DSL vs. Cable

[John]

I hope this is the right group or someone can point me. I am trying to get
some accurate information on this choice I have. I see TV adds that say
Verizon DSL is faster than cable. What would be the benefits of one over the
other for a home PC and home network of maybe 4 or 5 systems. I have a
cable modem and wireless-G BB router W/SpeedBooster(whatever that means) on
Comcast BB now. I am looking for a package including cell and cable TV and
ISP that could possibly save me a few dollars a month. I have the Verizon
DSL package here and can install it for a evaluation period but I am
hesitating is this installation will be more trouble than it is worth. I
don't want to waste time and screw up my BB configuration and wonder if one
system can be used with both connections at once and make comparisons or
should I just forget about DSL and stick with Comcast BB.
Thanks for any insight.

J.

 

[Alias]

Stick with cable.
--
Alias

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Utiliza Responder al Remitente para mandarme un mail.

:I hope this is the right group or someone can point me. I am trying to get
: some accurate information on this choice I have. I see TV adds that say
: Verizon DSL is faster than cable. What would be the benefits of one over
the
: other for a home PC and home network of maybe 4 or 5 systems. I have a
: cable modem and wireless-G BB router W/SpeedBooster(whatever that means)
on
: Comcast BB now. I am looking for a package including cell and cable TV and
: ISP that could possibly save me a few dollars a month. I have the Verizon
: DSL package here and can install it for a evaluation period but I am
: hesitating is this installation will be more trouble than it is worth. I
: don't want to waste time and screw up my BB configuration and wonder if
one
: system can be used with both connections at once and make comparisons or
: should I just forget about DSL and stick with Comcast BB.
: Thanks for any insight.
:
: J.
:
:

 

[John]

Stick with cable.

Those were my thoughts but I can't help but wonder and hoped someone could
give a few examples in real terms what the advantage of one over the other
really is. I am not concerned with downloading large files but am wondering
if streaming videos would be slower or less quality and if there are other
things I should consider.

Thanks for the reply.

J.

 

[David Candy]

It depends on what cable vs what dsl. The highest speed one is best.

 

[Alias]

: Alias wrote:
: > Stick with cable.
: Those were my thoughts but I can't help but wonder and hoped someone could
: give a few examples in real terms what the advantage of one over the other
: really is. I am not concerned with downloading large files but am
wondering
: if streaming videos would be slower or less quality and if there are other
: things I should consider.
:
: Thanks for the reply.
:
: J.

With DSL, the closeness to the server is important. With cable, it isn't.
--
Alias

Use the Reply to Sender feature of your news reader program to email me.

Utiliza Responder al Remitente para mandarme un mail.

 

[Leythos]

I hope this is the right group or someone can point me. I am trying to get
some accurate information on this choice I have. I see TV adds that say
Verizon DSL is faster than cable. What would be the benefits of one over the
other for a home PC and home network of maybe 4 or 5 systems. I have a
cable modem and wireless-G BB router W/SpeedBooster(whatever that means) on
Comcast BB now. I am looking for a package including cell and cable TV and
ISP that could possibly save me a few dollars a month. I have the Verizon
DSL package here and can install it for a evaluation period but I am
hesitating is this installation will be more trouble than it is worth. I
don't want to waste time and screw up my BB configuration and wonder if one
system can be used with both connections at once and make comparisons or
should I just forget about DSL and stick with Comcast BB.
Thanks for any insight.

The three services have nothing to do with each other and shouldn't,
keep it that way.

In my experience, DSL is way more problematic that Cable has never been.
DSL often means you have two or three different companies to deal with
in the event of a problem. DSL is only as fast as the quality of your
phone lines, which is often lacking in most areas of the US.

With Cable I get 4mb down and 2mb upstream, but I'm on a business class
connection. With DSL (ADSL) the best I can get is "UP TO" 1.5mb/1.5mb in
this area.

