Do Internet And Cable Use The Same Line?
To answer the question, do cable and internet use the same line? It’s important to first clarify what transferring data through a cable means.
Sitting on the living room sofa, you can at any moment open a web browser to access the internet. This instantaneous connection to the internet is facilitated because your mobile phone is connected to the home router via Wi-Fi, while your router is connected to a similar device placed inside the ISP building.
The connection between a mobile phone and a router can only occur through Wi-Fi. But there are only two types of wired connection that connects your router to the ISP namely, DSL and cable.
Digital Subscriber Line (DSL)
Digital Subscriber Line (DSL) is the internet connection provided by the ISP through a telephone line. This is probably the easiest way of forming a broadband internet connection between two devices.
You can ask the company that is providing you with a telephone line, to provide your home access to the internet through the pre-installed telephone line.
Most homes have internet connections that are made through a digital subscriber line. The line is made up of two copper strips that transfer data through electrical radio frequencies.
Having a DSL connection through a working telephone line does not affect your internet speeds because the line is directly connected to the ISP without any sort of branching.
Cable
An internet connection when made through a coaxial cable or an optic fiber is called cable internet. The coaxial cable consists of an inner copper conductor, a dielectric, a thin covering of a conducting shield made from copper, and lastly a plastic insulator that covers the entire thing. Whereas, fiber-wire is a combination of multiple optical fibers.
Similar to a telephone line, coaxial cable transfers data through electrical radio frequencies.
Cable internet networks are usually employed to transfer data across a maximum distance of 160 kilometers. Since a cable system is rarely used throughout a data signals journey, the final stretch that uses cable is called the last-mile in networking.
In the old days, the antenna installed on a TV set was used to capture radio signals. Nowadays, a TV set only uses cable connections to transfer data.
So the answer to our main question, does cable and internet use the same line? Is yes. But it’s not valid for all cases. Only connections established through network cables can facilitate both, an internet connection and a TV connection.
The cable providing you with data should have a direct connection to the ISP. A two-way internet and TV connection cannot happen with a last-mile cable that connects the TV to a dish.
Also, using a cable to facilitate both services will not affect your internet speed. As, both TV and internet data are transmitted on different frequencies.
In the 21st century along with rapid technological advancements, the use of optical fibers is made more common to provide high networking speeds. Similar to a coaxial cable, an optical fiber connection can also facilitate both TV and internet connection.