Once you get up in those ranges, the difference is not that noticeable between, say 20Mbps and 40Mbps. If you are downloading a really large file, the higher speed will allow it to download faster, and the higher speed means less buffering of videos once the video has started. However, the display of pages by your browser may not be perceptibly much faster. It's not that there is something necessarily wrong with your computer...it's just that the software you are using (the browser) still takes a certain amount of time to process the information and can be a limiting factor. In effect, when you go to another page, the "input" queues up faster at a higher speed, but it can only be processed so fast by the computer. A couple of years ago I had a 3Mbps connection, and then I switched to a 35 Mbps connection. Even though my current speed is more than 10 times my previous one, it doesn't mean the pages load 10 times faster. In fact, pages seem to load only a tad faster now than before.

The cable company can always boost the signal, but better to run with as few splitters in-line as possible. It's better to run as many lines as possible to ONE main area where they can be split/singled out as necessary. Yes, each two-way splitter divides the signal by 2, but if one of those branches has ANOTHER splitter downline, THAT half of the signal gets divided by 2 AGAIN. Each TV would have a different signal level. It's better to have all the lines run to one main area, then you could use an 8-way splitter for example, after boosting the cable input accordingly.

If the picture is scrambled you probably have a trap on your line that blocks the TV signal. I've had Comcast internet in several locations and they have done this to me once. Sometimes the installer puts it on, sometimes they don't. Short of removing the trap if you have access to the outside box, which is very risky there isn't anything you can do. Even an illegal box as someone mentioned won't help as that whole frequency range is filtered out. The best way around this is to subscribe to their basic cable. Internet is $10 more a month if you don't subscibe to cable TV as well and the basic cable is $10 so its a wash. This will give you locals and a few more, but thats it because they can also put a trap on the line for this that will filter the expanded basic channels. In my case they didn't put the trap on so I get channels 2-99 and from what I hear its a well known secret that they rarely do.

A bit of trivia - traditional landlines, also known as POTS (plain old telephone service), USED TO use exclusively analog technology end to end. Folks who are old enough will remember poor quality long distance phone calls. Since several decades ago, POTS calls have changed, they do most of their traveling though the telco systems over digital links, including the Internet. That's why a cross country call or even an international call can sound like someone next door, the signal doesn't degrade with distance. But the so-called "last mile" of POTS service is analog over copper wire. Digital signals (like DSL) traveling over analog circuits have distance limitations. Those who have cable-supplied phone service or other VOIP have an entire digital path on their end for voice calls. Internet service is digital. When DSL service was first "released", only customers located within 12,000- 15,000 feet (measured by the length of the wire) of a telco office could get it. That's because distance limit of digital signals over copper wire intended for analog phone calls and that the analog to digital conversion equipment was only housed in the central offices. The telcos had large build-out projects to string fiber lines out in hub and spoke configurations (with an office as the hub) to broaden the areas where DSL could be offered. In my area (telco formerly called Pacific Bell), there was a web page that listed their construction schedule and showed the dates for when particular neighborhood work would be done and where the sites were located. I remember when it was started for my area, I went to visit the guys at the local neighborhood drop as they added the needed equipment. PS - satellite internet is for areas where no other internet service is available. Most will not offer service to a customer having an alternative. Satellite service tends to be very limited (only a few GB per month), expensive and has high latency (delays) because of the distance the signal has to travel. TV service of all kinds is distributed by satellite. Whether the ultimate signal a user gets comes from a cable, from the phone company, or the obvious satellite providers, satellite transmission is used. If you pass by a regional office of a cable provider, for instance, you'll usually see large satellite dishes. I don't know all the details.