So what's better..?

[Louie]

I need to know fast...What's better..


DSL or Cable.. these are the only 2 options..?

 

[Der Alta]

DSL is cheaper, and jsut as reliable as Cable.

I've had Cable for well over a year, and it's rarely had a problem. Maybe 3 times that I've been unable to connect.

Cable is faster for download times. Likely 2-3 times faster. But it's twice as expensive per month.

That DSL, is it 256k or 384k?

AO

 

[CDailey]

DSL and Cable are the same price down here in Florida. A 1.5mbps DSL connection is $50/month and a 3mpbs Cable connection is $50 (may be $60...but I'd be willing to pay the extra $10 for twice the speed).

 

[LoudMusic]

It's different everywhere you go. And there are different plans for each. The general question "which is better" is like asking if a Ford is better than a Chevy. It's down to personal preferance. They both provide the same task and there are a lot of options for each. You obviously can't compare a Ford Pinto to a Chevy Corvette so you have to be more spacific about your comparisons.

But I would say in general my experiences with cable based interent are better than those with DSL.

 

[CDailey]

But I would say in general my experiences with cable based interent are better than those with DSL.

Sadly it's true.

 

[ROAD_DOGG33J]

The speed depends on the company. Some DSL companies can give you upto 6mbps. I think the highest cable offering I have seen is 10mbps.


Verizon Fiber Optics can get you 15mbps.

 

[emad]

I had cable... then I dumped the company because my neighborhood was waaaaaaaaaaaay too saturated. I was getting less than a fraction of the advertised speeds 👎. With DSL, I'm only experiencing a 15% loss from the advertised 3mbps/800kbps speeds. That's pretty slick if you ask me 👍

 

[toyomatt84]

DSL is a locational question. In SOME places it does just fine, where as in just about the same amount it does not. DSL's fastest bandwidth according to sale's commercials, is 6meg down/756kbs up.

Cable, on the other hand, is very reliable throughout the country. There are crappy services out there, but they have so little following, it's smart to stay with a more popular company. Now, as for speeds, I do know of Comcast offering an 8meg down/1.2meg up. That's incredible speeds.


Now, as for my experience with both.... DSL was the same price as Cable, for less reliability, less bandwidth, and simply enough bad hardware. Now, as for Cable, I have had 0 complaints with my astounding bandwidth (true 6meg/756kbs), but many more for my DSL lower than advertised bandwidth (4.7meg/544kbs).

 

[Burnout]

Preference.

By nature, DSL has better latency. It is, however, generally slower, somewhat.

Cable is shared on a per-neighborhood set up, and can become over-saturated in some cases, such as in emads.

Here, we can get either Verizon DSL of 3/768, or RR of 5/384. We've got the 5/384 as our local verizon CO is full of a bunch of morons, which have screwed us over on several ocasions, which is why we switched to cable. Both are the same price, one has faster downloads, one has faster uploads.

As far as reliability is concerned, I had a better experience with DSL. It was always working, always with 90% of the rated speed, great pings, however with the screwing over by our CO, we got rid of it. RR has had a few times it didn't work, pings aren't quite as constant, and ironically RR had a huge crash in my state, disabling many locations. That, however, was [speculation:] caused by their recent download speed increase to 5mbps, stressing the network and it's components past what they've had to endure ever before, and frying something. However, over-all, not a bad experience.

It depends on your location. If you live in a highly populated area, DSL would more likely be your way to go, as there would be more connection bridges, and less worry about neighborhood-overload, if you will, however the further you get from the CO, the worse you speeds get. Cable is a little more resilient to such things such as distance, and would more than likely be the choice in not-quite so populated areas.

Of course, that is just a general rule from my experiences. It varies greatly from location to location.

Could we get the specs on what packeges both your Cable and DSL choices provide?

 

[RX-7_FC_DrIfteR]

I got DSL and its been good to me. But my Avg. Download speed is only around 80-120

 

[Viper_Maniac]

DSL and Cable are the same price down here in Florida. A 1.5mbps DSL connection is $50/month and a 3mpbs Cable connection is $50 (may be $60...but I'd be willing to pay the extra $10 for twice the speed).

Unfortunately that is not the case here. Cable is $50 AFAIK. DSL isnt. Right now I'm paying $50 a month for 384kDSL connection. At the ISP I use to get 1.5mbps you gotta shell out $200 a month. I wish Speakeasy was available here. They got some good prices and speeds.

 

[KieranMurphy]

From what I understand, cable is typically faster and more reliable, but because users in neighbourhood are sharing bandwidth, there's the potential for your download rates to srhink rapidly as your neighbours also subscribe to the same service. That's not a problem with DSL/

In my hometown in Ireland, there's no cable service (satellite is where we get our subscription TV channels here) so it's either DSL or dialup. So I haven't got much of a choice.

I'm pissed off to here the download rates available for domestic users in the USA though. I can't get better than 512/128 for €30 a month. Oh how I'd love a 2Mb+ internet connection...


KM.

 

[cardude2004]

I like cable. I have 3mb cable connection, which isn't that fast, but I don't download anything. Cable and DSL cost about the same thing around here.

 

[xAkirax2004]

I too also have 3 MBit cable, and it's alot better than the DSL thats offered around here. 512/128 over 3mb? For $20 more? I'll take that.

 

[Shannon]

DSL is a locational question. In SOME places it does just fine, where as in just about the same amount it does not. DSL's fastest bandwidth according to sale's commercials, is 6meg down/756kbs up.

Cable, on the other hand, is very reliable throughout the country. There are crappy services out there, but they have so little following, it's smart to stay with a more popular company. Now, as for speeds, I do know of Comcast offering an 8meg down/1.2meg up. That's incredible speeds.


Now, as for my experience with both.... DSL was the same price as Cable, for less reliability, less bandwidth, and simply enough bad hardware. Now, as for Cable, I have had 0 complaints with my astounding bandwidth (true 6meg/756kbs), but many more for my DSL lower than advertised bandwidth (4.7meg/544kbs).

They just introduced residential 8mbit/1mbit DSL plans here. The thing is, you need to be on their (the ISP's) DSLAM to get the 8mbit, otherwise you just get the standard 1.5mbit.

Anyway, we don't get cable here where I am so like KM, it's either DSL or dialup.