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        New Message Board Archives >> Jan-Mar 2004 >> High speed internet (non CH)
        
(Message started by: CJohnson on Jan 9^th, 2004, 1:45pm)

Title: High speed internet (non CH)
Post by CJohnson on Jan 9^th, 2004, 1:45pm

Can anyone help me out? I was wondering how DSL compares with cable. I used to have a cable modem before we moved and it was most satisfying. Thinking about going to DSL. How does one find out what options you have for a DSL provider? Thanks,

PFDANs
-Curtis

Title: Re: High speed internet (non CH)
Post by brain_cramps on Jan 9^th, 2004, 1:52pm

As far as I know it varies by area and provider.

Here, the DSL (phone company) has faster download speeds whereas the cable is faster for surfing.

YYMV

grant

Title: Re: High speed internet (non CH)
Post by Bob P on Jan 9^th, 2004, 1:53pm

I'm on DSL. It's ok. I'm with SBC (formerly Pacific Bell). I'm supposed to get 1MB download speed and 256KB upload. Best I've seen is around 150K download. Just signed on a class action suit against SBC for false advertising and undependable service.

Also, SBC is teamed with Yahoo and when you sign up you get a mess of Yahoo crap. Had to go into my control panel and delete it all and just create a connection via Windows.

I'm not sure if you are limited to your phone provider for DSL service.

Title: Re: High speed internet (non CH)
Post by kissmyglass on Jan 9^th, 2004, 1:53pm

I have DSL in one computer & cable on my laptop. The cable modem is much faster. You really can't go wrong either way though. Wish I could be more help....

Kev

Title: Re: High speed internet (non CH)
Post by TomM on Jan 9^th, 2004, 1:56pm

I have Verizon DSL @ home and average about 740K download and 350 upload.
I love it because I can surf porno AND talk on the phone at the same time! ;)

Title: Re: High speed internet (non CH)
Post by CJohnson on Jan 9^th, 2004, 2:21pm

Anyone have any experience with MCI DSL? How dramatic would you say the difference in the speeds is?

PFDANs
-Curtis

Title: Re: High speed internet (non CH)
Post by floridian on Jan 9^th, 2004, 3:35pm

Visit DSL reports for reviews of different providers. (www.dslreports.com) For big companies, there is often region to region or city to city variation.

DSL and cable are roughly on par. There are some differences, but I consider them minor if comparing cable&dsl to dial-up or a T line.

With DSL, speed drops as distance from your house to the telephone switch increases. This is essentially fixed when you sign a service contract. There is an online resource somewhere that will estimate the distance from your house to the closest switch and give you an estimate of the speed (may vary somewhat with provider).

With cable, speed decays when more people in your neighborhood are online downloading or otherwise clogging a shared pipe.

Title: Re: High speed internet (non CH)
Post by Janzokris on Jan 9^th, 2004, 3:50pm

I had BT Broadband on ADSL (is that the same as DSL?) and it was ok but the line kept dropping :-[ am now on cable modem and its FAB. No line dropping and no sign-in needed either. I guess it depends on what part of the world you are in and how close to the phone junction box you are. [smiley=huh.gif]

Title: Re: High speed internet (non CH)
Post by Opus on Jan 9^th, 2004, 3:59pm

I have 256Kb/s download adsl and I am able to get a continuous download rate of 30KB/s that's because they give your DSL/cable/Dialup rating in Kilo "bits" per second but you computer measures in Kilo Bytes per second, there is close to 9 bits in each Byte so if you divide bits by 10 it is close enough. So 1 mega bit/s Dsl would equal about 100KByte/sec depending on your line. My 256 Kbit/s DSL giving me 30KB/s means I am getting top rate, my burst rate can exceed 100KB/s which means the 256 rating isn't set in stone. The biggest difference between cable and DSL is that DSL has a direct line between your computer and the nearest trunkline so your download rate doesn't drop much during peak hours, which cable you share the cable to the trunkline with many other users and peak slowdowns can occur. I have DSL because TW refuses to serve areas like mine where there is only 1 house every 1/4 mile.

