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DSL or Cable Internet?


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[quote]Originally posted by MPhipps: [b]I am going to get rid of AOL.... Yes. But I do not know what is better. Can anyone help???[/b][/quote] I can't vouche (SP?) for DSL, but I recently changed from dial up to cable. It's a good 50-100X faster than dial up. (depending on the server you are accessing.) I know with cable (not sure about DSL) that it can also be affected by the amount of people on your block/street that also have the service. Either way, you're gonna be much happier with either.
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I prefer cable modem, for one, most people in my area are elderly or just have no interest in high speed internet and I'm (luckily)one of only a few people on my local loop. Also, if you are interested in hooking up several computers on the same account (w/o having to pay extra) the cable ISP, (at least here in mich.) takes the stance of "if you can figure out how to do it, go for it". -very cool. hint: linksys router, hub, analog-x's free proxy software, cat-5 cabling.. I tried to do this with a DSL router and the ISP (I won't mention, -and don't QUESTion me! :D ) wouldn't give me the router password to allow me to put a static route in their router, shux! I've also have heard some horror stories about DSL's service. - the competetion among the start-up DSL providers is a tough game right now, and if you do decide to go DSL, make sure they are financially sound. A bunch have gone belly-up in the last several months, leaving folks high and dry. peace, Hippie
In two days, it won't matter.
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dsl is terrible, here in australia anyway utterly terrible. its slow, nearly always is crashed and waste of money cable here however is fast and beautiful. my father has dsl, i have cable. the difference is more then noticable, its hair pullingly frustrating as for setting up a network... couldnt be easier on cable we just bought a hub and an extra network card. cable goes in our server (p2-300 computer) and out to the hub. twisted pair cables to our pcs. we used to use WinProxy and have a crazy pro software setup on the server, massve cache etc etc but now we just use 'internet sharing' in win98SE the speed difference is very minimal (more to do with caching i assumed). go cable! ps, not sure about the number of people in your loop thing. that was news to me. i live in a very nerdy area and our speed is constant, nothing varies, we average 2 gig downline a day (there are 4 of us, 3 play online games, i use ftp to swap the latest audio files we are working on... gotta love that in cable. except right now its Acid files because im the only one using Sonar (and i dont use Cubase) anyway, go cable
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I had a choice between the two in my area. I chose DSL for one reason alone... My cable goes weird or cuts out at least once every two days, on average. I can't recall ever losing phone service, and I've been in this house for almost eight years. 'nuff said. :) Steve
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Agh. We had DSL here in Manhattan through Verizon for maybe 2 months, when one dark Friday afternoon it just cut out. And didn't work FOR THE NEXT 4 MONTHS and they COULDN'T FIGURE OUT WHY. It turned out to be some sort of billing problem. "No thanks. We need a refund." 4 MONTHS!! And most DSL it seems winds up belonging to Verizon on the east coast at least, no matter what company you go through. In comparison, a friend got Road Runner cable internet through Time/Warner here and they came and set it up within the same week. No hassles other than some DNS lookup problems on their servers. I think you gotta get TV cable too though as a package deal which is a drag if you're not into TV. "cuz TV is for losers." r0kk 0n
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I have multiple locations. Some have cable, some DSL. [b]Cable[/b] 1. Faster. Much faster. 2. Frees up telco line. 3. If you already have CATV, it's easy to implement. 4. Significantly less secure than DSL or dialup. 5. The same factors that affect loss of CATV will affect your cable internet connection. 6. Up/down speeds are (often) not symmetrical (not that all flavors of DSL are). [b]DSL[/b] 1. pay for whatever bandwidth you can afford. 2. Can be piggy backed on existing telco lines - reducing clutter in your environment, as well as "Single billing" from your telco if applicable. 3. All / any speeds may not be available in your area. ------------------------------------ Expect to see rising Cable Internet & DSL access rates in the near future. Nobody's making much money, and with a few of the major DSL providers bankrupt (some have gone belly up)...the market will probably correct itself, forcing up rates... NYC Drew
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Cable is generally faster than DSL. But, local conditions can dictate reliabilty... as mentioned in the above links. Check your DSL distance from your house... the closer the better. Genreally, anything over 1000 feet will mean really slow download performance (not under 384k, but less than 1.5Mbps), Here's a link to help you out - [url=http://www.dslreports.com]DSL Reports[/url] . Click on "Find Service" on the left, then "CO Distance". You have to enter your address, ZIP & phone. You can't get DSL if it is over the 3 mile mark (roughly 17,400 feet). Cable offers up to 4.2Mbps downloads. And, I've downloaded a 101MB from Microsoft in 3 min. 42 sec. (that's cool)! For security, pick up a Linksys or NetGear DSL/Cable router... even if you use only one computer. The firewall protection is worth it. I've set them up on DSL and Cable with minimum hassles. If yo have a PC, go to [url=http://www.zonealarm.com]Zone Labs (Zone Alarm)[/url] and run the software firewall. It will let you know just what applications are trying to talk on th einternet, as well as block intruders. Good luck on your broadband...

