DSL v. cable hook-up

[TimeforMe]

Right now we have a cable hook-up, which is fine, but quite pricey. Our local SBC is running a special right now and we could get DSL hook-up, along with the Dish Network for about 1/2 the price we are currently paying. Is DSL slower than cable? I'm also assuming it will tie up my phone line--is that correct? Any suggestions? TIA~

 

[Grog]

DSL won't tie up your phone line. I've had DSL through SBC, and I now have cable through Time Warner. I've found the cable to be far superior. My download speeds with cable are more than twice as fast, and it doesn't go down as frequently. Plus, with DSL, I had about three or four little "hiccups" through the day where it would go off for a minute or two, usually in the middle of a big download. I'm sure there may be others who have had the opposite experience, but just wanted to give my personal view.

 

[LisaSt]

DSL tends to be quite a bit slower than cable. The further you get from the CO with DSL the slower the transfer speeds are for upload and downloads. Cable also has far more bandwidth available to it for future upgrades if the company chooses to do so.

 

[JoNo]

Personally, I prefer DSL over Cable... #1 reason is you get a direct connection to the phone company, whereas with cable you have to share your bandwidth with everyone on your "block" of the cable customers. That means if you have no one else there it might run fast now, but get about 30 people within the same area and there it goes...

Also, DSL does not tie up the phone line. It a high-speed connection that let's you use your phone WHILE you stay online

Just my 2 cents

 

[skuttle]

We've had both...started with Cable then I got mad at the cable company so we switched to DSL even though it was more expensive for us since we didn't have a landline at the time (only cell phones). Then we switched back to Cable because DH could get a great, cheap rate through school. I never really noticed a difference.

 

[LisaSt]

Our cable here is now up to 5 meg for download and the fastest DSL we have here is only at 2.5 meg half the speed. The biggest thing though is the distance as I had mentioned earlier the further you are away from the CO the slower the speed. You can also only be a max of 5K away from the CO any further and you can't get DSL.

 

[Dan Murphy]

Best bet is to get opinions from people in the area on both, as the service is inherent to your area. What I might have here in Chicago (I do have Comcast Cable, always fast, never down) is not what you might have there in Connecticut, even if it was Comcast. As for me, questioned asked, cable is much better, here, than DSL.

 

[oogieboogie]

Another person who is on Cable checking in. Even with many people on the internet on the same cable line, I don't really notice a drop in connection speed, especially since Roadrunner caps your connection to 10 mbps anyway.

In our household, we'd never change from cable to DSL. We're happy with Roadrunner and their customer service. Also, since we have ours bundled with cable tv, it was a good deal for us. For what we have now, we would've ended paying the same amount or more for satellite TV and DSL.

 

[TimeforMe]

Hmmm. Thanks for all the replies although I'm more than before. I guess it really depends on the carriers themselves. I'm waiting for my friend's DH to call back as he works for SBC and I know they have that. I know if the DSL turns out to be slower, DS will be a very unhappy camper.

I'm trying to find ways to cut some corners and thought that might be a good savings. We'll see, I guess.

 

[katerkat]

I have a friend who works for a big internet service (not AOL, but like AOL) in tech support, and he ALWAYS votes for cable over DSL.

 

[MikeB63]

I work for SBC as an engineer in CT. Cable is faster in direct comparison and will slow down as another poster mentioned if a alot of people on your line connect. Whether or not a enough people in your neighborhood are on cable to affect it is another story. It will depend on what your trying to do with it. If you just want fast connection for viewing, shopping, or downloading, how fast do you need it to be? DSL is still fast and it will be getting faster as SBC begins to increase the speeds on all lines. While it's true that cable may be faster, DSL may be fast enough for your applications. The other thing to consider is that you will get a discount on all your services, TV, DSL and long distance if you get all of them through SBC. If you have a cell phone with Cingular, this may also add another discount as SCB's main focus is bundling services to make it easier on customers in opaying a single bill for all services. If you do decide to go with SBC forthese services (DSL, DISH or whatever combo), let me know by PM. I'll try and help with info the best I can and if you put me down as a referal, I can get credit and/or prizes at work. Aside from helping a fellow DISer, I can help as a company rep of sorts.

 

[JoNo]

Ya know in actuality, this topic made me think...

Anyone remember the internet, say 5 years ago when a 56k modem was the "Blazing NEW Technology"? I mean, connectiong at 38.8k was fast for me! wooo!

 

[LisaSt]

We have been on cable since 97 and tried DSL in 2000 but it was dead slow and have not left cable since. I couldn't use anything but I am very fussy with download speeds and if it drops below my level of whatg I see fit I drop the connection. We will be going to full 10 meg up and down very soon and that will be good for awhile.

 

[mickeyfan1]

I had cable but now I have DSL, and to be honest, I don't see a bit of difference. I don't download anything exceopt the Dis pages, and yahoo etc. But I do know that my cable internet was $47+ per month and my DSL is only $29.95. One thing about DSL, not all homes can get it, it depends on the wiring to the house. At least that is what I keep hearing.

 

[disneysteve]

I have DSL at home and cable at my office. In general, cable is faster but not by all that much. And as others have mentioned, DSL is a dedicated line and cable is shared so speeds can vary depending on the user load.

We chose DSL because we don't have cable tv and getting a cable hookup would have been a lot more expensive.

 

[barbeml]

I have DSL at home. My office has cable modem.

At home, my internet is super fast and we have only been down for an hour over the year-plus that we have had DSL (one incident caused by a regional problem).

On the other hand, at work my internet is incredibly slow, fades in and out regularly, and goes out at least twice EVERY DAY.

I would never pay for cable internet.

 

[jrydberg]

I've had both and in my experience, speeds are similar (had a 1.5 meg DSL connection) and cable is a LOT less reliable. In 2 1/2 years of DSL I had 30 minutes total downtime. I get that much downtime in a month with cable. When it works, it's great, but way too much downtime.

I'd agree that you should check with people in your area. It varies considerably.

 

[krissy3483]

I wrote a paper on dsl vs cable for a class last semester, and DSL does tend to be much more reliable. However, if you live more than 3 miles away from your source (generally the phone company) you will have a weaker connection. I have always had Roadrunner from Time Warner and love it. We did have a problem one time (our connection was too weak and we could not go online for about four days) but I called right away and was credited for the days we did not have service. I think as long as you only intend to use it for home use (some downloading, but mostly uploading - 'surfing the 'net') you will not notice too much of a difference with either one.

 

[TimeforMe]

Thanks for all the replies. I am leaning towards going with DSL because (as Mike stated) I would be bundling it with my tv (dish network) and phone service so it would be saving me a substantial sum. My son, however, does download music which is my biggest consideration for the speed. Does anyone know if the DSL is able to handle that as well as cable?

Mike, if we decide to go ahead with SBC, I will definitely pm you. Thanks for the info!

 

[MikeB63]

DSL will handle the music downloads just fine. similar to cable.