[nycbug-talk] Why is DSL-Cable asynchronous?

[Isaac Levy]

Hi All,

A simple question which I've never been able to answer for years:

Why is consumer dsl or cable asynchronous?  Does it have something do  
do with how the physical layer technology functions?

I don't want hypothesis, I'm dying to get a real answer.

To me, this seems to undermine the core nature of what the internet is  
about- end to end connectivity.

I can understand speed limitations in the design of DSL/cable, I can  
even understand the half-duplex nature of DSL lines- but the  
asynchronous part baffles me.

--
If this is perhaps the wrong list to ask this, any suggestions or urls  
would be more than welcome.

Best,
.ike