CATV is an abbreviation for cable television service. The wiring infrastructure that supports cable television also supports cable Internet. Many Internet Service Providers (ISPs) offer customers cable Internet, television, and telephone services over the same CATV lines.
Cable 101 – History and CATV Basics
Cable providers operate directly or lease network capacity to support customers. CATV traffic typically travels over fiber optic cables on the provider side and over coaxial cables on the customer side.
Most cable networks support the Data Over Cable Service Interface Specification (DOCSIS). DOCSIS defines how digital signaling works over CATV lines. The original DOCSIS 1.0 was ratified in 1997 and has been gradually improved over the years:
To take full advantage of the functionality and maximum performance of cable Internet connections, customers should use a modem that supports the same or higher version of DOCSIS than their provider's network.