Opus/Paul

Title: Re: High speed internet (non CH)
Post by TomM on Jan 9^th, 2004, 4:17pm

on 01/09/04 at 15:35:06, floridian wrote:

With cable, speed decays when more people in your neighborhood are online downloading or otherwise clogging a shared pipe.

Exactly! Think of it this way: Your garden hose is the cable modem. You can easily get a drink from it. Now share it with the kids; now the spousal unit; now the neighbors kids; now the other nieghbors...get my point?
That is how a cable modem works. Just like resistors in series.
DSL is different and I go to www.cnet.com to find my speed at various time.
TomM

Title: Re: High speed internet (non CH)
Post by Unsolved on Jan 9^th, 2004, 7:41pm

My broadband cable rocks. Insightbb.com (http://www.insightbb.com) boasts that their service is 11 times faster than DSL ...

Don't have insightbb.complus ... says "upload speeds up to 384k

Just happy to be away from dial-up !!

Title: Re: High speed internet (non CH)
Post by Little Deb on Jan 9^th, 2004, 10:14pm

We had DSL in Charlotte, but in Raleigh, we have cable with Time Warner Road Runner and it is faster, and I love it!!

that is as technical as I get.....little deb

Title: Re: High speed internet (non CH)
Post by Rick_K on Jan 9^th, 2004, 10:54pm

A test....we can all check our broadband speed at the same site.

www.2wire.com

They have a broadband meter on the home page.

I get between 1150 - 1250 all the time. Have SBC DSL line. I'm happy with it but have no choice as cable is not available in my neigherhood.

Rick

Title: Re: High speed internet (non CH)
Post by TomM on Jan 10^th, 2004, 2:50pm

I got 765 8 out 10 runs with 3 PCs @ my house networked to the router. Not bad, not bad at all.
If your're getting 1150-1250 then you should be happy. That is the speed of a T-1.

Title: Re: High speed internet (non CH)
Post by FrankF on Jan 10^th, 2004, 3:30pm

Depends on where you live. From what I have found, cable access is cheaper, faster, and more reliable that DSL though.

DSL speed and reliability depends a lot on how close you are to the phone company central station or repeater. Over 2-1/2 miles and forget it... it isn't going to work. I had Earthlink DSL for 2 years and the maximum download speed I ever had was 320Kbps. $49.95 per month and lots of down time too.

Then in April last year I got Adelphia Cable Internet. Reliable 2600+Kbps download speed (eight times faster than DSL), no distance limitation, down only a couple of times (for an hour or two), and only $39.95 per month.

The distance and phone line quality issue is important with DSL. It doesn't matter whether you sign up with ISP AOHell, Earthlink, SBCYahoo, DSL Extreme, Covad, or whatever... the DSL connection will still be through SBC or Verizon (or whatever) phone lines. If the phone line is crappy or you are too far away from the phone company central station or repeater, your DSL service will be crappy no matter what ISP you choose.

But like I said, it depends a whole lot on where you live. Ask your neighbors what they think.

Title: Re: High speed internet (non CH)
Post by Kirk on Jan 10^th, 2004, 4:28pm

Depending on location speeds are usually fairly close. DSL is easier to make secure.
If you're within 50 miles line of site to a microwave repeater. You could go with 23 Ghz Microwave. Zzzzzzap 12 Mbytes a sec.
Smokin 8)

TTFN

Title: Re: High speed internet (non CH)
Post by Opus on Jan 10^th, 2004, 6:21pm

The wireless internet is coming to my area, before that if you wanted t1 you had to repeat with wifi trough a few different users. I can't wait to get rich.

I get all of my 256Kb/s for $35 a month but it only has 6 emails and 50meg server space and no stable IP. Of course having your IP change can be a good thing.

Opus/Paul