DSL or Cable???

[ocelot_ark]

Hey everyone,
Some friends and I are moving into a new house this weekend. I've always assumed we'd just continue with cable, but I thought I'd check out what DSL deals we could get.

What I found:

With cable internet and basic cable - around $70 a month.

For DSL and basic phone line - around $50 a month. With the $20 extra saved we could get basic cable.

So, what it boils down to...

Is DSL as good, better, or worse than cable internet. For those of you who have had both, which would you prefer? I need to hear some feedback pretty quick on this, as I want to decide by close of business tomorrow. Thanks!

[mavsfanforever]

If you are going to use DSL to connect to work, DSL is preferred against dial-up.

[Fah Q]

For the love of god get cable. I have the highest priced DSL and it still sucks. I'm just to cheap to change over to cable because my apartment doesn't know I'm getting free cable.

[nowitzki_prophecy]

DSL is the wider line,so technicly it should be better.
I have a 1.5 GB DSL connection and im pretty satisfied with it.
I can DL files at about 195 k/s,and thats more than i need.

[DNNF]

Originally posted by: ocelot_ark
Hey everyone,
Some friends and I are moving into a new house this weekend. I've always assumed we'd just continue with cable, but I thought I'd check out what DSL deals we could get.

What I found:

With cable internet and basic cable - around $70 a month.

For DSL and basic phone line - around $50 a month. With the $20 extra saved we could get basic cable.

So, what it boils down to...

Is DSL as good, better, or worse than cable internet. For those of you who have had both, which would you prefer? I need to hear some feedback pretty quick on this, as I want to decide by close of business tomorrow. Thanks!

Why pay for both? Just get Cable Internet, then you will also get free basic cable [img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-smile.gif[/img]

[sturm und drang]

For DSL, it depends how close you are to the CO (Central Office). If you're within 2 miles, I'd go with DSL. If not, I'd go with cable.

I had SW Bell DSL at my old apartment and was within a mile of my CO-- and the speed was simply awesome. In my new house, I had to go with cable (Comcast), and I find the speed is highly variable and there are frequent outages that are not repaired too speedily...

[reeds]

The computer Geeks at work tell me that as time goes by, Cable modem will start to get slower and slower, as more people share the same somthing or another..lol.. Right now I have cable modem and i think it is awsome...

[u2sarajevo]

What you are sharing, when you have cable internet access, is the segment. You and your neighbors are all part of a Network segment (which makes a broadcast and collision domain), as opposed to DSL which is switched. The difference? Your cable modem will see all traffic on the wire, meaning your neighbors traffic. It must also share the available bandwidth with the other persons on the segment (ie... your neighbors). In a DSL circuit, you only see traffic meant for you (for the most part, few exceptions) and you are on your own segment (your own collision domain, own broadcast domain in most instances).

So true, your "geeks" at work are correct. But that depends on if and when your neighbors decide to get broadband, and then select cable as the way of access.

But if I were you I would just benchmark your speed test results and monitor it now and then to make sure you are not losing too much to the sharing nature of a cable internet solution.

Some places to test your speed (use more than one, as several factors can give you inaccurate results):
Bandwidth Place
DSL Reports
CNet
MSN

[EricaLubarsky]

again, U2 is awesome. Thanks!

Im getting 1.5Mbps/896Kbps DSL this Wednesday and I am so excited. I got the whole thing for 35$/mo. with the 100 dollar activation fee waived and a 50 dollar modem which is also a WiFi access point so I dont need to be by my phone line. Cable was charging the same amount a month for 256Kbps internet. The decision was clear for me. I also couldnt screw with the walls of my apartment and DSL doesnt demand any of that supposedly. Supposedly they just mess with external phone lines.

[mavsman55]

It depends how many people start to use cable. The problem with cable is that it reacts horribly to high traffic. Most of the time it's fast, but it's rather unreliable. My friend has it, and depending on how many people are using it at the time, it can be horribly slow. DSL is solid. Not quite as fast as cable, but at least you can rely on it to be fast when you want. I'd go with DSL if I were you.

