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General discussion

DSL or Cable?

Feb 21, 2004 12:49AM PST

After 6 years of dial-up, my town is finally getting DSL and Cable services. My question is which is better? I only know people who have DSL. They say it is great compared to dial-up but how is it to cable? Thanks in advance.

Discussion is locked

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Re:Re:Re:DSL or Cable?
Mar 28, 2004 7:32PM PST

You dont have to use Yahoo as your browser or ISP... (SBC trys to make you think that). I actually used Yahoo once (Also hated it) but only to download a far better and uncluttered browser... MSN Explorer from msn.com. Once u setup up a passport account with msn.com, even if you set it up as the dial-up software... u will never be charged because you're not ever going to use the dial-up when you have DSL! Its great and its free and its easier to use then the over-crowded/over-advertised Yahoo browser. I think you'll like it.

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Re:Re:Re:Re:DSL or Cable?
May 14, 2004 2:09PM PDT

I recently switched from MSN dialup to Comcast cable internet service. Comcast is fast and reliable, but I missed my MSN browser and wanted to keep my MSN email, so I signed up for MSN's premium internet software -- free for two months. Problem is, soon MSN will charge me 9.95 per month for this service, and I don't use all the bells and whistles included (like Money, Photos, Encarta, etc.). So, are you saying I can use MSN Explorer for free? And, if I cancel MSN Premium, will my email address still be msn.com, or will it be a hotmail.com?
Thanks for helping out a middle-aged computer newbie who had to use a slide rule in school. Janie

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Re:Re:Re:Re:DSL or Cable?
Nov 25, 2004 10:49PM PST

Spaaking of browsers have you tried Firefox? It is supposedly a safer browser than MSN or Internet Exploer.

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Re:Re:Re:Re:DSL or Cable?
Nov 26, 2004 2:59AM PST

Firefox is great. Looks and works almost like IE but is faster. From what I understand, it is safer as well. I have used it for several months with no problem.

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Re:Re:Re:DSL or Cable?
Mar 28, 2004 9:54PM PST

I too do not like the SBC Yahoo (browser,etc) and I have set my machine up so that I load up with Internet Explorer without the Yahoo items.

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Update.
Mar 29, 2004 5:11AM PST

Since posting the original message, I have worked out the problems. Using Mozilla 1.7beta as browser. Been happy
with Mozilla for over a year. DO NOT use Yahoo browser since it is built on IE6, and I don't allow IE6 to access the internet unless there is no other way. I use Mozilla
Mail to collect ALL acccounts without having to log in and out.

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Re:DSL or Cable?
Mar 29, 2004 8:10AM PST

I have had used both Comcast's cable AND SBC/Yahoo's DSL--I kept them both for a few months when the DSL was not dependable.

Comcast was overpriced and I hated the USB modem. The service was dependable, though . . . I read where someone had hidden costs or something. I had some strange charges, I'd like to know more about that!

I still have SBC/Yahoo DSL, after two service calls they fixed a phone line problem that was creating problems. I highly recommend not using any of their software (not needed at all as long as you have Windows XP), and certainly get rid of their browser and myriad other Yahoo! and SBC-specific applications that I found had appeared following installation. I now have no problems.

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Re:Re:DSL or Cable?
Apr 27, 2004 11:56AM PDT

I have yahoo DSL on Windows 98 and none of their software --- all you need is a login routine. I've used EnterNet 300 in the past (left over from previous DSL), but now I have the script stored in my router (NETGEAR). 3 machines on the LAN---all work great.

Response time improved noticeably when I dumped Yahoo's excess baggage.

BTW, in addition to the cutesy IE-helpers and the login (Connection Manager) SBC also installs BroadJump, an affiliate software package that watches and tries to manage your setup with a minimum of SBC technical overhead. I found the SBC corporate spin on this at the BroadJump website, as published in Forbes Magazine:

http://www.broadjump.com/customers/successstories/successstories.asp

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Re:Re:Re:DSL or Cable?
Mar 29, 2004 10:37AM PST

Well, I have to say that I love dsl, and if your really cool, you dont let all that yahoo (if you use yahoo sbc dsl) and other stuff get to you. Also, Im not sure how this is with cable, but you seem to be able to keep an IP address for a considerable amount of time, and that helps if you run a server.

