DSL or Cable???? (1 Viewer)

Mark Leiter · Jan 14, 2003

The company I am currently getting my DSL service from is goin belly up. So I have to change services. I've narrowed it down to these two;

Earthlink DSL $49.99/mth 1 year contract

or

Roadrunner cable $44.95/mth no contract

My current speeds are about; download: 1051 kb/s

What do you think??

MikeAlletto · Jan 14, 2003

I would never sign a term contract for internet service. I have roadrunner cable modem and it is awesome. Make sure you can get it without getting digital cable (if you don't want digital cable) in the area though. Some make you get basic digital, others don't.

Scott L · Jan 14, 2003

Cable is technically superior provided you're in an area that doesn't have a lot of FTP geeks on the same node as you. Plus many cable companies give you $10 off if you get cable TV (non-digital) and their internet service together, see if you can get that deal too. I've heard good things about RR in general (but this can depend where your srevice is) but my service, Comcast, has been a pain ever since @Home went out of business.
Also check out the stories and ratings from www.dslreports.com

John*Jones · Jan 14, 2003

another nod for cable. as scott pointed out dslreports is a great resource to find out about broadband in your area.

Michael*K · Jan 14, 2003

I've been more than satisfied with my cable Internet connection. In 15 months only a single 8-hour outage! Several co-workers have gotten DSL and had a real hassle getting it up and running.

MikeH1 · Jan 14, 2003

Ask your neighbors what they use and how their speeds are. That should give you a good idea of what to choose

Luc D · Jan 14, 2003

I've used both, always preferred cable.

Gabriel_Lam · Jan 14, 2003

I've used both and really prefer cable in my local area. It does definitely depend on your area though.

Tekara · Jan 14, 2003

in my area DSL is better because the cable internet provider in my area (adelphia) over-saturated their bandwidth so now the speeds are next to nothing.

the big thing to remember is that DSL will give you your own unshared internet connction while cable is a shared connection, everyone in your area is on onebig network. in theory DSL will have a more stable connection, no on time off time for speeds, while cable will fluctuate throughout the day.

in the end though, neither is any better than the other, it all depends on the service provider.

Eric Samonte · Jan 15, 2003

Adelphia cable here...Dslreorts speed test results:
2003-01-15 09:00:17 EST: 3045 / 126
Your download speed : 3045298 bps, or 3045 kbps.
A 371.7 KB/sec transfer rate.
Your upload speed : 126402 bps, or 126 kbps.
Seems like broadband .. above the 1mbit barrier

They have improved and I've not had any downtime for more than an hour. Frequency wise I count not more than 5 last year.

I get a good deal with their package, standard analog cable, HBO digital package and Powerlink for $85 a month. The cable modem service goes down to $26 due to the package.

Ammon · Jan 15, 2003

Cable tends to be faster if there is not many people on the same node as you. However, since there are people ont he same node, an experienced hacker can find ways to hack into other connections on that node.

John_Berger · Jan 15, 2003

I will never go to cable for numerous reasons.

Obviously, any porn kiddie who's making his downloads on the same node as you will impact your connection. You won't have that with DSL.

Many (possibly most) cable companies are implemnting or are strongly considering implementing monthly download caps to force you to pay extra if you go over your download quota, regardless of when you make the download (even at 3 AM when no one else onyour node is using the network).

Many cable companies block access to common ports. I know of some cable companies that block newsgroup access since that's where a lot of transfer bandwidth takes place. So, they just shut off newsgroup access completely. Far too draconian for me, thank you.

Many cable companies completely block incoming connections. If you want to run a tiny web server for your family or if you want to get access to some files on your system from the outside world through an FTP connection, forget it.

As to the quality of DSL, I have not lost my connection in over a year, and that was only because I switched providers. Before that, I lost my connection once in the previous 18 months when a huge storm ravaged the area where my ISP resided and knocked out entire square miles, including their data center and most of the network connections to it. I have absolutely zero complaints with DSL, but I have a lot of complaints about cable.

However, since there are people ont he same node, an experienced hacker can find ways to hack into other connections on that node.

...which is why I completely stand by my statements that if you have a broadband connection, regardless of DSL or cable, but you don't use a broadband router you deserve to be hacked.

