DSL Or Cable-Which Is Better And Why

[DemocratSinceBirth]

Poll question: DSL Or Cable-Which Is Better And Why

[soothsayer]

1. cable is faster, dsl is cheaper (where i am)---take yer pick n/t

[DemocratSinceBirth]

2. How Come People Say The More People Use Cable The Slower It Gets

Is that really true....



I pay 34.95 for cable...


Is that bad?

[NightTrain]

5. Bingo!

[DS1]

3. DSL blows for downloads from more than one place

at a time. Frex - getting a large file from one site, and browsing another is all but usless on DSL.

[DemocratSinceBirth]

8. Why

(nt)


I'm on cable at 863 kpb speed


Is that good

[DS1]

12. It's nothing to turn a nose up to

although I'm on cable at 2980 Kbps :7

[SidDithers]

27. not bad...

Cable here at 4681 kbps :)

$44.95 /mth Canadian.

Sid

[Florida_Geek]

14. I am on DSL at 1.5Mbs

And Bell South has an ad for their three levels of speed starting at 23 per month.

[Placebo]

4. DSL, because it sounds cooler...

and more high-tech. :P

yea, i'm that simple.

[LiberalManiacfromOC]

35. Damn, I was going to say the same thing

[baldguy]

6. DSL

In order to get cable you have to deal with the CABLE COMPANY. In my area, thats Adelphia. :puke:

[flamingyouth]

7. I've had both and much prefer cable

I think it's way faster and when it does go out, they at least make an attempt to fix it (yeah, I'm talking to YOU, Qwest!).

[Nite Owl]

9. Had DSL

you have to be close to the station. My line deteriorated, at the border and they wouldn't fix it. Now have cable and it's much better. Faster and more stable.

[citizen snips]

10. Cable.

Because it is faster.

[tishaLA]

11. I prefer cable

I had DSL and I hated the DSL provider--SBC--and they had terrible tech support, to top it off. So I got Comcast cable, which is MUCH faster than even other cable providers and I have never had to talk to a tech support person again.

[candy331]

13. I live in the rural and cable is not available out here in the sticks

and just got access to DSL a few months ago and it sure beats the dial up I was chained to for some years..

[Hokie]

15. Cable

Fast DSL will give you about 175K download. Cable is about 340K. Either one kicks the ass out of dialup.

[Bernardo de La Paz]

18. I get about 375K download on DSL

Download speed depends on distance from the Central Exchange.

I am not especially close or far (combo urban / suburban area)

[Bernardo de La Paz]

29. Tested: DSL 617 Kbps download, 267 upload

Tested at http://dslreports.com/tools

[starroute]

16. It all depends on your circumstances.

I've got DSL from my long-time local ISP and I'm extremely happy with it. I'm also close to the nearest phone station, which helps with the quality.

My son had Comcast cable for a while and it was one screw-up after another. He spent far too many hours on hold waiting for technical support to even get it up and running. Part of the screw-up was that they didn't bill him for the first four months, so he wasn't exactly complaining, but he was still just as glad to move on.

[Bernardo de La Paz]

17. Cable is insecure, it is like a party line . . . nt

[Nomad559]

19. Speed Test

I am on Comcast Cable.

My Speed Test

[tishaLA]

22. Well damn!

I'm 3335. Whatever that means. But it's better than "very fast" and that's cool with me.

[Deja Q]

20. DSL - it's more secure.

You're on your own dedicated line. With cable, you're on a segment shared by many others.

Also, as technologies improve, it won't be long until cable providers snoop what's connected to their service, and you know they will do that. As they already charge money for extra IP addresses, once they actively sniff out a non-approved router attached directly at your node, they'll shut you off sooner than you can say "oops".

[Eurobabe]

21. Cuz you can hookup VoIP and ditch yer landline phone!

I have Vonage, if you want info email me here on DU.

[bbernardini]

24. I would never get rid of landline.

If there's an emergency and satellites or cable go out, no cell phone or home phone.