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Re:Re:Re:Re:DSL or Cable?
Mar 29, 2004 10:40AM PST

And dont use IE or the Yahoo browser or any of that, which I see you havent, but for other readers. Mozilla is the ONLY way to go, really, IE is outdated and has little support for modern internet standards without "exploding" all over its self. Microsoft cant sit around and think its the best anymore and not improve its products...

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Re:Re:Re:DSL or Cable?
Mar 29, 2004 12:08PM PST

Read your contract. It probably mentions a limit as to how many gigabytes you can send and receive per month. Once you reach your monthly limit, they will place caps on a per account basis. THis is to keep the song swappers from hogging up all the bandwidth.

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Re:Re:DSL or Cable?
Nov 25, 2004 9:05PM PST

Depend on many factors is an under statement!
*Cable? I don't expect to see it down our county road for another 5 to 10 years.
*DSL? We are at the tail end of the distant from our SBC service control center. We were told by Ameritech (now SBC) service techs several times (5) five years ago to fix problems with our service due to the main phone service cable along the side of the road (buried in muck soil) that the cable needed replaced, and that it has the maximum number of noise suppressers allowed, plus several bad areas in the line that had been repaired more then once. They have not replaced the cable yet, so not much hope until the whole line stops working. I'm on the last two lines that work in the cable.
*Dialup is the only choice I have at this point. The speed ranges from 32,000 (generally 28,000, 26,000, and 24,000) and as low as 4,000 mbps No that isn't a typo. The last I heard was that the phone line is required to have a minimum of 14,000 mbps. I spend 3/4 of my time waiting. Not a dang thing I can do. I refuse to move I've live here for 52 years. What other option do I have? I need speed for my work.

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DSL or Cable?
Nov 25, 2004 11:23PM PST

I have some friends who life in rural areas and they use satelitte. Sure it's not cable, but much better than dial-up, kinda like a medium DSL. Be sure to find a streamline setting taylored for satelitte to improve bandwidth throughput and get the most from your connection.

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Re:Re:DSL or Cable?
Nov 26, 2004 5:13AM PST

DirectWay From directTV is the only option that I know of. it is a bit pricy I thank.

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Re:Re:DSL or Cable?
Nov 26, 2004 11:18AM PST

try direct pc satellite

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Satellite
Jan 10, 2005 10:02PM PST

I used Direcway Satellite fast Internet Access for almost two years, because there was no DSL or Cable in our area either. It's a lot faster than the Dial-up and they are constantly working to get even faster. Of course there are some problems whith bad weather and I had trouble everytime with software upgrades.
The monthly fee is not more than with the cable, I use now, but the installation, the dish and the receivers was $ 600 in the beginning. After I switched now, I have to get rid of it, probably sell it on Ebay for a lot less.
Anyway it was worth it for me, because there was no other choice and I needed a faster connection.
Marion

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Satalite instead
Jan 11, 2005 2:31AM PST

If dsl & cable is not an option the try satalite, I think thats it is available for as low as $60.00 per month, but it does have a high equiment charge. I think around $1500.00

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Re:Re:DSL or Cable?
Nov 25, 2004 11:01PM PST

In regard to being stuck with Yahoo, I uninstalled all of the Yahoo components ( you can find out how in the help section), and use hotmail and OE or Firefox and thunderbird, works just fine.

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Not So Fast My Friend
Jan 11, 2005 5:43AM PST

There is nother inherently wrong with Yahoo. The amount that you use or do not use it is up to you. I personally like the music videos, radio stations and videos that I now have access to because I am a Yahoo DSL subscriber.

Am I happy that MyYahoo page has changed from what I was used to? In some ways yes and in some no. Basically, once I get acclimated to the new stuff, I'll be just fine.

Give Yahoo and chance. It isn't any worse than anyone elses stuff and you really don't have to use it if you don't want to.

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DSL or Cable?
Jan 22, 2005 1:18AM PST

I have Comcast @ work & home. I hardly ever see a difference in my speed. Any problems are taken care of quickly & no problems with email size or no need for email relaying.