Click to expand...

Samuel Des · Jan 15, 2003

if you have a broadband connection, regardless of DSL or cable, but you don't use a broadband router you deserve to be hacked.

What is a broadband router?

Click to expand...

Eric Samonte · Jan 15, 2003

Broadband is another term encompassing cable modem and DSL. A router is device which shares said connection to other PCs. As a bonus, it offers a layer of protection as it has a built-in firewall shielding ur network from the "outside world".

Scott L · Jan 15, 2003

John that's kinda harsh to judge something you've never even used before. You can look at all those figures but again it all depends on the service in your area. You might be able to get download speeds at twice what your DSL provider is giving you if you went cable but you'll never know since you've never tried it.

Steven K · Jan 15, 2003

I've had both, and I definitely prefer DSL. Cable has higher theoretical speeds, but more often than not, you will never even approach those speeds. I have a 1.5 MBit ADSL line, and I am always able to pull 1.5 down.

A router is a device which, in laymans terms, gives you your own private network. It acts as a DHCP server, which means that it dishes out internal IP Addresses for all of your machines that are hooked up into it. Therefore, only machines operating from behind the router can see your machine. It allows multiple computers to share the same connection, because all traffic goes through the router.

The router can do things like: check incoming and outgoing data, block specific ports, etc... you can also put certain machines into a "DMZ" which, in essence, makes the machine visible to the outside (again, I'm trying to over-simplify these explanations).

One thing to remember about routers used with cable modems... usually, cable companies "assign" your connection to a single MAC address (the unique ID of the network card in your system). This, in ways, prohibits you from sharing a connection wth more than 1 system. However, most routers have the ability to clone any MAC address... so, whatever MAC address is assigned to your network card, you can also assign to the router and thus, can share your cable connection.

John_Berger · Jan 15, 2003

John that's kinda harsh to judge something you've never even used before.

Ah, so I'm not allowed to criticize companies based on experiences of friends and relatives, not to mention numerous press materials confirming what I've said even from the cable companies themselves, plus I work with some broadband companies to provide provisioning services as well as Information Systems services.
But I'm not supposed to judge cable broadband because I've never used it. Ri-i-i-i-ight. Did it ever come to mind that perhaps -- just perhaps -- the reason why I didn't go to cable is because of everything that I mentioned? Sheesh.

Click to expand...

Michael*K · Jan 15, 2003

Many (possibly most) cable companies are implemnting or are strongly considering implementing monthly download caps to force you to pay extra if you go over your download quota, regardless of when you make the download (even at 3 AM when no one else onyour node is using the network).

You're fooling yourself if you think that DSL companies aren't planning the exact same tiered service.

Click to expand...

John_Berger · Jan 15, 2003

You're fooling yourself if you think that DSL companies aren't planning the exact same tiered service.

First off, I have yet to hear of a DSL company that is considering this. Granted, that that does not mean that they're not considering it, but they have made no public statements. Several cable companies have publicly admitted and implemented caps, however.

Secondly, cable companies are essentially making their customers pay for their own short-sightedness. They underestimated the demand that would be put on their infrastructure and now are using download caps as an excuse to bill their customers for daring to actually use their Internet connection. Because DSL is not subject to someone on one part of the zone affecting downloads for an entire neighborhood, which is really the crux of the reason behind download caps, DSL companies cannot use impact on neighbors as an excuse.

Third, in many markets the DSL competition is fierce with multiple ISPs available through the same DSL provider, whereas cable is almost strictly done by the local cable monopoly. Any DSL company that claims that they are about to cap downloads will lose a crap-load of customers to competing ISPs.

Finally, if any DSL company implements caps and other draconian measures that make it not that much different from cable, people will flock to cable because on average cable is cheaper per month and often the customer will get discounts to premium cable features.

That being said, any DSL company that actually implements download caps will be doing nothing more than shooting themselves in the foot, and deservedly so.

Click to expand...

Scott L · Jan 15, 2003

Ah, so I'm not allowed to criticize companies based on experiences of friends and relatives

Well are these experiences with the local cable company? If so then I can understand, you didn't mention that in your earlier post and it sounded like you were making a hasty generalization. I went over your list again and NONE of that stuff applies to me.

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