 

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We tried some xDSL services in Toronto and went through 3 providers in as many months. They are all sub-subscribing so we end up calling different companies depending on what the problem is. eg. Rhythms set up Rhythms Canada, who sold territory to every Tom, Dick and Harry. So Bell runs the line in, then Rhythms installed the modem, then Harry installs the software and takes your money - until he goes broke and Rhythms quits Canada. If you are setting up web domains - you want to be submitting those Network Solutions forms as little as possible. I've gone cable at home and office - satisfied. In my area, if you want cable you deal direct with whoever has the cable monopoly in your region. I don't have a problem with that. They are usually large well backed up firms. Which way to go would depend to me on the strength of the company behind the service. If you can get your major phone company to serve soup to nuts then I would consider it.
It's OK to tempt fate. Just don't drop your drawers and moon her.
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MPhipps, BTW, you can still keep your AOL account alongside a DSL or cable connection. This maybe handy if the whole world knows your existing e-mail name and you do not want to lose contacts. The TCP/IP price for AOL when you "bring your own connection" is 9.95/month, unlimited. At that price, AOL isn't so bad. The downside is, if you use a dial-up connection to your AOL account when you have signed up for for a TCP/IP connection, AOL will charge you something like 10.00/hour, so avoid using the dial-up, or fetch your AOL e-mail from the "AOL anywhere" website using a friends dial-up account or someone's other than your own. Hippie
In two days, it won't matter.
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This is really a case of YMMV. You should find people in your neighbourhood that are happy with their high speed internet, and go with that. The theoretical benefits of DSL vs. cable are far outweighed by the skill set of the company delivering the service. You get a badly deployed DSL connection, and it stinks. You get a badly deployed cable internet, it also stinks. If the service provider doesn't know how to run a network (and many don't), it stinks. I know people who were driven to distraction with their cable and switched to DSL. I know people that have switched from DSL to cable for the same reason.
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This is really a case of YMMV. You should find people in your neighbourhood that are happy with their high speed internet, and go with that. The theoretical benefits of DSL vs. cable are far outweighed by the skill set of the company delivering the service. You get a badly deployed DSL connection, and it stinks. You get a badly deployed cable internet, it also stinks. If the service provider doesn't know how to run a network (and many don't), it stinks. I know people who were driven to distraction with their cable and switched to DSL. I know people that have switched from DSL to cable for the same reason. [ 11-22-2001: Message edited by: js ]
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Disclaimer: I'm not seeking any new (Computer related) business!!! As an IT provider, I [b]used to[/b] re-sell DSL [flashcom, Covad, Northpoint] (as well as leased lines, Frame relay, dial up etc) services - up until about 6 months ago (the DSL stuff) . Prior to that, I'd sold more than 50 DSL connections. Of those clients...approximately 7 or 8 are still on DSL. They switched to either cable or "fiber". On the issue of cable vs. DSL, specifically - "relaibility"... DSL setups are inherently more involved than cable setups. I've done about 15 cable setups so far this quarter. All have been flawless. What I DO find, is that without a firewall of sorts (hardware or software), cable is quite useless. Just for ha-ha's, I leave one or two machines unprotected - to see the kind of probes and attacks they experience...I'm averaging about 15-20 [b]detected[/b] intrusions/attempts per day! See below for the most recent hack attempt on the machine I'm using...it's had about 30 attempts today. Mostly nusiance stuff...but still... ----------------------------[i] Date: 11/21/2001 Time: 22:34:28 Rule "Default Block Backdoor/SubSeven Trojan" blocked (SH,27374). Details: Inbound TCP connection Local address,service is (SH,27374) Remote address,service is (61.37.120.155,ms-sna-server)[/i] ----------------------------- NYC Drew [ 11-22-2001: Message edited by: NYC Drew ]
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