• We’re currently investigating an issue related to the forum theme and styling that is impacting page layout and visual formatting. The problem has been identified, and we are actively working on a resolution. There is no impact to user data or functionality, this is strictly a front-end display issue. We’ll post an update once the fix has been deployed. Thanks for your patience while we get this sorted.

Cable vs DSL ?????

B

BOOKERREESE

Member
😕people i am a rookie when it comes to any modem other than 56k, but seriously thinking
of gong to dsl or cable (both are offered in my area). can any1 tell me the pros & cons of both,
& which 1 do you prefer.🙂
 
Booker,

Cable modems have a wider bandwidth - potentially 20-30 Megabytes per second (mps), BUT, they're a shared bandwidth. So you only get that kind of througput if you run your neighbors out of town with the old "infest their dwellings with rats" trick... er... ahem. anyway. Most people experience about 400 kbps (kilobytes per second), still about 10 times faster than most modems.

ADSL or DSL is only 1.5 mps download and 256kbps upload, BUT, it's dedicated to just you. So you get the whole pipeline. I don't know actual througputs, but i would expect 1 mps.

good luck
 
It all depends with cable modems. Luckily, my neigbors are all older, and I don't think any of them have computers, and if so no cable modem. Aside from it crippling my social life with having everyone over 85, it gives a lot of bandwidth to me, giving me 2599 kbps down/ 476 up (tested via dsl reports). That is more around the ballpark of 50 to 60 times a 56k modem. In other words, it is smokin. If you live in an area where no one really uses cable modem service, you can really take advantage of it.
 
those numbers are all mega BITS don't $hit your pants.

you'd be hard pressed, under most conditions to see the dl's that Abednigo listed, Supergax's are even suspicious, but hey if they tested out that way...

Damn man, that's some serious bandwidth, what do you pay for that?

 
Here are the numbers, of course I picked the best of the crop. Here is the proof,, shruken down some so it's not so large. As you can see, it is is kbps fubar. And I can do another screen shot of it telling me that i'm at 60x a 56k modem. I also have some fellow local road runner users who can back me up with scores almost as good. Howcome almost? As I said, no one else in my neighborhood has road runner. Also, I have tweaked windows. No, it's not the MTU crap, i tweaked my receive window, which works miracles. Here is some more proof that it works. Notice how jinglingxl had a jump in througput. So I will sit her $hitting my pants loving it. I pay $40/month.
 
generally if you a person that plays multiplayer games online ADSL probably should be the best for you. Cable if you're just one of those people that surfs the net and downloads stuff (eg. napster).

Also ADSL should be more secure. One of my friends had cable once and when he opened up his network neighboorhood, over 500 machines were listed on his network. Hopefully that security problem is fixed now if you do plan to get it..
 
Supergax,
Don't get gassed! it looks like you speed comparison was taken around midnight. At that time, I believe only 30% of the internet community is logged on. Tell those guys to run the same test between 4pm and 9pm and see if you get the same results. Don't get me wrong I still think those numbers are really impressive, compared to my superquick 56k connection that refuses to connect over 40k, and I still get kicked off every two minutes. Hopefully cable/DSL will be available in the Bronx soon!!!

Webguy
 
I have both DSL and cable. DSL seem to more stable(less down time) than cable, but on my cable I'll be downloading at 1.2-2.0Mbps constantly. while my DSL is capped at 670Mbps.
 
Like I said, bits, bytes are represented by a B not a b.

If you were getting 2500KB/s, that would be 20,000 kbps, which would be about half (little less) of a T3. If they are honestly selling you that kind of BW, start up your own hosting business or something because you are screwing the Man.

Back to BOOKERREESE's question though,

if you want to set up a 2+ computer net in your house, from what I've dealt with, DSL can be had with better equipment from the start. If it's just you, go either way. Judge your neighborhood, if you are in a internet-savvy community go DSL, otherwise cable would be fine too.

Check sign up/equipment costs, That's what's doing it for me. DSL will be cheaper for me until I'm on for 10 months, then it gets more expensive, after I've run out of the initial cost savings.
 
Dear BOOKERREESE,

If all you want to do is surf, play games, e-mail -- either really is fine. I see prices going for about $40 a month across the U.S. for DSL or Cable.

Another angle to consider is... will consider hosting a server in the future? You're not supposed to have with a residential line, but I know lots of people that run web, ftp, or game servers off their residential line.

For running a server, you'll need a static IP, which DSL definitely provides. My local Adelphia cable providers only offers Dynamic IP, which makes hosting servers less straightforward.

Whatever you go with, get yourself firewall/router. You can better protect yourself from outsiders this way. I use a SMC Barricade which comes with a print server! Its four port 10/100 switch rocks!

Regards,
Sun
 
I know the difference between bytes and bits, as when I said it i had a small b not a capital b. I kow it's a T3, I work for an ISP and know about the many wonders of high speed connections. All I was trying to get at was that cable modems bandwidth is very good in areas where you may be the only of a few people using a cable modem. I get downloads around 400 kilobytes per second, my bad, I didn't read at first that Abednigo had kilobytes in parantheses, i thought he was talking bits by looking at the kbps.

Anywho, didn't mean to come off so cranky. And the tests were done around midnight because that is really the only time I'm on the internet much. Call me a schmuck. 😱
 
BOOKERREESE,
Bottom line, either should blow doors off your dial up...the best people to ask are folks near you and what their experience is...cable has the capability to be faster than DSL when the network is properly constructed and it is segmented properly as more people sign up...In my city Cable users see 2Mbps on a bad day and 4Mbps on a good day...with DSL no higher than 1.5Mb depending on how close you are to your phone switch (central office). In others (even cities near me) the Cable bogs down during prime time because it was not designed properly...same with DSL in others if too many users come into the same central office and their is not enough bandwidth for all of them to get to the ISP..
 
You guys ever wonder why these ISPs are able to charge so little? They provision a fat data pipe, and hope most of the users do not use it heavily. It is common for many DSL providers to oversubscribe their lines. That's why my Internet access crawls between 8p and 10p when a lot of users are on.
 
Sun818...

What you say can't be true because if it was PacBell would be full of it...this is straight off their DSL website 🙂

* DSL is a dedicated digital line that's always available, so you won't be slowed down by heavy traffic dialing into an ISP.

* DSL is as reliable as your phone

 
The

<< dedicated digital line >>

they are speaking only travels from your home to the central office. After that all the DSL subscribers share the same line out the Internet. Lets say they provide a T3 (45Mb/s). For calculation sake, lets say everyone gets their 1.5Mb/s download. So, for everyone to have their share of the bandwidth about 30 users should be on that T3. But if you oversubscribe the line, say 60, even 120 users, it definitely causes congestion during the evening times that I speak of.

But maybe you were joking? =)
 
Well, perhaps I can be more concise as to the difference tomorrow evening. If all goes well we'll have our DSL line installed in the morning... :
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

TRENDING THREADS

Back
Top