Cable internet is one of the most popular ways to connect to the web. With this connection, a signal travels to your home via coaxial cable—the same one that delivers your cable TV service. As such, homes and neighborhoods routed for cable TV are also cable internet-ready.
Cable internet lines run from your house to a neighborhood node, shared by others. As a result, your connection speed will depend in part on your neighborhood’s bandwidth, or speed limitations, as well as the number of users on it at a given time. In this sense, it’s similar to DSL service, which makes use of existing phone lines and also connects to a central hub.
However, cable internet is capable of delivering significantly faster speeds than DSL. Also, these coaxial connections enable internet and TV service to be transmitted simultaneously, via a single cable and single provider.
Since it relies on existing wires and a neighborhood hub, cable is often unavailable to rural customers. To see if you can get cable internet in your area, punch your address into WhistleOut's internet plan comparison engine and press "search."
Want cable internet for your home, but unsure which companies provide service to your area? WhistleOut is here to help.
Our address lookup feature, part of our internet plan comparison engine, lets you see which cable internet providers are available at your specific address. All you have to do is type in your street, city and zip code, click "Search," and filter the subsequent results page by "cable."
According to Broadband Now, the two biggest cable internet service providers in the United States are Xfinity and Spectrum, with Cox and Optimum running in third and fourth place.
While one of these four providers will be available in most cable internet-ready areas, many will also feature smaller competitors like WOW!, Suddenlink, Mediacom, RCN, Cable ONE and others. That's why it pays to compare—you could score a deal not offered by the big internet providers.
As mentioned in the previous section, since cable internet relies on existing cable infrastructure and connects to a neighborhood node, it's not available everywhere. Our internet plan search engine will tell you whether it's available in your area with a push of a button.
A quick glance at cable internet plans on WhistleOut's comparison engine show cable speeds starting around 10 Mbps and topping out at an amazing 1 Gbps (that's as fast as fiber!).
You'll want to see what speeds are like at your specific location, though; the best way to do that is by plugging your address into our internet plan comparison engine, pressing search, and filtering the results by "Cable." You can compare those results to your current connection speeds, as well.
The first step to installing cable internet at your home is figuring out whether there's a working cable connection. Your internet provider technician can assess this if you're unsure. From there, you'll either need a new installation, pre-existing installation, or you can try self-installing.
If your neighborhood has a cable node but your house hasn't been routed for cable, you're technician will have to put it in (new installation). This involves running a coaxial cable to a utility pole.
If, on the other hand, your house is already routed for cable TV, installation will simply involve the technician checking your signal strength and, if necessary, installing new cable from the house to the nearest utility pole (pre-existing installation).
Lastly, some providers, like Spectrum, give you the option to self-install your cable internet via a kit that they send you. If you're pretty handy, this can be a nice alternative to waiting around for a technician to arrive.
Cable internet plan pricing can vary widely depending on how much speed is offered. The cheapest plans tend to start around $30 and go up from there. Note that in most cases cable internet providers offer "promotional" prices that are good for your first 12 months of service, and increase after that. Make sure you monitor your bill for any changes.
Also don't forget to factor in the cost of installation and a modem, which you can rent or buy from the provider. In certain instances, providers will throw in the installation for free.