List Of Cable Providers In The United States

By the end of 2010, cable providers had 41.5 million broadband Internet customers and were signing up new subscribers at a rate of 2-to-1 versus DSL providers. Listed below are the ten biggest broadband cable providers in the United States. These companies account for over 96% of cable Internet subscribers in the country.

Comcast Cable Internet - Comcast recently edged out AT&T to become the largest broadband Internet provider in the United States with 17 million subscribers. Comcast has pioneered PowerBoost technology, which is being used by most major cable providers, and they now have DOCSIS 3.0 plans with speeds up to 105 Mbps downstream.

Time Warner Cable - Ever since Time Warner Cable launched it's Internet service in 1995, the company has remained one of the largest ISPs in the United States. Right now, Time Warner Cable has over 9.8 million Internet customers who enjoy downstream broadband speeds ranging from 3 Mbps up to 50 Mbps.

Cox Cable Internet - As the third largest cable company in the country, Cox claims over 4.3 million Internet subscribers as of late 2010. Cox has Internet plans covering the entire spectrum of speeds that Internet customers are looking for, with economy plans that compete with basic DSL (up to 768 Kbps) and ultra-fast DOCSIS 3.0 plans with speeds up to 50 Mbps.

Charter Cable Internet - Consistently ranked as one of the fastest broadband Internet providers, Charter's plans range in speed from 1 Mbps downstream all the way up to 60 Mbps in some areas. The company serves 3.2 million Internet customers in 25 states and is the nation's fourth largest cable television / Internet company.

Cablevision Cable Internet - Concentrated in the northeast, Cablevision provides it Optimum Online cable Internet service to over 2.6 million customers in New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut. Like other providers, the majority of Cablevision's plans reach speeds up to 15 Mbps, but they have new plans with speeds up to 101 Mbps in select areas.

Mediacom Cable Internet - With maximum downstream speeds of up to 12 Mbps, Mediacom currently has over 800,000 Internet customers across 22 states. Mediacom is mainly in areas with smaller cable television markets (mid-sized towns and rural areas), mostly in the Midwest and southern United States.

Suddenlink Cable Internet - Suddenlink provides cable services in 18 states and they have recently launched their fastest service with download speeds of up to 107 Mbps in a few limited areas. Of their nearly 1.5 million cable television customers, over 800,000 use SuddenLink for broadband Internet service.

Insight Cable Internet - With cable Internet plans ranging from 10 Mbps up to 50 Mbps, Insight Communications is a regional cable service with over 500,000 Internet subscribers. They provide service in three states - Kentucky, Indiana, and Ohio. Besides residential cable service, Insight also provides fiber-based broadband for it's business customers.

Cable One Internet - Serving cable customers in 19 states, Cable One Internet currently has over 400,000 subscribers for Internet service. The company caters to all levels of income with economy plans that range from up to 1.5 Mbps download speeds up to 15 Mbps (these plans can reach 20 Mbps with PowerBoost).

RCN Cable Internet - This company provides service in just a few major metropolitan markets, including Boston, Chicago, Washington D.C., New York City, and Philadelphia. RCN has at least 300,000 broadband Internet customers and their plans have download speeds ranging from up to 5 Mbps all the way up to 60 Mbps in areas with upgraded equipment.

How DOCSIS 3.0 Is Increasing Cable Speeds

Cable companies and telecom companies (DSL) have been in competition for broadband customers since shortly after the Web was born. Over the last decade, cable had pulled rather far ahead of DSL in terms of High Speed Internet connection speeds, but now there is a new threat to their hold on the fastest speeds - fiber optics.

Telecom companies have the option of upgrading their copper lines to fiber optic lines, a technology which provides up to 50 Mbps download speeds right now and can achieve up to 1 Gbps downstream in the near future. In order to keep up to speed with fiber optics, cable companies are turning to DOCSIS 3.0 cable modem technology.

What Is DOCSIS 3.0 Technology?

DOCSIS is a set of communication protocols first developed in 1996 that standardize the transmission of data over cable. The full term is "Data Over Cable Service Interface Specifications", so we are just too happy to simply call it "DOCSIS". The technology was originally developed by a cable engineering company called CableLabs.

Most of the cable Internet equipment deployed in the U.S. right now is DOCSIS 2.0. The theoretical speeds of DOCSIS 2.0 are impressive, but a little behind fiber optics:

• DOCSIS 2.0 maximum downstream throughput: Up to 40 Mbps
• DOCSIS 2.0 maximum upstream throughput: Up to 30 Mbps

Those are the speeds "in the lab". Out in the real world, cable companies are only able to achieve maximum downstream speeds of between 20 to 25 Mbps with DOCSIS 2.0.

The big news is that DOCSIS 3.0 quadruples the theoretical speeds:

• DOCSIS 3.0 maximum downstream throughput: Up to 160 Mbps
• DOCSIS 3.0 maximum upstream throughput: Up to 120 Mbps

The new version was first deployed in select markets in 2008 and has been spreading out ever since. The latest version makes use of bonded channels to allow faster upstream and downstream data. Basically, the current one channel data stream that you have with DOCSIS 2.0 is bonded into four, and you get four times the speed. Cable engineers are still trying to push that limit even higher. For example, Virgin Media in the U.K. has been testing up to 200 Mbps downstream through cable, so there may yet be even more speed that can be realized here in the U.S. from broadband cable technology.

With Faster Speeds Come Higher Prices

This chart should give you an idea of how the new plans with DOCSIS 3.0 compare to older plans in both speed and price. We use Comcast as an example since they are the largest cable Internet provider:

* Prices shown effective 4/20/2011 after promotional pricing has expired.

As you can see, the speeds are much faster, and so are the prices. The Extreme 50 and Extreme 105 are much cheaper if you bundle them as part of Comcast's Triple Play. One last important point - most providers charge installation fees on DOCSIS 3.0 upgrades. Of course, cable providers are going to vary somewhat in the specifics of their plans, so check with your specific cable company for exact speeds and pricing.

Yes, more speed is an awesome thing, but when the technology is brand new, it's just not very affordable. This is definitely true in the case of DOCSIS 3.0 cable Internet.

The speed and quality of your cable Internet plan are going to vary greatly from region to region. If you want to discuss your particular cable ISP, then check out the ISP Forums at Broadband Reports to see what other customers are saying about your provider.

If you wish to check for all High Speed Internet providers that might be available in your area, then please use the online form located on our home page.