[Beware the Beast Man]

23. DSL so far

I switched from broadband because of the price (SBC is now 26.95 a month, compared to $42.99 for Adelphia). So far, the DSL has been easier to install (I spend about 2 hours on hold with Adelphia when I installed broadband), no trouble with the signal, and the speed is just as fast. I have to go with DSL.

[Carolina]

25. depends

our cable goes out when the friggin wind blows or so it seems, especially with summer thunderstorms. The the phone lines, on the other hand, NEVER do (hope I didn't just jinx myself), so I chose DSL for home.

Self-employed husband has cable at work and claims it's better, faster, cheaper, etc.

Just depends on your area, service, access, etc. DSL has been fine for me.

PS: I have Bellsouth and the service -- when I needed it ONCE -- was great.

[curse10]

26. I've had both, I prefer Cable

I think it's faster and more reliable. Plus, I don't have a land line so it's even more convenient for me just to have everything on the cable bill

[jayavarman]

28. Cable has been smooth

for me so far

[Baja Margie]

31. Oh boy, we only had dial up

here, and finally got hooked to DSL, cable is not available, course, telnor is one huge monopoly down here. We are paying about $31.00 dollars.

Could someone please help me ? We just got a new computer from Dell. I use Windows XP, and I cannot figure out how to post an image that was downloaded from the internet and saved in a file to the message body in my forum post. Duh. I would appreciate it, and I owe you a cerveza.

Gracias.

Margie:think:

[BluePatriot]

30. Cable. DSL has a slower upload speed. (n/t)

[midwayer]

32. For speed Cable is better in my experience

My only problem is Comcast can't seem to get thier stuff together and even get our tv back on yet in SW Fla whereas my sprint DSL is up and running. When you are isolated from the rest of the world, that counts for much.

It's plenty fast enough for me and cheaper

My vote goes to DSL

[AntiCoup2K4]

33. Cable is definitely better!

Had Qwest DSL for two months and hated it. Appalingly slow and wouldn't stay connected. Switched to cable and haven't looked back.

I only wish Comcast didn't have a virtual monopoly on the market, so competition would take the price down a little. $46.20/month is a little steep.

Speed's almost worth it though....

2004-08-16 22:40:43 EST: 3335 / 236
Your download speed : 3415525 bps, or 3335 kbps.
A 416.9 KB/sec transfer rate.
Your upload speed : 242453 bps, or 236 kbps.

[Downtown Hound]

34. I have SBC's DSL service

which has its advantages because it also has a dial-up option that I can use when I travel and take my powerbook with me. With Cable you're limited to your home. I have had cable and it is MUCH faster. It's also more expensive. In my area, Cable internet is $50 a month. DSL is $30. If you've got the money to spend and travel isn't an issue for you, then cable is way better.

[Lone_Wolf_Moderate]

36. DSL is cheaper, and more widely available.

Cable is faster, but DSL is good for poor folks and cheap bastards.

[ChoralScholar]

37. Honestly, guys

there's no right or wrong answer. It depends on who your providers are and where your location is.

Here, DSL (with CenturyTel) is so much faster and more stable (almost no downtime) than cable (with Cox Communications). I know here, on DSL, if I pay for 512, I get it 95% of the time. I can't say that much for cable. I now have a 1.5Mbit DSL line.

But in other places I've lived, the opposite is true. In Conway, with city-owned and operated cable, cable internet was, in some parts of town, as fast as your NIC could shovel it into your computer.

So, once again, depends on the ISP and location.

[TroubleMan]

38. I've had both...Cable is much faster, and I download gigabytes of stuff

and I do a mild amount of online gaming.

Cable, even though it costs more, is much faster.

For instance....let's say I'm downloading a 4 gigabyte file (which I've done a few times, and over 20 times 1 gig files), with DSL, I usually max out at 160kb/sec. With cable I get at least 300kb/sec, and I've had it in spurts up to 500kb/sec. That saves me a few hours.

Also, for online gaming, you can easily notice the difference.

[jpgray]

39. I love cable, meself.

[NashVegas]

40. DSL - no $$ For Evil Corporations

My ISP is a local run, independent entity. The owner is on my instant messenger contact list; I rarely bother him with questions, but when I do have one, I get to talk to a real person who knows his shit.