A new service available to thousands of cable television subscribers promises to change the way business and individuals use the Internet. For a moderate monthly fee, cable subscribers can obtain uninterrupted high-speed Internet access through their cable TV connection, without having to tie up a phone line using a dial-up Internet service.
The monthly fee makes sense for business that currently use unlimited dial-up service, and for individual Web surfers who average an hour or more each day.
Experts say that broadband cable’s closest rival technology is dial-up unlimited service, which allows users to stay online as long as they like.
The biggest disadvantage of the broadband Internet service is that users have to buy a cable modem. The biggest advantage is its speed. The quality of the broadband Internet connection is higher than that offered by a dial-up connection.
At a minimum connection speed of 64 kilobits per second, the broadband service is faster than dial-up services. Home users can opt for even faster 128-kbps access for an extra fee, and business users are offered 256-kbps service.
Broadband cable users can watch television and use their telephones while online. And service’s speed makes it possible to view Webcasts and video, or listen to radio stations on the Internet.
In many Western countries, residential cable subscribers are the biggest market for broadband cable. But in Ukraine, where basic cable service is inexpensive and average household incomes are low, businesses are the primary target market.
Broadband cable’s entrance isn’t worrying competitors that offer dial-up services, though. The appearance of new technology does not necessarily mean the disappearance of old technologies. The invention of the telephone and television didn’t kill the telegraph, and newspapers still exist despite the Internet. The appearance of new technologies encourages older ones to upgrade, rather than eliminate them.
Whenever a new technology is introduced, a redistribution of the market is inevitable. But these changes are never dramatic.
Active Words and Phrases:
| cable TV | кабельне телебачення | broadband | широкосмуговий |
| fee | плата | to opt (for) | робити вибір (на користь) |
| obtain access | отримати доступ | to upgrade | підвищувати якість |
| dial-up service | Internet по телефону | inevitable | неминучий |
| to average | проводити час в середньому |
Ex. III. Discuss the following:
1. What kinds of Internet access are available at the local market?
2. Which is preferable: a cable line or a telephone line and why?
3. What do subscribes have to do to obtain uninterrupted high-speed Internet access?
4. Who does cable access make sense for?
5. Compare the Western and the local markets for a cable access.
6. What role would you predict for dial-up services in the near future?
7. In what way is it possible to upgrade old technologies?
Ex. IV. Translate the following from Ukrainian into English:
1. Розширення послуг Інтернету через кабельне телебачення стане можливим в найближчі роки.
2. Найбільшим недоліком кабельного Інтернету є те, що клієнти повинні купляти кабельний модем.
3. За додаткову плату можна отримати навіть швидший доступ.
4. Широкосмуговий кабель дає можливість дивитися телевізор та користуватися телефоном під час роботи в мережі Інтернет.
5. Поява широкосмугового кабеля не турбує конкурентів, бо нові технології – це не обов’язково зникнення старих.
Grammar: “Past Modals”
[may, might, could, should, ought to, need, must, can’t] + [have + past participle]
Past Modals are used to talk about the past actions.
Yes definitely – must
probably – should
possibly – may, might, could
No definitely – can’t, needn’t
We use the structure verb + have + past participle to talk about things that possibly happened or things that did not happen.
could + have + past participle is used to say that someone had the ability or the opportunity to do something in the past but did not do it or something was possible but didn’t happen.
You could have phoned them. They were waiting for your call.
needn’t + have + past participle says that someone did something, but it was not necessary, it was a waste of time:
I needn’t have bought sugar. Mother already did it.
should/ought to + have + past participle – is used:
1) to say someone did the wrong thing in the past;
2) when we expected something to happen and we do not know if it happened.
1. I should have cleaned that window myself, but I forgot.
2.You ought to have apologized. You were wrong.
3. She should have passed her exam by now.
may/might/could + have + past participle are used to talk about possibility in the past:
1. He was absent last night. He might have gone home already.
2.
- I think I’ve lost my key.
- You could have left it in the office.
3.
- She didn’t say hello.
- She might not have seen you.
might + have + past participle - is also used to say that something was possible in the past but did not happen:
You should be move careful. You might have crashed your car.
must/can’t + have + past participle are used for deductions in the past:
Ann is a tour guide. She must have visited a lot of countries.
I can’t have missed the sign. It was there all the time.
Ex. I. Read the text and find the past modal form:
Once Samuel Johnson was asked how he had compiled his great dictionary.
He smiled and answered, “Oh, it was like quarrelling with one’s wife – one word led to another ”.
Once a woman told Johnson that she was shocked by the rude words he had put in his dictionary.
“Madam”, the writer replied, “you must have been looking for them”.
Ex. II. Translate the following:
He may have been in the crowd.
He might have been in the crowd.
He should have been in the crowd.
He must have been in the crowd.
He needn’t have been in the crowd.
He can’t have been in the crowd.
He ought to have been in the crowd.