I've installed internet connections all over the USA and Road Runner
residential and business class services have to be the easiest, Adelphia
has to be the #1 worst anywhere in the country.

Stick with CABLE and you'll find it to be a lot easier. You might also
consider having you line/signal levels checked every 6 months for
quality - I do and have never had a problem.

 

[Leythos]

It depends on what cable vs what dsl. The highest speed one is best.

Wrong, quality and speed are not always mutual, and DSL speeds are very
much dependant on phone line quality in your area. Cable, on it's worst
day, is generally capable of higher performance than any DSL.

 

[Dan]

I had dial-up in my area first, then DSL and now cable. Cable is by far the
best way to go. Dial-up was way too slow but did not suffer hanging at busy
times like DSL did. In DSL I had timeouts when the web-page would hang and
I do not have this with cable. I have had cable for about a year and only
once that I can remember when the service did not work for about 30 minutes.

 

[Al Dykes]

: Alias wrote:
: > Stick with cable.
: Those were my thoughts but I can't help but wonder and hoped someone could
: give a few examples in real terms what the advantage of one over the other
: really is. I am not concerned with downloading large files but am
wondering
: if streaming videos would be slower or less quality and if there are other
: things I should consider.
:
: Thanks for the reply.
:
: J.

With DSL, the closeness to the server is important. With cable, it isn't.
--
Alias

Use the Reply to Sender feature of your news reader program to email me.

Utiliza Responder al Remitente para mandarme un mail.

The speed that your DSL provider advertises always has fine print that
says it's best-case and depends on how far you are from the CO and how
good the wiring is. If you don't get the top speed you probably don't
have any way to get them to fix the problem.

 

[R. McCarty]

DSL provides a fixed, but technically limited bandwidth to the
customer. Whatever you get (Test @DSLReports.Com), you'll
likely get consistently.
Cable has higher throughput, but can vary as it employs shared
bandwidth. So if you have a neighbor on Cable and plays games
24-7 you are likely to see wide swings in your speed.
Cable is OK, but on that same job yesterday a customer got a
static IP Time-Warner setup and we tested his speed. Amazingly
it was 440 Down & 339 Up. Not too good. Suggested he check
with his Telco and see if DSL is available and compare speeds.
Also TWC (RoadRunner) is now deploying Cable modems with
built in 4-port routers - not the Motorola Cable modems that you
would expect. He called and spoke with tech support and got the
totally clueless/vacuous help you'd expect from them.

 

[Papa]

You can do a quick Google search to get all of the technical details, but
the bottom line is - Cable is better than DSL.

 

[Dan]

So the consensus is to go with cable, John unless you have a good reason
with going to DSL such as many people are hooked up to cable in your area
and most of them are college aged students who play on-line games a great
deal of the time. I would suggest you do some research in your area but
again I say Cable is usually the way to go.

 

[David Candy]

So this is better than 1.5 dsl?

http://www.google.com.au/search?q=c...ble/default.asp+telstra+cable+broadband&hl=en

 

[Vagabond Software]

I hope this is the right group or someone can point me. I am trying to get
some accurate information on this choice I have. I see TV adds that say
Verizon DSL is faster than cable. What would be the benefits of one over the
other for a home PC and home network of maybe 4 or 5 systems. I have a
cable modem and wireless-G BB router W/SpeedBooster(whatever that means) on
Comcast BB now. I am looking for a package including cell and cable TV and
ISP that could possibly save me a few dollars a month. I have the Verizon
DSL package here and can install it for a evaluation period but I am
hesitating is this installation will be more trouble than it is worth. I
don't want to waste time and screw up my BB configuration and wonder if one
system can be used with both connections at once and make comparisons or
should I just forget about DSL and stick with Comcast BB.
Thanks for any insight.

J.

