Im getting pretty torqued thinking about Comcasst charging $60/mo for internet if you dont watch TV, so Im wondering what DSL quality is like, ie Verizzon.
Can you guys give any opinions?
It's like $60 vs $30
Im giong to help a friend get Fios at her house, but thats a separate things, my 'hood doesnt have that yet
CDN_Merlin wrote:
Cable - faster overall top speed.
DSL - More consistent overall speed.
I have to agree with Merlin here. Infact, I have the same 2 options that you do Ned. Comcast or Verzion. I chose Verizon. It's pretty stable and reliable.
Merlin hit it right on the head with those 2 summaries.
Verizon offers some options for more web space (which is harder than ehll to access) and faster speeds .. all for a premium of course.
Comcast also offers some great speeds but they shaft you with modem fees. Sure, you can use your own Cable modem BUT we're going to charge you for it anyways. .. something like 5 or 10 dollars. go figure.
Cable = shared network with 400 of your neighbors(crowded node)then you hit the switch. if you have people on the node who are heavy downloaders/uploaders you will feel the result and when worm virii get on the node...hahahah
ADSL (residential class) = not shared until you hit the switch. Upload and download are not guaranteed and are best effort (realted to distance (12-15k loop)). This type is like a seesaw, uploads and downloads affect your overall speed (Ex 1500/256 or 3000/384)
SDSL (business class) = not shared until you hit the switch upload and download are guaranteed (7 to 12k loop)best effort, but are consistant (EX 768/384)
They rate the distance not above spec for SDSL because of the sppeed issue so it's not always available where ADSL is
I currently pay 42.50/mo for Cable internet through Adelphia here. I get 4000/384. If prices continue to rise I'm considering DSL. Although it is only 768/128 here and $30 a month, but at least it is finally available.
My own personal experience with Comcast Cable versus Bellsouth ADSL was that the cable generally gave me more bandwidth and hence a better browsing experience and the DSL seemed to be a whole lot cleaner (e.g. less packet dropping in games).
I've decided to stay with overpriced cable. Looks like DSL in my area is too buggy. People's download speeds seem to vary from 1500 to like 50 often hitting really low speeds when people get home from work. I think DSL is like $30 for a reason: they know they can't provide reliable delivery at the speeds expected (like 1500), so they charge what the market can bear.
If your cable ISP is any good at its job, and has the funds to properly operate its service, shared bandwidth won't be too much of an issue. Unfortunately, the larger-scale the ISP is, the less likely the are to adequately provide service to your area.
The upper limit on most DOCSIS cable modems is 30Megs. Until DOCSIS 3.0 is finalized, then the upper limit can be as high as the cable company has the bandwidth to support, but most prototypes are running anywhere from 120megs to 400+ when combining several channels.
Having said that - *basicly* DSL and Cable and Fixed Wireless (waverider and breezcom/Alvarion etc equipment ) are all deliver similar service, with the ISP determining speed caps, and DSL and wireless have distance limits, and wireless has environmental interferance concerns as well as inherent ping lag (altho some are better than others) due to the nature of airwave broadcast.
We had Verizon DSL and it interfered with our phone and answering machine. I assumed I set it up incorrectly, so I called support. Turns out I had set it up correctly; so, I ditched DSL and got cable. Problem solved. However, keep in mind that I live in middle-of-nowhere New Hampshire, and the phone lines are crap. Probably the same wires that carried telegraph signals in the late 1800's
When I first moved to Fort Collins, Colorado I signed up for both DSL (Qwest) and Cable (ATTBI which is now Comcast).
I was told the DSL was Rate Adaptive. All I know is that I experienced a "slow down" on heavy usage times in the evening on both. I ended up dropping the DSL because it would fall off to just under 100 Kps where the cable might drop to 1200 Kps. At the time the cable cost $12.00 more per month than the DSL. I decided that the cost for DSL wasn't worth it when it was returning speeds that "felt" like dial-up.
Now 3 years later I still have cable and enjoy it very much. The 1.5 M download went up to 3 M and is now 6 M and you just can't match that with DSL. Even if there is a "slow down" because of usage... one barely notices it.
