Hybrid fibre-optic/coaxial cable network - (LAN)
• Speed: upload/download (500 kbps - 1.5 mbps today)[5 - 30 mbps theoretical]
• $55/mo fee, includes modem rental, ISP account, and Web space
• Requires Ethernet card ($50-$100)
• Requires basic cablevision service ($18/mo) and users must live in Wave-enabled area (1 million households Aug. ’97; 2.5 million by Dec. ’97)
• Phased availability since Nov. ’96 (10,000 Canadian customers  Aug. ’97 [nearly half of North America’s cable modem subscribers])

Recall the earlier graph on the adoption of technology by Canadians -- cablevision is available in nearly 80% of Canadian homes. Given that the price of technology usually drops with time, and the introduction of WebTV, the cable modem option will likely become popular with Canadians living in Wave-enabled areas connecting to the Internet. (WebTV is a TV-top cable converter that displays WWW pages on TVs.)