Cable or DSL?

[Guest Robert_S]

I'm on the verge of upgrading from dial-up to broadband. I've got both Earthlink cable and SBC DSL available in my area, yet I am undecided which way to go. Cable is cheaper, $41.95 per month, but involves an installation by an outside technician, involving moving furniture, drilling a hole in the floor, etc. That I'm trying to avoid. DSL is a self-installation, yet is $49.95 a month.I understand cable speed can slow down if a bunch of one's neighbors are also on. This doesn't apply to DSL? Are the throughput speeds otherwise about the same? I want a good multiplayer hookup, and don't know if one is better than the other for that. The download speed for SBC DSL at the $49.95/month rate is 384kbps to 1.5Mbps. I don't know what Earthlink claims for their cable service.Probably no definitive answer for this, but I'm W I D E open for opinions.Thank you,[table][tr][td valign=top]http://www.avsim.com/other/usaribbon.gif[/td][td valign=center]Bob "FlyBert" StilesAVSIM Moderator[/b][/td][/tr][/table]"Don't stall on me, I have to soar!"~Richard Harvey, 1/21/2003

[Guest georgi55]

I used to live in Calif. and had Verizon DSL which was capped at 768Kb/s (about 80KB/s download).My friend had SBC DSL and his speed was constantly reaching over 160KB/s download.I always wished I could get SBC but Verizon was the only option I had.My friend's DSL never went down, he lived there 2 years before moving out,and he was really happy with the SBC while my Verizon would stop at least2 times in a month and 2 modems went bad over 8 months period so Ihad to wait for new modem to arrive which takes over a week.I'm talking about Verizon and SBC here but what I mean to say is thatfrom what I saw SBC DSL is really good and I was always jealousbecause I was only getting half the speed and lots of troubles at the same price.

[Guest Wichita]

BobI've been using cable HSI for over two years now. We used to be part of the Road Runner network but dropped off last October when Cox began using their own Network. DSL was just showing up back in late 2000 but Cable HSI had been on-line for about a year. At that time there were nothing but horror stories about getting DSL hooked up--it took forever messing around with the phone company. I bought the stuff I needed for Cable HSI and did a self-install in about 20 minutes--I already had the cable jack in the office.Cable is shared bandwidth but I think the myth of the neighbors getting on-line and slowing things down is just that,a myth. I've never been able to tell much of a difference between 3:00 pm or 7:00 pm.The service here has been capped by Cox,before the caps I could get downloads in the 500-700KB range per second. I can still get over 300K off a fast site. Here's a download test off of Speakeasy a few minutes ago. I've seen it a bit faster and I've seen it a bit slower.David2003-03-11 19:21:18 EST: 2703 / 246Your download speed : 2703199 bps, or 2703 kbps.A 329.9 KB/sec transfer rate.Your upload speed : 246244 bps, or 246 kbps.Seems like broadband .. above the 1mbit barrier!

[Guest kilo_sierra17]

I would go with Cable, I tried DSL at first, it was slow, downloading from AVSIM at only 50 KB, then got cable, and I was getting about 300-400 KB, I made sure it was the same time when I tired to download, the fastest download speed I have ever gotten so far has been 1.4 MB a second!!

[Guest outtatimeiii]

In my area, we have Cable (ATTBI) and DSL (SBC) availible. Cable came first to the area (around October 1999, @Home) and they offered free installation and the first 3 months free. They also had very good speeds (5000kbps down, 512kbps up). For only 50 dollars a month, that was a great deal. Was like that for a few months, then they capped the line at 1500kbps down, 256kbps up while still charging 50 dollars a month. Caps remain to this day.DSL seems to be a better deal now in the area, but from what I heard, its not worth having and the speeds are poor (like ISDN speeds). DSL is great in some areas, just not around here. Your milage may vary though. Might need to go http://www.dslreports.com and get information about what is good and not good in your area. It has cable listings too.

[Guest kdarling]

> I understand cable speed can slow down if a bunch of one's neighbors are also on. This doesn't apply to DSL? DSL connections eventually end up at a CO (central office) where everyone also shares bandwidth at the internet connection (or trunk to one). So both types share, and this doesn't seem to favor one or the other.(I finally got cable modem a few months ago and it's regularly faster... much much faster... than the T1 line at work. Combined with a wireless card in my laptop, the setup utterly changes the way you use the net. I'm kicking myself for waiting so long to do this.)Still, I'd check that website someone else mentioned and also Google news groups to see what others in your immediate area have to say.Luck!Kev

[crvm]

I had DSL for over two years and I would always get 150K @sec from Avsim's Library. With Business DSL I would sometimes get closer to 500K @sec but paid up the yee yang for it. I now have cable from Comcast {Northern California} and I get 200-250K @sec from the Library. Overall I like my cable better. It's only been down once in 4 months and that was only for 30 min whereas my DSL line was always shutting off etc. There is the myth about more people on cable the slower you go, but I have yet to notice this. One more item to remember as regards to DSL, it is DISTANCE limited! The further you are from the CO, the slower your speeds will be. There is a 3 mile limit but at the end of 3 miles you might as well be 56KV2!Bottom Line =Cable =Cheaper AND Faster overall Best Wishes, Randy J. Smith [h3]" A little learning is a dangerous thing"[/h3]AMD XP 2100 |MUNCHKIN 512 DDR RAM |ECS[/b ][i] K7S5A MB[/i] |GF3 64 MEG |WIN XP PRO |MITSUBISHI DIAMOND PLUS 91 19"

[GeorgeM]

Bob: The February 4, 2003 issue of PC MAGAZINE's cover story is all about Broadband. It's a good, comprehensive article and begins on page 84. Their website is www.pcmag.com but I do not know if the full article is posted there (I doubt it!).-GeorgeM