How fast is DSL (or slow) when compared to cable? Which is better?

erikiksaz

Diamond Member
Nov 3, 1999
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The only people that can help you are those in your general area. DSL sucks in my neighborhood and cable rocks, but it's only in my case. So just ask around.
 

Iron Woode

Elite Member
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Oct 10, 1999
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In the long run Cable is better because it generally supports more bandwidth than DSL can.

Cable has way more bandwidth potential than any phone line.
 

melly

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Feb 5, 2002
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i love my dsl. i love being on a dedicated line as opposed to a cable free-for-all connection. i have tried computers with cable AND dsl, and in the end prefer dsl for downloading and uploading speeds.
 

NotoriousJTC

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Nov 19, 2000
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Depends on what package your ISP gives you, my DSL is capped at 1.5mbps with the normal package. If i sprung for the business package id get 5.0mbps or something like that, which is easily comparable to the cable service in my area. However, i take the higher upload speeds and stability over cable around here anyday.
 

Iron Woode

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Oct 10, 1999
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Originally posted by: WhiteKnight77
I have had download speeds of 165kbps with my DSL and it's very stable.
My cable gets 350 KBps on a good server. Average is about 200 KBps.

 

JoPh

Diamond Member
Aug 8, 2002
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for cable, how many people does it take to be on it to notice a great decrease in speed?
 

wfbberzerker

Lifer
Apr 12, 2001
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cable generally has a higher download, but often has a slower upload.

for example, my cable as a 2000kpbs download, but only about 350kbps upload. which i gues is faster than a lot of dsl tho.
 

Iron Woode

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Originally posted by: JoPh
for cable, how many people does it take to be on it to notice a great decrease in speed?
It would depend on a lot of things.

What kind of infrastructure do they have? How many people are on your node? Stuff like that. I asked my ISP (Rogers Cable) about it and found out there was 7 modems sharing my node. Speed was very good. Rogers has a very good infrastructure in Ontario. Spotty problems do happen though, like any service.

 

Codewiz

Diamond Member
Jan 23, 2002
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Originally posted by: WinkOsmosis
DSL is usually slower, and the upload is usually not much better than 56k speeds.

What the hell are you smoking? Most DSL is 256kbit upload which is a hell of a lot better than 56k speeds.

I know when I had DSL i would average around 26KB/s uploads and 150KB/s downloads. Now I am on cable and I average around 60KB/s uploads and 120-160KB/s downloads. I do burst to 300KB/s with my cable.

So overall Cable is faster in my area but DSL was MUCH more stable when it came to speed. If the site on the other end had the bandwidth to handle my DSL speed I would have never dropped below 150KB/s downloads.

Since I now run an FTP, HTTP, and mail servers, the bigger upload on cable is nice.

Moral of the story is that cable can be better but it depends on the area. DSLreports will probably have feedback in your area about both DSL and cable.
 

RbSX

Diamond Member
Jan 18, 2002
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Originally posted by: WinkOsmosis
DSL is usually slower, and the upload is usually not much better than 56k speeds.

are you on acid? sounds like it.
 

Iron Woode

Elite Member
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Oct 10, 1999
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Originally posted by: RyanSengara
Originally posted by: WinkOsmosis
DSL is usually slower, and the upload is usually not much better than 56k speeds.

are you on acid? sounds like it.
Not all DSL service is kicka$$ fast you know.

Some places don't give you much choice while others have a great tiered choice.

 

oniq

Banned
Feb 17, 2002
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I have DSL, I was going to switch over to Cable, but then noticed a lot have b/w caps/limits a month! WTF kind of crap is that.. not for me, thats for sure. Especially since I use Gentoo =)
 

LeeTJ

Diamond Member
Jan 21, 2003
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Originally posted by: erikiksaz
The only people that can help you are those in your general area. DSL sucks in my neighborhood and cable rocks, but it's only in my case. So just ask around.

 

Doggiedog

Lifer
Aug 17, 2000
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In my area (Northern NJ), when I had Hellrizon and it worked I got about 500-600Kbps down and 250Kbps up with 60-100ms pings. On RoadRunner I get a 2-3Mbps and about 500Kbps up with 20-60ms pings.
 

0roo0roo

No Lifer
Sep 21, 2002
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Originally posted by: Codewiz
Originally posted by: WinkOsmosis
DSL is usually slower, and the upload is usually not much better than 56k speeds.

What the hell are you smoking? Most DSL is 256kbit upload which is a hell of a lot better than 56k speeds.

I know when I had DSL i would average around 26KB/s uploads and 150KB/s downloads. Now I am on cable and I average around 60KB/s uploads and 120-160KB/s downloads. I do burst to 300KB/s with my cable.

So overall Cable is faster in my area but DSL was MUCH more stable when it came to speed. If the site on the other end had the bandwidth to handle my DSL speed I would have never dropped below 150KB/s downloads.

Since I now run an FTP, HTTP, and mail servers, the bigger upload on cable is nice.

Moral of the story is that cable can be better but it depends on the area. DSLreports will probably have feedback in your area about both DSL and cable.

not to mention 56k modems only upload at 33k max. thats about 3~KB/s very slow.

 

Confused

Elite Member
Nov 13, 2000
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In the UK:

Cable comes at 128/64, 512/128, 1024/256
ADSL comes at 512/256

Those are the main ones, but there are some 1mb and 2mb down DSL, but they're only in and around London.

Baically, broadband in the UK sucks majorly compared to in the US!


Confused