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for dsl users: how much faster is cable over dsl?

johnnqq

Golden Member
because of privacy issues, i want my own internet line. right now, i have optimum online. to get a second connection it costs like $45 a month...and i don't have that money. verizon dsl is a LOT cheaper, but i know it'll be slower. so i'm asking, how much slower will it be? i dont really care about downloading or browsing the internet, i care about fps games. will i notice a difference?
 
thanks for the link. but i'm still wondering if cable at its fastest will be noticeably better in games than dsl. please respond if you have dsl!
 
It's still a question loaded with a bunch of variables.

The correct answer is "It Depends."

If your cable segment is fairly loaded, and the others are all running massive downloads, then Dhen DSL could be faster, even though the stated bandwidth is lower than the stated bandwidth for cable. Possible. Likely? Who knows ... it varies so much by provider and region.

Then there's "The Great Lie" of DSL - "You don't have the shared segments like cable, so you're not contending for the same bandwidth with your neighbors" - BS

All those private DSL segments aggregate back at some Central Office, then they're all stuffed through some (oversubscribed) common portal to get to "the Internet." All providers oversubscribe; there are statistical models that offer some guidence as to how much a provider can oversubscribe and not (usually not) cause too much contention for the bandwidth.

The problem is growth planning. If the provider underestimated the growth, they may not have planned for sufficient equipment at the CO to handle the additional load. Or they might just be a little greedy and intentionaly oversubscribe beyond the models such that there is real contention, most of the time, for space through the Internet port(s). Possible. Likely? Who knows .... it varies a lot from provider to provider, and various regions within that provider's service area.

Probably your best resource is dslreports.com - read the reviews for your area, read the feedback for the provider. Check out the network downtime and service levels.

You are going to know your "pain threshold" better than a bunch of strangers on a forum.

There are no absolutes. DSL is not automatically better than cable, cable is not automatically better than DSL .... I have both (Comcast Chicago and SBC/Yahoo). They both perform well, both have had great service levels (cable: 4M/256K, DSL 3M (2.6)/ 443K) and availability. Right now, DSL is less expensive, and for general surfing (and probably gaming) you probably wouldn't notice a difference.

Downloads: cable (for me) is always faster (to the same sites). DSL - better for me to remotely access my home systems (443K versus <256K).

So I surf & download through cable; I use DSL for inbound access to my network.

Check out dslreports (broadbandreports - same place).

Good Luck

Scott
 
thanks for the reply. in the 5 years (around that...) i've had optimum online, i always had good ping during online games.
the reason why i'm so interested is that verizon has this really good deal.
http://www22.verizon.com/ForHomeDSL/channels/dsl/packages/default.asp
but the cheap one says "up to" 768k...i'm worried that this will make me lag during games. the ONLY time i'm concerned with the speed of dsl is during games (if you couldn't tell).
thanks for that link. i'll check it out now.
 
I just got dsl 800kb/1.5mb

great for surfing and downloading games it depends some games seem pretty fast others people are running circles around me.
Now I have not inquired about prices but they did mention my line was good for up to I think it was 3mb/8mb, but of course that costs more.

but with dial tone on same line was actually cheaper for me then 2 phones and dialup internet.
 
i'm not paying for the second phone line 🙂.

the great deal (15 a month) goes "up to" 768k/128k...and i'm pretty sure it'll be too slow for games...
 
Bandwidth does not equal latency. Ping can be just as good (or better) on a 128k connection as on a 5M connection. Higher bandwidth is good if you're hosting online games and a lot of people need to connect to you, but if it's just you using that line to connect to a remote server then you don't need a lot of bandwidth.

The thing to watch out for (as I discovered when I got DSL at my previous residence) is line quality, which can impact both bandwidth and latency. If you can't get a clean connection to the telco, DSL is probably not the way to go. You would probably need a tech from the phone company to tell you how good your line is (if you do, make sure they check it all the way to the wall jack, not just to the phone box outside, in case the internal wiring is bad).
 
not to nitpick, but just to point out...

bandwidth does impact latency. Lower bandwidth = longer time to put packets onto the network. I deal with it a lot for voice over IP.

I mean we're not talking a huge difference here, but it can add up. probably around 10-20 ms depending on the connection.

if anybody knows the packet size games use you can calcutate the "serialization delay", or the time it takes to put that packet on the network.

packet size in bits/bandwidth = serialization delay.
 
Originally posted by: Zelmo3
The thing to watch out for (as I discovered when I got DSL at my previous residence) is line quality, which can impact both bandwidth and latency. If you can't get a clean connection to the telco, DSL is probably not the way to go. You would probably need a tech from the phone company to tell you how good your line is (if you do, make sure they check it all the way to the wall jack, not just to the phone box outside, in case the internal wiring is bad).


well verizon's dsl seems to be the only decent fast internet for a good price, but how do i check for a good connection?

thanks for all the replies everybody 🙂
 
SBC DSL here. $15/mo, plenty fast for all that I throw at it. Downloads SP2 from MS at 160K/s consistently.
 
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