Anybody with 'first-hand experience' on DSL vs. Cable Modem ?

[av1998]

Just wondering if anyone here has had the chance to actually personally use both DSL and Cable Modem services ...

If so, please share your experiences. Thanks.

 

[PBiles]

Unless you are willing to pay like $100 dollars a month then go with cable. My dad has dsl, which when I lived at home I was networked off of. It worked great for a month and then all the sudden anytime someone called or he called out the dsl would disconnect (the 2 are supposed to work in unison with phone filters). I moved out recently and got @home cable internet and it blows his dsl out of the water. I see an avrage of 3000kbps down and 250kbps up (download and upload speeds and mbps is killobits per sec.). On his dsl line he was getting 500 down and 128up and paying more than what @home charges! He subsequintly changed over to @home. In the dsl dept. You will have to pay LOTS of money to see the 3000down and if your paying LOTS of money you will see the same or close upload speed (for that you would be paying at least 300per month most likely way more). If you want to serve games or websites you'll need a faster upload speed for low "pings" than 250up, and cable unless you want to pay more mony doesn't allow website servers running on your pc (they provide space for that through a 3rd party server). A garunteed "T1" dsl line is going to run arround $150 per month (may find cheaper though you get what you pay for)and thats supposed to be 1500kbps down and up. Hope this helps!

 

[userpete]

right on target PB;
I run ATT/Mediaone cable and got pissed about some bill crap and ordered bellsouth dsl (cause they had a freebee trial offer) and it was much better than phone isp but it was about 25% slower than the cable......dsl isn't on the same planet with cable.

CU8er
PeTe

 

[av1998]

I work as a customer support agent for AT&T@Home, and it seems like I get so many angry calls from customers who suffers intermittent downtimes and also various billing problems. I guess it all depends on how reliable your service area is, if you are in an area that has terrible infrastructure, you're probably not gonna enjoy the service. I just thought I'd poll the audience to see if customers who have had experiences with both in a particular area would have some insights to share.

 

[supergfunk]

wireless is a good service if it is available in your area...I love mine and never any problems..


fred

 

[PliotronX]

My experience summed up:

DSL = 90-120ms pings & 40-60KB/sec average

AT&T RR = 20-40ms pings & 170-200KB/sec average (even during the hours of 6p-12m)


I realize that results vary from area to area, so I don't recommend cable as the end-all be-all decision for broadband, but AT&T didn't stick me with a contract like EarthLink did, so I am still biased for cable

One thing to note, both experiences were great on the stability aspect, both connections' downtimes combined would be around a few hours.

 

[SpaceC0wb0y]

I have had both @home cable service and Qwest DSL service and I would have to say that I prefer the cable modem service. Cable will give much faster upload and download speeds. I have had problems with both services having some down time so in that area, at least for me, they are about even. DSL cost a little more too. It ran me about $45 a month compared to $35 for @home. Also with @home you can request to get a static ip, which is nice if you want to run some sort of server.

When it comes down to it cable is faster, cheaper, and has a static ip.

Definitely go cable.

 

[Chatterjee]

I use to think cable modem sucked. I had DSL with Alltel in Sugar Land, TX. DSL was rockin' for me. It was expensive but reliable. However, in Austin where I go to school, I have Roadrunner and man it is BLAZING. I've had it less than a month so I can't say anything about uptime though.

So what I'm basically saying is that your results may vary (they always do). Otherwise why would user reviews at DSLReports.com be around?

-S

 

[Zach]

I've worked with 1.5mbit DSL and a couple home cable modems (since I moved once). DSL was way better, but you get what you pay for. It was well over $100 a month for that service.

 

[Soybomb]

Truthfully it doesn't matter what any of us think unless we live in your town. Cable and DSL are both very capable systems. Cable on the whole is usually cheaper, but otherwise they can have equal potential. Just ask people where you live and see which is better there because service on both will vary all over. One town might have a really bad dsl provider and another might have a horrible cable provider

 

[Maverick]

DSL is good if you want to host servers of any kind...FTP, gaming, web, etc.
Mainly because cable will disconnect and reconnect constantly.
Cable is faster, but your upload speed can be really bad. I have a friend who gets like 3000k/128k. I get 640k/272k. Most DSL services give you at least 256k upload.

If you just want an upgrade from your dialup that goes faster, but you're not looking for something really robust, go with cable.

If you want to get into more complex networking and possibly host a few servers, go with DSL.

You really do get what you pay for. Its an issue of Quality vs Quantity. For what I do, cable would be better...but my roommate hosts servers so he needs DSL. So I really don't mind.

 

[bozo1]

Why must this be rehashed almost everyday?

Do some searching and you'll find thousands of messages on this topic.

The bottom line for which service is better depends entirely on your specific area. Cable works great in many areas, in others, they have sorely oversold their 'neighborhoods' and primetime downloads can be painfully slow. Some areas also have more problems than others - @Home and RR in some areas can't seem to keep their mail and news servers online, in others it works great.

DSL is the same - while you should not see the primetime slowdowns of cable, that entirely depends on your ISP and how well they manage their infrastructure and whether or not they've oversold their upstream bandwidth.

There is no right answer here. I find it kind of ignorant for people to say that one is better than that other based solely on their own experience in their town.

The proper question one should ask is "Anyone with 'first-hand experience' on DSL vs. Cable Modem IN XXX AREA".

 

[supergfunk]

Guess what is great about wireless, I get the same up/down....I usually sit around 800kbps/sec tho...My signal is not 100% so the best I can get is around 1.2 mbps on the rating chart. If you have direct line of site and are less than 500 ft. away or have an amplifier you can get close to 5mbps/sec in my town....5 because I live in a small town where the isp on has 3 t1's and we're lucky to even have that..heh. wireless is rated up to 11mbps if your isp allows it or has that much bandwidth. Runs me 29.99/mo. + equip. purchase which is around 300 bucks if you need antenna and around 600 if you need antenna and amp. Will run you 39.99/mo. for lease of card/antenna(roof), and 49.99 for everything including the amp. I average 100-200 KB /sec download speeds. 30-50ms pings in close servers in quake, I see as high as 200s for servers that are long distances away...For instance, I live in NC and I ping quake3 servers in NY at about 40-60ms. And guess what? No wires! Just FYI.

fred