DSL and Cable

[RadioHead84]

How much slower is DSL really? Will i still be able to downlaod stuff and play games as fast as my cable modem? Like when i play counterstrike now i get 50 ping....what would i get with DSL do u think?

 

[Kelvrick]

Depends on how far you are from the DSL station, and what they're offering in your area. You can't just lump all DSL and Cable together.

 

[RadioHead84]

hmmm ill try to find out.

I will be living in a appartment like complex at college with all college kids.

 

[Confused]

In my experience (in the UK), DSL has been faster for me than cable. Better (more consistant) download speeds, higher upload speeds, and pings are almost identical (although I haven't done as much gaming in the past year since I got DSL)

It's also been more stable.

Of course, each area of one town varies greatly, let alone entire continents.


Confused

 

[pulse8]

I get speeds twice as fast as most US cable users on my DSL.

 

[RadioHead84]

Originally posted by: pulse8
I get speeds twice as fast as most US cable users on my DSL.

really?

 

[Mayfriday0529]

Originally posted by: pulse8
I get speeds twice as fast as most US cable users on my DSL.

how fast pulse?
It seems to me my Cable is much faster than DSL

 

[Kelvrick]

Originally posted by: Jnetty99

Originally posted by: pulse8
I get speeds twice as fast as most US cable users on my DSL.

how fast pulse?
It seems to me my Cable is much faster than DSL

Well, around here, SBC offers 3mbit and 6mbit down streams. Dunno about where pulse8 is.

 

[pyonir]

The DSL speeds i'm getting in Phoenix here is usually around 65 to 70k. I've seen 120k, but that is very rare.

Edit: the basic cable service i had before i moved was always around 120 to 140k.

 

[TuxDave]

Counterstrike will run fine over DSL. I used to play Day of Defeat all day long with pings as low as 20.

 

[Mayfriday0529]

Originally posted by: Kelvrick

Originally posted by: Jnetty99

Originally posted by: pulse8
I get speeds twice as fast as most US cable users on my DSL.

how fast pulse?
It seems to me my Cable is much faster than DSL

Well, around here, SBC offers 3mbit and 6mbit down streams. Dunno about where pulse8 is.

offers but do you really get that?
my cable provider claims 10mbit but the most i get is usually 2mbits

 

[Eli]

I can't believe there are people that still ask this.

Isn't there a DSL/Cable FAQ somewhere? heh

We have no way to tell you what your ping will be with DSL. It totally depends on your ISP.

Fortunately, DSL is much like dialup in that you can chose any ISP you wish(as long as they offer service with the teleco you're getting a DSL line through.

I know that here in the Portland area, when they deployed the cable infrastructure, they were careful not to overload nodes. I don't know of anybody around here that doesen't get their rated speed of 3.0/256k.

I think DSL is still a little behind in the overall bandwidth department, although it appears they're starting to catch up.

For example, around here, Verizon offers 1.5/384k for $34.95/mo. Remember, that is just for the DSL line.

It looks like it comes with free MSN service(ISP). I have no idea how good they are.

 

[RadioHead84]

hmm do you tink that the cable would be bad in a college appartment area. How many people do they put on one node? I have alwasy wondered this..if they do it by block or sq feet or whatever.

 

[Wahsapa]

im a block(1500 feet) away from my CO

cable in my area on the other hand has a monthly cap so no thanks

 

[RadioHead84]

nice.

Anyone use verizon DSL?

 

[RadioHead84]

I just figured out i am 4500 feet away..

dunno if that is good or bad lol

 

[pulse8]

Originally posted by: Jnetty99

Originally posted by: Kelvrick

Originally posted by: Jnetty99

Originally posted by: pulse8
I get speeds twice as fast as most US cable users on my DSL.

how fast pulse?
It seems to me my Cable is much faster than DSL

Well, around here, SBC offers 3mbit and 6mbit down streams. Dunno about where pulse8 is.

offers but do you really get that?
my cable provider claims 10mbit but the most i get is usually 2mbits

I have 6mbit down and 600k up.

Minus the overhead I max out at around or just over 5mbit/sec downloads.

I also pay less than what I was paying with Comcast for 3mbit service.

 

[pulse8]

Originally posted by: RadioHead84
I just figured out i am 4500 feet away..

dunno if that is good or bad lol

That's good. I'm about the same distance.

 

[RadioHead84]

alright looks like ill get the DSL then

 

[RadioHead84]

They rate it as 1.5M/384K

 

[Kelemvor]

For most people it won't matter. But for hardcore downloading and uploading of files, cable has the higher theoretical limit. But it's shared so if everyone on your block was downloading huge files at the same time (yeah right) then it'd get slow.

 

[ZOXXO]

Obligatory Broadband Reports link for more detailed info and reviews of providers in your area.

 

[RadioHead84]

Originally posted by: ZOXXO
Obligatory Broadband Reports link for more detailed info and reviews of providers in your area.

Yeah i use that site but its hard to get the right info out of it. My street I will live on doesnt ahve a number in it so they cant search it that way. And when i do the searches i get a bunch of services that arnt even near the area.

 

[ActuaryTm]

As mentioned, it depends greatly on the area and the distance from a CO. Have had both services, and in general prefer cable. Cable service here in Nyc with current provider is 9Mbit down/1Mbit up on average (have days where the upload pushes higher).

For comparative purposes, on some of the servers that support a high enough upload, it takes roughly 7 to 10 minutes to pull down a full CD Linux ISO image (~720Mbytes).

 

[HardcoreRobot]

for pings, after getting any type of broadband, it mostly depends on how close the server is. Regardless of how fast your connection is, you will have higher pings the further away the server is.