I have a cousin that has Verizon DSL @ work & they have had nothing but problems with it. They occasionally get disconnected. They have several limits on their email. They have to very often send jpegs to customers via email. They are constantly getting error messages related to the size of their email because of the jpegs & their mailbox fills quickly from customers responding, possibly with more jpegs. Very often she will correspond at home because she has Comcast cable there. She has never had these problems with cable. Something else is that they would like to include their website email address as the return address in their messages. Guess what? Verizon won't let you do that!! You HAVE to use your Verizon email username as your return address in your email address. I will be setting up email relaying for them in the future. But knowing how Verizon DSL limits you, they probably have a way to cap that. They are just biting at the bit to get Comcast in the area of their business. As soon as it is available, I'm sure they will be jumping on board.

The only thing Verizon DSL has going for it is that it is cheaper, but also definitely slower. I can tell the difference very easily in Comcast & Verizon. Comcast wins hands down!!

I would only go with DSL if I HAD to!!!!

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Re:DSL or Cable?
Mar 26, 2004 6:52AM PST

Hello.........well, I don't know anything about DSL. I have had cable (@Home and now Chartermi.net)since '99 and I just love it.

Here's what I know and have. I have Charter basic cable for the TV for around $12 a month plus I have their Pipeline Internet service for $39 a month. When I use the Bandwidth meter here on CNET I am getting 1500 kb.
Without the basic cable for TV they want to raise my internet service $10 (from $39 to $49) and I figure for that $10 I'd rather have something rather than nothing. I also have DirecTV sattelite. I found it was cheaper to go with DirecTV than Cable TV. Cable can keep their "Golden Nuggets" as they called them. I could get my local channels with the sattelite for about 1/3 the cost of the basic cable TV but then they want to up the internet. So it's up to you......I love my Pipeline connection and I would just die if I had to go back to dial-up(I do keep a back up dial-up ISP for those rare occasions when the cable goes down).

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Re:DSL or Cable?
Mar 28, 2004 11:51AM PST

I had a cable modem for about 3 years through Comcast, and then switched to DSL through Earthlink when @home started having their finincal problems. Earthlink was giving 3 months free, waived activiation fee, and a free DSL modem. I've had it for almost 3 years, and have not experinced any major problems with it, other than it being out for one week due to a problem at the Central Office that my phone line uses. Generally speaking, the speed is about the same, although the upload speed is a bit slower, which I notice sometimes. If you are thinking about getting a cable modem, keep these items in mind:
-As with Comcast, the Internet service cost more if do not get their Cable TV service. If you already have Cable TV, this shouldn't be an issue.
-The trap that they use to block out extended basic channels also will block the Internet Service. So, you have to have the "extended basic" if you have Cable TV and want Internet access.
-Depending on how your connection is setup, you could be sharing your connection with others in your area. Living in a condo, my building has 5 units (including mine)each with four connections each, all comming off one regular coax line from the main trunk line.

The best thing to do would be to go to broadband.com and enter in your phone number to determine if you can get DSL based on your address.

Hope that helps.

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Re:Re:DSL or Cable?
Apr 18, 2004 4:43PM PDT

Hi, I just wanted to say that I had basic cable through Comcast. Then I decided to go broadband two years ago. I'm getting 2400 to 3000kbs depending on the time of day it is. My friend down the street has DSL through Yahoo. He's getting around 1200kbs. But I am paying $15 a month more than he is. But man is it worth it. I would never go DSL if I had to choice. And on the problem with having basic and not exspanded cable and how it will slow your speeds down. What I found out is that when they installed broadband in my home they also opend exspanded cable. How I found this out is that shortly after they installed it we had a power outage. When the power came back on my cable box would not work. So I hooked it derectly to the tv and found out that I had exspanded cable with out the box. So this tells me that they do open the line for expanded cable so your cable modem will operate correctly and at the high speeds there advertizing. Because I disconnected the cable box years ago just to see what I would get. And got the same as if the box were connectd. So the myth of having to also pay for exspanded cabe to get the higher speeds, or to have broadband installed is a big fat (FALSE)

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Re:DSL or Cable?
Mar 28, 2004 11:51AM PST

I have been using cable for several years and have only rarely been without high speed connections. Problems with my router and other things were the problem so I am quite happy. DSL depends upon the age of the basic system but I have numerous friends who use DSL and have had problems. Most problems seem to stem from using AOL or other portals which don't have their act together. If you have to use AOL, Earthlink, or others, check out http://www.dslreports.com/ or other sites to find out how users in your area have been treated.

