Sony 800 number guy recommends DSL over Cable internet?

[edisonprime]

I asked the guy while working on my entertainment center which is better for it, and he recommended DSL for most areas, depending on the area of course. I was always on the impression cable internet was always better than DSL, and in fact considering switching to cable for my internet service. I don't want to make any costly mistakes, so which one is better in general, and which one is better for Rochester, MN? CenturyLink DSL or Charter cable modem?

 

[Jimbo]

I asked the guy while working on my entertainment center which is better for it, and he recommended DSL for most areas, depending on the area of course. I was always on the impression cable internet was always better than DSL, and in fact considering switching to cable for my internet service. I don't want to make any costly mistakes, so which one is better in general, and which one is better for Rochester, MN? CenturyLink DSL or Charter cable modem?

What makes you think Cable Modem internet is better than DSL ?

They use to call Cable internet Broadband and Phone company DSL, but regardless, they are both Internet, thry are both Broadband.

what you may find is the Cable Internet in a lot of instances is Faster than Phone co internet, but that really depends on your area and who you have available.

I have used both and it really doesn't matter to me which I use.

Locally, the Cable co boasts the Fastest internet in town, at 100 mbps, while the Phone co is 80 or so, when your getting into these speeds can you tell the difference ?

Biggest drawback I see is the cost when you get to the higher speeds.

 

[mike123abc]

What you need to know is the speed verses the price for your location. DSL if you can get it at 6mbit is good for 1 HD stream. If it is only 3mbit at your house you will only get 1 standard definition stream. If you only stream one thing at a time and you live where DSL gives you 6mbit+ you might be able to save some money by going with the DSL connection. If you need more bandwidth cable modem is the way to go. If you want to stream more than 1 HD, or if DSL does not go above 5mbit you need cable modem.

 

[Jimbo]

What you need to know is the speed verses the price for your location. DSL if you can get it at 6mbit is good for 1 HD stream. If it is only 3mbit at your house you will only get 1 standard definition stream. If you only stream one thing at a time and you live where DSL gives you 6mbit+ you might be able to save some money by going with the DSL connection. If you need more bandwidth cable modem is the way to go. If you want to stream more than 1 HD, or if DSL does not go above 5mbit you need cable modem.

Unless your in a Uverse area where you can get much better speeds equaling or bettering Cable.

 

[grohgreg]

Assuming your DSL is traveling via copper wire, the speed will vary relative to the length of the wire it travels. Those closest to the central office will get the fastest speed, those at the end of the line will get the slowest. But because it's a dedicated line, at least you can pretty much count on getting the same data speed day or night. Cable on the other hand carries shared broadband; as the number of simultaneous users on that segment of cable increases, the data speed of each user decreases. In other words you can count on your data speed slowing down during prime time internet usage hours.

My recommendation is to get a one month trial cable subscription, but hang onto the DSL just in case. If after a month you're satisfied with cable, drop the DSL subscription. If not, drop the cable.

//greg//

 

[DRCars]

Assuming your DSL is traveling via copper wire, the speed will vary relative to the length of the wire it travels. Those closest to the central office will get the fastest speed, those at the end of the line will get the slowest. But because it's a dedicated line, at least you can pretty much count on getting the same data speed day or night....... snip//greg//

I can tell you don't live where I do. My copper wire DSL goes thru a DSLAM (Digital Subscriber Line Access Multiplexer) that many other users SHARE. This can be a weak link in the system and in that regard is not unlike cable. I pay for 3 Mb/s internet (minimum you can buy is 1.5) and share a DSLAM with about 90 other connections. That DSLAM is connected to 6 T1 lines (1.5 Mb/s) for a total of 9 Mb/s. Windstream in this case is supposedly sending up to 135 Mb/s (90 X 1.5) thru a 9 Mb/s bottleneck. Hah Hah! What a bad joke. I see wild variations of speed throughout the day from as low as about 0.1 Mb/s (~NOTHING) from 6 pm-Midnight to maybe 2 Mb/s at 3-4 am in the morning. And, yes I do know that Windstream is at the bottom when it comes to DSL choice and couldn't care less about Joe Blow consumer. DRCars

 

[grohgreg]

No problem. Had you specified DSLAM even once in this thread, you could have us all a lot of typing. Nonetheless, the suggestion to test drive cable for an overlap month stands.

//greg//

 

[DRCars]

?? Did you perhaps think I was the OP ??

I was just butting in with my take on DSL (Windstream in particular).

DRCars

 

[Scott Greczkowski]

I have DSL available to me, but only 3MB service. Up to 20MB if I go with UVSERSE.

My cable company offers 150 MB service.

Which one do you think I got?

DOCSIS 3 has fixed all the big issues that cable internet had. Now your downloads don't slow if your uploading something.

 

[grohgreg]

?? Did you perhaps think I was the OP ??

My bad. Would have been more clear if I'd have typed "Had the OP had mentioned DSLAM"...//greg//

 

[king3pj]

Assuming your DSL is traveling via copper wire, the speed will vary relative to the length of the wire it travels. Those closest to the central office will get the fastest speed, those at the end of the line will get the slowest. But because it's a dedicated line, at least you can pretty much count on getting the same data speed day or night. Cable on the other hand carries shared broadband; as the number of simultaneous users on that segment of cable increases, the data speed of each user decreases. In other words you can count on your data speed slowing down during prime time internet usage hours.

My recommendation is to get a one month trial cable subscription, but hang onto the DSL just in case. If after a month you're satisfied with cable, drop the DSL subscription. If not, drop the cable.

//greg//

Maybe it's because I'm in a semi-rural area but I don't get the prime time slowdown I've been hearing about for years with my Charter cable modem. It doesn't matter what time of day I check. My speedtest.net results are consistently higher than the 30Mb download I pay for. I typically test between 35-40Mb download no matter what time it is. My video streaming and online gaming are consistently good.

 

[grohgreg]

Just depends upon how many subscribers are on your cable tributary. In rural areas, cable internet branches out from a common feed to serve side roads, housing developments, etc. If the tributary is long enough, there's a repeater at the branch. It's from that point that an increasing number of simultaneous users pulls down individual data rates. Lesser populated tribs don't feel the effect until more subs pile on.

//greg//

 

[Stargazer]

I remember the congestion that Frontier had in my area for their DSL service. They corrected that when they upgraded the central offices to a new fiber ring.

 

[Teehar]

AT&T 6 Mb down for $45 or Charter 30Mb down for $40...Charter wins hands down.Granted the $40 is a 12 month promo but,we are on our second year of the introductory price.Oh,we can still get analog channels via qam with the internet from Charter.

 

[lparsons21]

What you need to know is the speed verses the price for your location. DSL if you can get it at 6mbit is good for 1 HD stream. If it is only 3mbit at your house you will only get 1 standard definition stream. If you only stream one thing at a time and you live where DSL gives you 6mbit+ you might be able to save some money by going with the DSL connection. If you need more bandwidth cable modem is the way to go. If you want to stream more than 1 HD, or if DSL does not go above 5mbit you need cable modem.

3Mb will do HD streams just fine, used to do it all the time. What it won't do is Netflix's SuperHD. And when I had 6Mb DSL I did 2 HD streams quite often with no problems at all.