Cable VS. DSL

[biged322]

I want any thoughts you may have on which is better Cable or DSL. Both suppliers in my area ( Comcast Cable and Bellsouth DSL ) claim that their connections are "upto" 50 times faster than a 28.8k dial-up modem. As I am currently debating over which service to get, I am looking for comments, praises, and criticisms.

[BipolarBill]

Bellsouth will try to jam a crummy Alcatel USB modem down your throat. You don't wanna go there.

I would call both and ask what sort of hardware they have and what your options are.

Performance-wise, it's a toss-up.

[SandTiger]

Having Tried both.. i ditched my DSL to get cable.
Im on with comcast with the cable modem. Its alright. My old DSL was through Qwest.. those people are pure evil.

With DSL.. i was getting downloads around 60k and uploads about 24k.

With cable im getting downloads between 100-150k. And uploads around 12k. I used to get 300-400k downloads before comcast took over @home. @home was much much better. But comcast is ok.

[arkie]

What about installation?

I did a self install when I got cable, saved $100.

:)

[patrickt]

Try here, it has cable info, too.

http://www.dslreports.com/

Also, I have to have DSL and I got the Alcatel USB connection. I've had no problem with it.

[BipolarBill]

What's funny about the Alcatel is that it will work with defective USB controllers. The Alcatel draws 720mA from a bus that supposed to be limited to 600mA by a diode. Controllers that have the diode left out will accomodate the Alcatel. The thing is that these controllers are outside of USB-IF specification and hence defective.

Go figure.

[patrickt]

You said it would work with USB connections that are outside the specs but are you saying it will not work with USB connections that meet specs? My particular Alcatel, which I didn't choose and have no real attachment to, is connected to an Intel D815EEA motherboard.

[BipolarBill]

This is what our research has told us. I must say that I'm surprised that you have Intel. Intel controllers all meet USB-IF spec. Hmmm...<reconfiguring database>

[gibsinep]

I would go for the cable. I have used both and perfer cable.

However how close are you the the dsl place.Being to far can really really slow down performance. But if you are right next door it may be better. Also about how many people to you think use the cable in your city? Liek were I live only abou 1500 people use it, so It never gets bogged down. BUt think if 100,000 people are all using it then it get very slow.

[Nightblade]

With DSL you are going to have a more reliable speed -Not reliable connection- with cable your speed will flux depending on how many people are on your node.

Both have there ups and downs I have tried both and ran both concurrently I had Qwest 640k service and COX Cable Broadband service. I now have 1 Meg DSL service. Getting thru to COX is easier, but know Qwest's tech's are better. Since I work for Qwest as a DSL Field Operations Supervisor. I fully know how hard it can be to get thru with us. I apologize for those who have had difficulties.

The gentleman who had Qwest DSL had a few line quality issues to be running that slow, a big problem with DSL is bridge taps in the inside wire -bridge tap being a splice in the wiring not in series- as most builders are cheap a$$es when it comes to placing IW in houses there are a lot of homes with bridge taps in the IW (inside wire) Your best bet is to get a "Home Run" installed -Another myth is that you need CAT5 thats BS CAT3 is perfectly good for DSL, Although if I were installing a "Home Run" myself I would find a thicker guage wire if you run it outside (24 Gu is standard) it might be difficult to find it but there are CAT3 Wire at 22 gu just make sure its twisted pair solid copper wire with a good insulator on it - I tried many things, e.g.: ROMAX worked pretty good as its a thick enough guage for no loss but its not twisted so there is some noise mitigation to deal with.

my COX service ran ran just fine and it never went down the 3 months I had it, but between 4-9PM it was diffinately slower at times reaching half of my DSL (640) speeds, but at 2AM I could get close to 1 Meg.

My avg speed with my DSL 640 connection was ~68Kb/s or 544k Buad. After a little over 1 year i never lost my connection save for the Code Red Virus that went out last year and Qwest shut down the ISP to prevent the Worm form invading the Cisco Routers, it did hit my Cisco 678 Router, but a simple unplug and re-plug in of it solved it until a new software update came around.

Cox was running between 30 - 110 Kb/s or 240k - 880k Buad. After 3 months that I had the service, I had no connection problems.

My 1096 DSL connection runs at an avg of 123 kb/s or 984k Buad. Its been up non-stop since 2-02 with out a hitch.

I'm ~5100 Ft from the Central Office so my loss isn't that great. My dB loss is nil since we do not measure above 45 dB for our CAP service (What we call Mega-Bit) our DSL is DMT what we provide now - CAP was a USWest properitay service not any better or worse - DMT is the ANSI standard for DSL and can reach out a little further.

My COX service was about 2.5 - 3K Ft from their Node, but I never got faster than 110Kb/s with them they claim up to 3Megs (3288k Buad or a theorectial 411 Kb/s minus a 10% loss a true 3 Meg line would be around 360 - 370 Kb/s.

To run a true speed test download a large file 5MB or more and watch your Kb/s speed, try to get a good source for the file. I like to DL files from Qwest.com / COX.com / Microsoft.com as they they (qwest and Mircosoft have large OC (opitical connection) for their internet transports, I can't speak for COX. But I DL'd the same files from COX/Qwest at the exact same time for speed measurements.