CBS

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Re:DSL or Cable?
Mar 28, 2004 12:47PM PST

Our home has DSL but others I know with cable get at least twice the down & up speed, even more. DSL reliability affected by condition of line, distance to phone company point of service and mainly phone line usage. ie., on one line we have 4 display phones, 2 regular phones, 2 modems, dialup, all-in-one fax, and extra jacks for portability. All this=no wonder DSL is slower than Cable. I strongly recommend Cable and plan to switch shortly.

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Re:DSL or Cable?
Mar 28, 2004 12:56PM PST

I would go Cable, even if it is a little more expensive. I think, with the soon to be announced, legislation on telephone rates, pertaining to one price long distance and increased pricing for local service, that I may drop my home phone, (landline)service, and use cable and cell phone.

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Re:Re:DSL or Cable?
Mar 28, 2004 3:04PM PST

Hola Gordo, Supongo que hables espanol y yo estoy tratando aprenderlo. Me gusto su nombre.

Cesar

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Re:DSL or Cable?
Mar 28, 2004 1:00PM PST

I have had cable ISP service through Charter for about 6 years now and my opinion used to be that it really didn't matter which one you went with. DSL is technically superior, but then again so was BetaMax, but cable was more than acceptable in terms of download speeds, upload speeds, and bandwidth allowance between most of the providers in my area. I actually tried to get DSL first but at that time it was at the beginning of the phone company's foray into being an ISP provider and I had so many problems just trying to get it set up and installed that I finally gave up and went with cable. I have no regrets in doing so and have had very few problems with my cable service. The main problem I used to complain about was that their pop servers went down fairly regularly and you could not acces your email at all, but in the past year they seem to have cleared that problem up. But recently I have discovered for me, the deciding factor in which one to choose, VOIP. I started using it a few months ago and have loved it, and the savings of 50% on my phone bill each month with unlimited long distance. So for me now DSL does not make sense because you still would have to have an active connection to the local switching station and by not having an active connection I was able to disconnect all incoming lines to my house, used to be 4 of them, and route the output of my VOIP medom(it does just the reverse of what a modem does so that is why I call it a medom) back in to the phone wiring in my house and have all the jacks run of my medom. End of the debate for me!

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Re:DSL or Cable?
Mar 28, 2004 1:14PM PST

There are a number of factors to consider, when deciding on DSL or Cable, Speed is not one of them as you have seen through the thread - What is promised and what are actual depend on a number of factors.
The following questions should be asked:
Maximum attainable speed Down and Up.
For DSL what is the signal to noise ratio for my line as well what was the loop back test result usually measured in decibals and meters or feet depending on the company. If you are higher than 56 db and longer than 800 meters (2700 feet)than you are going to be slower than the max. However, depending on the company alot of companies now have what are known as stingers that provide longer reach with higher speeds.
I am in Edmonton Canada, our regular dsl is 1.560 Mbs down and 640Kb up, and I attain that on a regular basis
For cable what is the maximum connections per node and what is the maximum number of users per cable segment.
The more connections on a cable segment will lower your speeds, you will also need to know if they do capping(putting a maximum on a user).

These questions will give you a lot of information.

The other thing to remember that the fastest speed you can get is the slowest speed in the line. In other words you can only go as fast as the other guy can give you. It the other site is on a 56k line that's as fast as you can go.

For both dsl and Cable be sure to ask what you are paying for (some companies include equipment and maintenance in the price, you may also get a discount for bundling). I pay 34.95 for full service, including modem and installed service which means the telephone company repairs anything that goes wrong with the dsl.

These types of facts are the same in Canada as well as the US. Although as one of the threads mentioned tier 1 DSL may be slower south of the border. But in either case it will definitely be faster than 56k dial up.

Another thing to remember is that with either cable or DSL your computer is always connected to the Internet and therefor I would recommend either a software or Hardware firewall, hardware being the best (router w/Firewall built in).

hope this helps
sorry for the book..:-0
Ron Palmer
AKA Quality Results

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Re:Re:DSL or Cable?
Mar 28, 2004 1:52PM PST

I think the next stage of my cable access will be to set up a 80.211g link to support my tenant's network on my cable account and split the cost 50/50. We also only use basic cable, and the provider - RCN - uses the cable for phone as well, with a low fixed price and uncomfortable long distance program. Halving the cable modem bill will save the whole price of phone service and reduce our overall communications utilities by about 30%. And all it will take is upgrading my current wireless modem to "g" and getting a WAP for his Mac.