A node is a outdoor device hanging on the strand from the utility pole or in a ground mounted pedestal. Again it converts the signals from the optical cable to the hardline RF cable.
A single CMTS can connect to 10s or 100s of nodes. 10s or 100s of homes are serviced by 1 node.
Nodes don't show up in trace routes from cable customers, CMTSs do.
A node can't be overloaded, a CMTS can.
A node doesn't sync with a modem, a CMTS does.
A node carries the full bandwidth signal being broadcast to a neighborhood. A CMTS just handles the upstream and downstream data channels needed for cable modems to connect.
