DSL providers have gained on cable Internet marketshare; Wi-Fi is one lure: The Wall Street Journal reports that the efforts by Verizon, BellSouth, Qwest, and SBC coupled with reduced prices are paying off. More new broadband customers chose DSL over cable in 2004's first quarter. Cable companies are warming to the notion of Wi-Fi for intra-home sharing, however.
Cable companies still trot out the "sharing Internet is like stealing cable" for connections shared beyond a home. It's clearly not. The law governing cable theft doesn't cover Internet sharing. It may certainly be a violation of the terms of service, and thus a reason for canceling a cable modem subscriber's account. But I sincerely doubt that a cable firm would win a prosecution under the cable theft laws which govern programming.