Cable vs. DSL

[frangotang]

Need opinions please...

I currently have a cable modem and love it. However, it is not ATT. It is RCN and these guys are great! I will be moving to a location where I have a choice of DSL (through Ameritech) or ATT cable Broadband. Since I have never had DSL, I have been really at an impass. I have read several articles and opinions but I am still not sure. The cost of cable is slightly lower. But form what I have read, ATT cable sucks. If you ATT cable or DSL, please give me your opinions on your current service.

Thank in Advance.

 

[Wik]

What speed is the DSL service offered? It is really going to depend on the area you are moving to.

 

[frangotang]

DSL Speeds 768 down/128up $ 1.5Mbs down/256 up $59.99

ATT cable 35.99 - I can buy the modem for about$99 - without modem 45.99 1.5Mbs upload/128 down

 

[Twitty]

I have ATT Cable right now. Purchased my own modem to avoid paying them $10/mo to rent thiers. Cable was both cheaper and faster. Until recently, had no problems with service. However, we are going thru the email switch (from mediaone to attbi) and there have been days when emails will not get forwarded to my new @attbi account. Hoping this problem resolves itself by the Mar. 15th cut-off date.

Have to say, very happy with my choice overall...

 

[Twister00]

I've been with AT&T for almost 3 years now, and except for the loss of service (5 days) when the switch from @home to attbi.com happened. I have had no real problems. Just my .02

 

[Santa]

As many have said it before and will say it some more.. It usually depends on your area. No two areas are identical and some places tend to have better cable internet service than DSL and vice a versa.

I have had experience with Ameritech DSL installation in a bad way but that is on the East coast. I am not sure if they use PPPoE where you are at but if they do.. run.. run far away.. its not the easiest to install and the techs trying to get the DSL line I was attempting to install couldn't quite get the lines even provisioned correctly or the software to communicate correctly.

Ususally your not locked into a contract so the best you could do is try both and see what you like.

Wish I could offer a better answer but for the Cable vs. DSL debate there is and probably won't be one right answer for a long long time..

 

[tkoller]

Santa had the best answer. I live in the Minneapolis area and I use DSL. That means Qwest provides the connection and you choose your ISP. Most choose Qwest, a big mistake.

Now for the twist, I install Time Warner Road Runner for a living. In this market for about 98% of the people cable is the better choice. The two prime reasons is a slight price advantage and much better downloads... constantly.

DSL has advantages. About 10% better upload and slightly more stable ping with *no* packet loss. Better for gamers (me) and those that have to routinely upload to work.

Also in this market both services are monopolies. But suprisingly the prices are among the best in the nation (about $50 each for 24/7 service) and the data rates are amazingly consistant. With cable they planned each neighborhood for max utilization and segmented accordingly. This is what you need to watch for with cable. A friend in Detroit signed up with a new cable company and was bragging about his 2Mb upload and 8Mb download. Three months latter he was lucky to get 128k up and 512k down because they oversold the segment.

 

[watts3000]

Well what would be better for business use. I'm assuming dsl since you said it provides better upload speeds which most business would need for there servers.

 

[Blurry]

I have heard that there will soon be a broadband limit of 1.5 mbps. That would mean that people with both Cable and DSL will get around 147 KB/s on downloads. If that is true, then DSL will be the best choice because you still have to take into account that Cable is a shared broadband. The more users, the slower your connection will be.