DSL or Cable Modem?

[Illusio]

My roommates company said that they are going to start paying for our Broadband. Right now we have a cable modem. But i was thinking since its free, I could get a DSL now, even though its more expensive. Right now we have ATT Broadband for our cable modem and its capped at 14k upload (approx). and I dont think i have ever gotten more than 180k download.

The DSL i was lookin at is a 1.5/256 from SBC Ameritech. I already have a DSL modem someone gave me so thats not an issue...

Think it is worth the hassle to switch over? Will the speed be better?

 

[Poontos]

There have been many a discussions on this topic.

Basically, if you are somewhat familar with your neighbours, go around and ask them to see how there speeds are. They will be the
best judge of the service, since the broadband companies are not going to admit which one is better in your particular neighbourhood,
nor do they probably know for sure.

Customers first.

http://www.google.ca/search?q=DSL+vs.+cable&hl=en&meta=

http://forums.anandtech.com/messageview.cfm?catid=36&threadid=728238

 

[Doh!]

I would go through the hassle of switching the carrier since:

1) it's paid by the company
2) your up/down speed is terrible (although the speed is relative to the server from where you're downloading but if you frequently download stuff at various sites & have never gone past 180k, I would say that's pretty bad)

Hopefully, the speed will be much better. I don't know anything about SBC's service but check at www.dslreports.com for the service quality of SBC Ameritech in your area.

 

[ttn1]

Your speeds look suspiciously like you have kilobits/sec (kbps) confused with KiloBytes/sec (KBps).

14 KBps is very close to 128 kbps and 180KBps is about 1500kbps.

The broadband companies always give bandwidth in kbps, but windows programs usually report KBps.

So you can judge for yourself if DSL would be any faster. i.e. Upload would be a bit faster, maybe, but
download doesn't look much better.

 

[Chain777]

Dark Jedi,

I'm not sure of your speeds, but to be sure testHERE.

I have SBC/Ameritech 1.5/256 ADSL in the Chicago area, and so far have been happy with it. These are my "real" speeds as of now.

Test running..........
** Speed 1290(down)/243(up) kbps **
(At least 25 times faster than a 56k modem)
Finish.

 

[Blurry]

I doubt you will see any difference now since there is now a broadlimit of 1.5 mbps download. Notice most companies put the download/upload numbers in KBPS? Well that means its Kilo Bits no Kilo Bytes. So 1.5 Mega Bit equals around 147 Kilo Bytes.

 

[Mje]

I used to work for Atech and the only way to figure out how your service will be is to ask your neighbors as was mentioned above. In some places people have great service, others, its complete crap. Another thing. Atech support isn't that great. There were people I worked with that didn't know much about computers at all and the training they gave was inadequate. They may have changed it now but I doubt it.

In many cases, the cable service in an area is much more stable than the DSL service, but again, ymmv. If Ameritech has good service in your area, your neighbors have good speed and low downtime by all means go with them, but if they don't I wouldn't reccommend switching as all you'll get is a headache, less hair and worse service.

Depending on what modem you have they may laugh at you if you call for tech support too. Make sure you call and ask which modems they are supporting right now.
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