DSL or Cable?

eGoCeNTRoNiX · Post by **eGoCeNTRoNiX** » Mon Apr 14, 2003 12:12 am

Hey Guys.. I'm gonna be moving soon and I'll be able to get either of the two. I'm going to be networking anywhere from 4-8 PCs and was wondering which connection would be better for speed. The websites for both of my local companies say that they offer speeds up to 50x faster than dial-up.. But isn't one faster than the other? I'll be living in an apartment complex in the middle of the city, so I don't know if cable would be the best way to go as your speed depends on how many people in your area are using the conxn when you are. While DSL, so I've heard, only depends on your backbone for speed and you lose no speed when everybody is online? Any truth to that? Any opinions are appreciated.. eGo

Judg3 · Post by **Judg3** » Mon Apr 14, 2003 1:37 am

In a nutshell, when it all comes down to it. Cable = Faster Download. DSL = More Stable & Faster Upload.

I prefer DSL, though it's just me. Unless the cable company are a bunch of morons and oversold their bandwidth, you won't really notice a slowdown. I've used cable service at times from 4-5 diffrent cable companies, and never noticed any. DSL is usually slower on the downloads (for a comparable price) but more often then not will have a faster upload. Most cabl companies filter out the good ports (80,25,21,20, etc) which means if you want run any servers, you have to do it on a weird port. Most DSL companies don't, and some (aka speakeasy) even allow and encourage you to run servers.

Best bet is to go to dslreports.com - find out what's available for DSL in your area. Then cheak all those forums. And even though it's called DSLreports.com, they have other broadband services too, so check out the forums for your local cable internet service provider. See what people say about it.

One of the things a lot of people don't think about too, is routing. Are you a gamer? If so, you really don't want a provider that sends your packets from the east to the west coast again, if though your only trying to play with your buddy 5 miles away (@Home is known for doing this).

Oh, yeah, turn-around time. When I usually do when I move is sign up for both a cable modem and DSL. If you own your cable modem, most places can hook you up in about an hour - from the time you call and ask to sign up, to surfing. DSL, however, takes anywhere from 1 to 8 weeks (My 3Mbit SDSL took 8 weeks to get setup, but boy was it worth it when done!) to get setup, as they have to test your lines, configure things on their end and either mailing you plugin type line filters for your phones (ADSL) or sending a technician over to instal a special filtered wallplate that's specifically for the DSL (S/V/X/DSL).

Another reason I like DSL is there's usually more then just 1 provider. This means some places will have much better customer service then others, but it varies. I had RoadRunner cable modem service - loved em, no ports blocked, speedy & reliable.. Real bad customer service. When I moved, I signed up with Cable from Charter - not the fastest guys around, but the support and customer service is phenomenal.

Phew, I typed a lot more then I thought I would, but I hope it helps you out!

Lmandrake · Post by **Lmandrake** » Mon Apr 14, 2003 6:44 am

I have nothing to add to what Judg3 said except that my personal experience has been that Cable is faster and more reliable than DSL. However, the difference in reliability for me has been so small and both have been pretty much problem free. So it really just comes down to speed.

It really comes down to how good your provider is, not the technology. I would second the recommendation to check out http://www.dslreports.com.

Post by **FlyingPenguin** » Mon Apr 14, 2003 8:42 am

Depends where you're at. Cable & DSL are the same price here but cable is 1.2/256 while DSL is only 512/128 for the same price. At double the download & upload speed, cable was a no-brainer.

Cable's been just about as reliable here as DSL. I'm in Florida, cable is Comcast (using AT & T routers) and DSL is Sprint.

dadx2mj · Post by **dadx2mj** » Mon Apr 14, 2003 8:51 am

I agree it mostly depends on the Service Provider and what is offered and the quality of service. I have had Road Runner cable for the last 5yrs. The first year was a little shaky as service was new but the last 4 yrs have been great. Service is advertised as 1.5Mbs down 365kbs upload I regularly get 2Mbs down on tests and am always right at the 365kbs upload cap.

eGoCeNTRoNiX · Post by **eGoCeNTRoNiX** » Mon Apr 14, 2003 10:41 am

Well, I think I am going to go with Cable based on what you guys have said. It's RoadRunner, we also have EarthLink. The DSL in this area is offered at 1.4mbs down, not sure about the up. At least that's what a buddy of mine has. I have played on both of them at two different peoples houses and was a little more impressed with cable than DSL. I'm checking out the website now. I guess I'll let you guys know what I chose when the time comes. Thanx for the advice.. eGo

DoPeY5007 · Post by **DoPeY5007** » Mon Apr 14, 2003 11:40 am

the problem with DSL is if you are uploading alot, your download will be shot, Cable isn't like that!.

I have both

And when my router is being nice it rocks!

Judg3 · Post by **Judg3** » Mon Apr 14, 2003 11:56 am

Good call ego - If I had RoadRunner available, I'd probably be using that (well, that is, if my fiancee didnt work for the phone company, we get 1.5MBit SDSL for only 10$/month). I loved RoadRunner, it was fast and one of the stablest cable modem service I've used (Plus, they dont block ports either

BillyGoat · Post by **BillyGoat** » Mon Apr 14, 2003 12:20 pm

I thing to think about if you wanna run a ftp, vpn or anything like that you cant do it on cable, most dsl you can, I have cable but when i throw up a ftp i put it on port 27015 (Halflife and CS port)
looks like your just gaming :-)

DoPeY5007 · Post by **DoPeY5007** » Mon Apr 14, 2003 12:38 pm

I run HTTP on my cable just fine. Port 80

http://dopey5007.dynu.com ( it may load balance between my cable and DSL though )

BillyGoat · Post by **BillyGoat** » Mon Apr 14, 2003 1:13 pm

port 80 isnt very suspicious, port 21 or vpn ports are... i lost cable service in oregon due to pcanywhere gay huh?

DoPeY5007 · Post by **DoPeY5007** » Mon Apr 14, 2003 1:31 pm

Originally posted by BillyGoat
port 80 isnt very suspicious, port 21 or vpn ports are... i lost cable service in oregon due to pcanywhere gay huh?

so because you used PCanywhere they cut your line?

that is very lame!

one of the guys I work with here put that on the PC's he does work on so if the end user has a problem he can just log in from his PC and not have to drive out on the simple things....

Slugbait · Post by **Slugbait** » Mon Apr 14, 2003 11:26 pm

An alternative to PCAnywhere would be NetMeeting. I think PCAnywhere uses a port known to be used for webservers, while NetMeeting doesn't...not sure.

BillyGoat · Post by **BillyGoat** » Mon Apr 14, 2003 11:42 pm

actually VNC works great now as it tunnels in on commonly used ports, cable companys will do anything for extra money, they want you to upgrade to buisiness class to vpn

PreDatoR · Post by **PreDatoR** » Tue Apr 15, 2003 12:21 am

is that all it takes to get a friggin' business account! I've wanted one for a while since I can get a upload speed of 1mbps so i can run a BF1942 server but the assholes won't give me a business account cause i'm not a business i asked charter WTF does it matter to them isn't it money coming in so why should it matter if i'm a business or not...

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DSL or Cable?

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