I would never switch from my TimeWarner cable to a DSL service given any reasonable choice. TimeWarner in my area offers pretty good service. For example, I have a standard residential account, but my IP address hasn't changed since March 2001. I run a server from my home and TimeWarner does not block any of the inbound server ports, like 25 or 80. My only complaint is that I think my upload speed is only 256 kbps (or maybe 384 kbps), but I could change that if I wanted to pay the $150 a month for a business class account. However, TimeWarner is upgrading all residential and lower-tier business class customers to 5Mbps starting the end of this month.

The DSL providers in my area are plagued by flaky service and it's not uncommon to heara DSL customer complaining about disconnects.... yes, I said disconnects. Honestly, I'm not even sure what that means.

I'm not saying you'll experience the same problems as many DSL subscribers do here in San Diego, or that you'll have the same great service from Comcast that I am experiencing with TimeWarner, but my recommendation is to stick with cable unless you just have to make a switch.

carl

 

[Richard Urban]

My personal experience. I have tried them both.

TWC treats their cable service as an entertainment product. Call up Friday
afternoon with a problem that requires a truck and, if lucky, you may have
the problem fixed by the following Wednesday. They give the call no more
priority than they would give a cable TV problem - which is abysmal.

My Frontier DSL, on the other hand, treats it's DSL problems like the
tele-communications problem it is. I have called up on a Saturday night to
the 24/7 help line. After a few tests the tech puts in a repair order.
Sunday morning at 10:30 the problem was resolved. BTW: my phone was working
fine through all of this.

--
Regards,

Richard Urban

aka Crusty (-: Old B@stard

If you knew as much as you thought you know,
You would realize that you don't know what you thought you knew!

 

[Dan]

True, how have to have more patience with repair for cable connections but
imo it is so much faster and like I said previously I only have had one
problem connecting for a half-hour in the past year with Cox Communications.

 

[David]

Both are available in my area but I opted for 1.5MB/384K DSL because of price. The DSL is $27/month for a year and I have just renewed for another year at the same price. Cable after 3 months wants close to $50 and more if you do not subscribe to their TV service (which I do not want). I have never been disappointed with the DSL service or the speed. My telephone pair is close enough to an access point that I could get 3 Mbit for $5.00 more, but I can save $60 /year with what I consider fast enough. Sure beats dial up and if there have been outages, I have never been online when they occurred.

David

 

[Airman Thunderbird]

Our local cable provider limits downloads to 5GB total per month. This
is sometimes unacceptable to me. Do other providers do the same?

 

[Shenan Stanley]

Our local cable provider limits downloads to 5GB total per month. This
is sometimes unacceptable to me. Do other providers do the same?

Yes.

 

[JW]

at some extreme point, isn't talking about 3 Mega bps vs. 1.5 Mega bps
very similar to talking to the audio expert at the home theater store
who says, "If you can afford it, it would better to buy ABC brand
speakers than XYZ brand speakers, because XYZ brand has 0.005% THD and
ABC brand has less than 0.003% THD." It is totally hilarious from the
perspective of an outside observer who knows what THD means, and knows
that neither one of them can hear a 3000 hertz frequency, much less hear
the difference between 0.005% THD and 0.003% THD.

the point in this case how much does 3 Mega bps vs. 1.5 Mega bps really
affect any result that i care about ? if i spend hours playing online
war games, or often download files that take over 2 minutes to download,
then i would want the fastest speed possible. but if i spend most of my
time with a word processor, email program, online chat, and surfing web
pages, like over 90% of home users do, then i have to ask myself, "How
much does download speed even matter ? Does it matter if the web page
takes a whopping 0.2 seconds to display instead of the much faster 0.02
seconds to display ?"

if it really mattered to me, then i would fork up the extra $20 a month,
in order to kill my enemies online faster than they can kill me. but
since i don't use my PC like a PlayStation, i save $20 a month, and can
barely see the difference in how fast the web page displays. and when i
play music, what does it matter if my JBL speakers have 0.001% greater
THD, if i cannot hear the difference ?