[EricaLubarsky]

Originally posted by: mavsman55
It depends how many people start to use cable. The problem with cable is that it reacts horribly to high traffic. Most of the time it's fast, but it's rather unreliable. My friend has it, and depending on how many people are using it at the time, it can be horribly slow. DSL is solid. Not quite as fast as cable, but at least you can rely on it to be fast when you want. I'd go with DSL if I were you.

Seriously? Even with the up/download speeds being dramatically higher for my DSL? Don't make me regret my decision to get DSL! [img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-wink.gif[/img]












Actually, I think I'll be happy no matter what. Right now I have 28.8k internet that uses my only phone line so I only use it for emergencies or at night. Being able to use the internet during the day at home is going to be a HUGE thing for me-- almost as big as the speed.

Another question for U2 or anyone who knows: what is the difference between a byte and a bit? Why is DSL measured in kilobits and storage is measured in kilobytes (mega, giga, terra, etc)?

[mavsman55]

Haha, maybe I worded that wrong EL. At it's peak, cable is faster. But cable is rarely ever at it's peak. Go with DSL. and go mavs.

[EricaLubarsky]

Am I reading this right? 1byte=8bits? So my 1.5Mbps internet connection only moves 192 Kilobytes/second? The 256kbps connection only gives you 32kilobytes/sec?

[u2sarajevo]

Yes... 8 bits is a byte.

It will be plenty fast enough for you however if that is what you are worried about. The majority of your internet commuication will be using the download speed (in your case 1.5MBps). That is the same speed that a T1 operates at.

The majority of your upload speed will be used when sending mail (presuming that you won't be doing alot of file uploads.. like FTP and such). But either way, you will be pleasantly surprised.

And as for the question of DSL or Cable being better... remember that with DSL you are your own network segment, you aren't sharing your bandwidth with your neighbors. And what mavsman said can't be validated because it depends on the commited bandwidth for the segment you are on.

I like my Dad's Cable connection. I will scan his IP subnet for other hosts (neighbors) and look and see what I can go hack. [img]i/expressions/moon.gif[/img]

That reminds me Erica, make sure you get a firewall. Hackers love nothing more than an unprotected broadband host.

If you don't want to invest right now in a hardware based firewall (like Linksys.. you can get them relatively cheaply) Linksys website, then you can download a free personal firewall software called ZoneAlarm from here.

[EricaLubarsky]

I already have zonealarm pro (fairly legally) and I thought the cable modem worked as a router (which I hear is a kind of firewall?). Everyone says that I should have a software and a hardware firewall; does the DSL box do that or would you still reccomend a hardware firewall? I have a few extra bucks this summer so I could invest in one if you would advise it.

Im also reading that the WiFi access point (which is built into the DSL modem) may cause me problems as well. In NC I had nerdy guy-friends that would drive around with laptops getting into WiFi points and messing around with them. Any advice to prevent that from happening to me??

[u2sarajevo]

The cable modem is a "router" the same as a DSL modem, however that doesn't make it a firewall unless it does packet inspection/filtering. To verify that I would need to know the model of the modem.

And as to the question about the wireless access point, make sure you set it up completely. Alot of the wireless routers are WEP enabled, but you must configure it. Alot of home users don't bother, or don't know that they have to. Even if you configure it, to make sure you are secure the best way is to get a wireless access point that supports MAC inclusion/exclusion. If it does, you can set it to only allow connection from the MAC addresses of the computers that you know you want connecting to it.

There are ways around that too ([img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-happy.gif[/img]) but that isn't widely publicized, nor is it very easy.

[EricaLubarsky]

yeah I hear securing your network is like the story of the lawyer and the lion. You will never outrun the lion-- but you only have to outrun the slow folks.

securing your computer isnt foolproof but it makes you look less attractive than the other unencrypted networks out there. [img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-smile.gif[/img]

[u2sarajevo]

My neighbor has a Wireless access point. It is WEP able... but he hasn't en-abled it. I have told him numerous times that he needs to do that to make it secure but to this day (over a year later) he hasn't done it. So I occasionally hop onto his Network and over to his computer and do some crazy, non-destructive things to it just for fun. Like for instance he is a Steelers fan, so I often will change his background image to a Cowboys one just for fun.

