People rely on the capabilities cable brings to their lives: high-speed Internet and versatile television, and consumers using digital photos, email, and online gaming; need higher data-transfer rates when communicating. Cable modems translate radio frequency (RF) signals to and from the cable plant into Internet Protocol (IP), and are designed to take advantage of the "broadband" cable infrastructure enabling peak connection speeds over 100 times faster than traditional dial-up connections.
Digital voice, video and data signals are transmitted over radio frequency (RF) carrier signals on a cable network. The conversion from digital information to a modulated RF signal and vice versa requires a cable modem and is performed both at the customer premises and at the cable operator's headend equipment.
