DSL Users

[DuallyX]

Hey guys, I've got a question.

South Central Telcom has a deal for about 40 bucks a month that includes the following:
? Local Phone Service
? DSL High Speed Internet
? Free 60 Minutes Long Distance
? Long Distance 6.9 cents per minute
? Caller I.D. ? Name and Number
? Call Waiting

I am currently paying more than that just for my phone service from Bell.
I am also currently using Cox Cable access, which is like 35 bucks a month.
I'm guessing the DSL is thier 384k/128k service. Do any of you DSL users max out at 384? Do you think it's worth more for a 768/256k, or even a 1.5M/512k? My highest priority is more my ping than the speed I can download huge files, which I seldomly do.

Thanks for your input.

 

[Viper GTS]

Paying for a faster connection will increase throughput, but not reduce latency.

If latency is your primary concern the default speed will be fine for you.

Viper GTS

 

[RSI]

What he said.

Go for the deal BTW, sounds like an awesome one.

 

[DuallyX]

Here's the link, btw.

SC Telcom- Promotions

 

[DaveSimmons]

much nicer deal than what Qwest offers here in the Seattle area. Go for it.

 

[vi edit]

I've got a 384/128 DSL service. I consistantly get ~36k a second download. I loose some due to protocol overhead, but I'm happy with it. It's not as quick as I would like, but it's way way way better than the 56k dial that I had before.

In my experience, only 1/3 or so sites that I actually hit can actually download much quicker than that anyway. You can only download as fast as the host you are hitting can push it to you.

 

[DuallyX]

What is your avg. latency with DSL? I ping about 40ms during light times, and 90-100 during peak time with my cable.

 

[InfectedMushroom]

Originally posted by: Dual700s
What is your avg. latency with DSL? I ping about 40ms during light times, and 90-100 during peak time with my cable.

depends on server. i ping in the 20's to local server (bay area) and in the 30-50's to west coast servers (counter strike)

i've had pac bell dsl for more than 3 years. it's probably close to 4 now.

 

[Viper GTS]

Originally posted by: InfectedMushroom

Originally posted by: Dual700s
What is your avg. latency with DSL? I ping about 40ms during light times, and 90-100 during peak time with my cable.

depends on server. i ping in the 20's to local server (bay area) and in the 30-50's to west coast servers (counter strike)

i've had pac bell dsl for more than 3 years. it's probably close to 4 now.

The only true and fair latency test is a ping to your ISP's gateway, the first hop over your connection.

All other numbers are meaningless as a performance comparison.

Viper GTS

 

[rahvin]

Originally posted by: Viper GTS

Originally posted by: InfectedMushroom

Originally posted by: Dual700s
What is your avg. latency with DSL? I ping about 40ms during light times, and 90-100 during peak time with my cable.

depends on server. i ping in the 20's to local server (bay area) and in the 30-50's to west coast servers (counter strike)

i've had pac bell dsl for more than 3 years. it's probably close to 4 now.

The only true and fair latency test is a ping to your ISP's gateway, the first hop over your connection.

All other numbers are meaningless as a performance comparison.

Viper GTS

Actually pining your gateway will give you slightly bogus numbers because the gateway has a very low priority on ICMP requests. If you want an acurate meassure of your latency you should almost always ping your DNS server.

 

[DuallyX]

And what about hardware- how much to DSL modems go for these days? Are there certain standards I need to look for (like if I bought one on ebay)?

 

[Viper GTS]

Originally posted by: Dual700s
And what about hardware- how much to DSL modems go for these days? Are there certain standards I need to look for (like if I bought one on ebay)?

There are a couple standards, CAP and DMT. CAP isn't very common, unless you live in old-school Qwest DSL territory. Find out what type of DSL your provider uses, and buy accordingly.

Viper GTS