I am just waiting to see how long it takes him to break down and ask me to secure it for him.

[EricaLubarsky]

Originally posted by: u2sarajevo
My neighbor has a Wireless access point. It is WEP able... but he hasn't en-abled it. I have told him numerous times that he needs to do that to make it secure but to this day (over a year later) he hasn't done it. So I occasionally hop onto his Network and over to his computer and do some crazy, non-destructive things to it just for fun. Like for instance he is a Steelers fan, so I often will change his background image to a Cowboys one just for fun.

I am just waiting to see how long it takes him to break down and ask me to secure it for him.

lol

[sike]

got dsl....totally satisfied...

[EricaLubarsky]

Originally posted by: sike
got dsl....totally satisfied...

good to know.

What speed BTW?

[sike]

Originally posted by: EricaLubarsky

good to know.

What speed BTW?

super fast.....i really have no idea [img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-smile.gif[/img]

[u2sarajevo]

Originally posted by: sike

super fast.....i really have no idea [img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-smile.gif[/img]

You can get a good idea by going here or here.

[EricaLubarsky]

just for my own sake, even when my connection says 31.2 ( which is the highest I can ever get) I only get 27.8kbps from my v.92 56k modem.

I am so so so excited about getting DSL. SO excited.

[bernardos70]

Erica, you will not get 192Kbps downloads though, there's an overhead for TCP/IP, but as long as you're getting 80% to 90% of your advertised speed, you should be fine. I had 1.5Mbit ADSL before, and it always ended up at 150Kbps on downloads. Just recently Bellsouth started offering 3Mbit DSL for 5 dollars more, so.....[img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-wink.gif[/img] Currently getting 2.41Mbps out of bellsouth's newsserver, and while it could be higher, I'm not complaining, it is a little bit over double the speed I used to get with 1.5Mbps (which I was able to squeeze 1.19Mbps out of consistently). That's one of the best upgrades for a computer IMO. It's like a whole new experience with broadband.

Is it 1500/896? That's one heck of an upload speed for ADSL. I'm only rated at 384Kbps.

[EricaLubarsky]

Originally posted by: bernardos70
Erica, you will not get 192Kbps downloads though, there's an overhead for TCP/IP, but as long as you're getting 80% to 90% of your advertised speed, you should be fine. I had 1.5Mbit ADSL before, and it always ended up at 150Kbps on downloads. Just recently Bellsouth started offering 3Mbit DSL for 5 dollars more, so.....[img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-wink.gif[/img] Currently getting 2.41Mbps out of bellsouth's newsserver, and while it could be higher, I'm not complaining, it is a little bit over double the speed I used to get with 1.5Mbps (which I was able to squeeze 1.19Mbps out of consistently). That's one of the best upgrades for a computer IMO. It's like a whole new experience with broadband.

Is it 1500/896? That's one heck of an upload speed for ADSL. I'm only rated at 384Kbps.

You'd think that Qwest would offer 3mbps connections in downtown Tempe (Pheonix) but when I asked they told me the fastest they had was 1.5mbps.

I got the 1.5mbps download/ 896k upload DSL plan. They offered a 256k/256k DSL for 6 dollars less and I wanted no part of it! If I was going to increase my speed and it was only going to be 6 bucks a month, I wanted to get 54x the speed instead of a measly factor of ten. [img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-smile.gif[/img]

I had high speed a year ago when I was living in the dorms in NC, but then I had an 800mhz computer that couldnt handle the speed so now I may actually feel the full force. I am so thrilled. I dont know why I didnt order sooner.

[EricaLubarsky]

an update. I went from 28 to 1145.1

[bernardos70]

Sounds like quite an upgrade, congrats. I apologize for the useless bump ahead of time

[EricaLubarsky]

Originally posted by: bernardos70
Sounds like quite an upgrade, congrats. I apologize for the useless bump ahead of time

thanks, B.