Cable vs. DSL

[Scrapster]

I'm moving out into the real world (well, shared housing near my school). And I'll be kissing goodbye my ethernet connection in the dorms. So I'm probably going to be introduced to either cable or dsl shortly. Which do you prefer? Are there pros and cons to either? I will definately be having roommates and I already have a router so we could split the connections. I don't know if this would hinder one more than the other though.

Any suggestions? I'm in the Seattle area.

 

[IJump]

I don't know about the Seattle area, but this is how it is here:

Cable is faster right now because there aren't a lot of people on it. I recommend that every who asks me get DSL so that my bandwidth stays high. Cable seems to be more susceptible to bandwidth degradation due to high traffic. Cable costs less here by quite a bit. It is less than half of the total cost of a low dsl connection.

DSL is less susceptible to bandwidth problems, but I was told by a tech that works at one of the local DSL providers that DSL is not truely dedicated bandwidth as everyone thinks. For simplicity, if they have one T1 and 100 customers with 256K DSL accounts, the customers are not going to get the full use of their 256. They will have 256 to their Service provider, but anything beyond that will be slower. I am not sure if all DSL providers are that way, but I wouldn't bet against it.

Either way, it is better than Dial-Up. I would look at Initial cost and monthly cost as the determining factor. You will probably be satisfied with the speed that either will give you.

 

[chaevans]

I'd also suggest doing 2 things once you've picked a name/s of a provider/s. Call up their tech support line a few times and see how long it takes to get connected (some are hours long). Also check newsgroups or www.dslreports.com forums for the amount of moaning about the service. I've never seen any provider without complaints but you are certainly going to want to stay away from those that harbor the majority of angry subscribers.

 

[TBP]

Are they still running one month trial for free? Just install both and get a first hand feeling, then cancel the loser after the free trial period.

 

[RanDum72]

Check dslreports.com

 

[sadb0i]

how much bandwith does the ISP gurantee...go for the higher one...thats about it!

 

[Pederv]

Scrapster:
I think the primary DSL provider in Seattle might be QWest. I'm up in Marysville and I'm stuck with Verizon. During peak hours I get 400Kbps download and 60Kbps upload. Talking with some co-workers here in Bothell, they say thier cable connections scream but they haven't given me any numbers.

 

[barryng]

I have recently had both cable and ADSL srvice. The ADSL service blows away the cable service.

From 12/99 to 01/01 I had a cable modem via the local cable provider (Advanced Cable) and ISPChannel. Maximum down load speeds rarely exceeded 300K. It was very unreliable and from day to day I did not know if I would have service. On one occassion I went four continuous days without service. When a problem arose (a frequent occurrence), Advanced Cable blamed ISPChannel and ISPChannel blamed Advanced Cable (I was given two technical support numbers). Niether seemed to be aware of the status of their respective systems. Telephone hold times for technical support were regularly in excess of 45 minutes. If a local problem occurred at nights or on weekends Advanced Cable would do nothing until the next normal business day. Advanced Cable was very candid and readily stated that they did not consider themselves a utility and felt no obligation to provide 24 hour support or repair service for system problems.

Because of the terrible service I switched to BellSouth ADSL as soon as it became available. I have had it for two months now and have been very pleased. There have been a couple of service interruptions but they have been very short (tens of minutes). Download speeds are consistenly between 1100 and 1200K. Telephone hold times for technical support have been very short (just a few minutes) but I have only called twice. The BellSouth ADSL service is also about $10.00 a month cheaper.

My opinion: Cable modems suck and should be avoided.

 

[Russ]

Scrapster,

Since you're in the Seattle area, the decision is a no-brainer. DSL with US West. AT&T cable sucks hard in this area. I have had DSL since May of last year, and my total downtime is about 6 to 8 hours. US West tech support people answer the phone quickly. They're mostly idiots, but at least they answer the phone.

BUT, make sure that you SPECIFY a Cisco 675 external. The default is the crappy internal. It will cost you more, but it is worth every penny.

Russ, NCNE

 

[RanDum72]

barryng, you should compare the best cable providers with the best DSL providers. If you happen to have an immature cable operator in your area and a savy DSL provider, no contest. The latter may have better equipment and a better connection (oc-3, t3). But the best cable is generally faster, reliable and much easier to install than DSL. Heck even if cable slows down(the good ones), they'e still faster than DSL at the same price point. Check dslreports.com.