DSL or Cable?

[Chris]

After some tweaks, I can now get up to 1megabyte download. thats about 8megabit. HA!

[mitch9465]

cable

[itsmeek]

Originally posted by CAptynCrunch
Cable faster then DSL? Bullpuck!

Things may be different in the states, but here in canada every single cable service offers a top transfer speed of 1.0 mb/sec. And although that is faster then stage 1 DSL, the same speed as stage 2 DSL, it's definitly slower then stage 3 DSL.

Here, I have a totally uncapped DSL line with a private hub connection out at the main substation box thingy a couple of kilometers or so down the road. The reason for this is I'm not actually in the service area for DSL at the moment but we're field testing a loopextender for my dads company that extends the range of DSL(technically the testing ended a few months ago, we just haven't had to give it back yet.)

Even with this weaker signal I still maintain a down speed of 1.45 mb/sec. and because of the loop extender my up speed is quitea bit lower then it should be, it's only at about 500kb/sec.

However if you just get the regular level 3 DSL connection you get 1.5mb/sec down and 1.0mb/sec up. Thats the same upload as cable, but a 50% increase in download. Plus DSL isn't affected by howmany people are using the net at one time.

So, bottom line, If your willing to pay the probably $5 extra a month then get DSL. It's faster in every way.

If your looking for soemthing faster then dialup thats not really any more exspensive, then get cable.

mwahahahaha it's because we use all your cable connection output. the americans. thanx at&t. thats sucks..ehh?

[wickedG20]

Originally posted by AEstud
DSL is not a true dedicated line. b/c once it gets to the phone lines its traveling with all of the other traffic on the wire. Cable is a true dedicated line. DSL is better for networking anyways.

It's the other way around bud, dsl is private and cable is shared. I have dsl and feel that although i never have to share any bandwith, its worth it to get cable.

Downloading is about the same on both cable and dsl, but the uploads on cable are 4-10x faster than dsl. And I thought dsl will also provide you with another phone line, NOPE. So definately go w/ cable.

[itsmeek]

Originally posted by wickedG20


It's the other way around bud, dsl is private and cable is shared. I have dsl and feel that although i never have to share any bandwith, its worth it to get cable.

Downloading is about the same on both cable and dsl, but the uploads on cable are 4-10x faster than dsl. And I thought dsl will also provide you with another phone line, NOPE. So definately go w/ cable.

this is true, cable is shared, dsl is dedicated.

[AEstud]

Originally posted by wickedG20


It's the other way around bud, dsl is private and cable is shared. I have dsl and feel that although i never have to share any bandwith, its worth it to get cable.

Downloading is about the same on both cable and dsl, but the uploads on cable are 4-10x faster than dsl. And I thought dsl will also provide you with another phone line, NOPE. So definately go w/ cable.

You'll wanna take that up with my CCNA instructor who works for the military and has been networking for 30+ some years.

[itsmeek]

well i gotta masters in information systems engineering and work as a dba now, used to be a network tech. maybe something has changed because i coulda sworn dsl is dedicated and cable isn't.

[Neutrino]

That question depends on so many factors it cannot be answered. for example if you are far away from the server and your phone line is copper the connection will be slow. If you are on optical doesn't matter. aslo depends on what kind of servers and pipelines you isp has. So incertain cases dsl is better sometimes cable is better. It just depends on circumstances.

Also you do share cable so security is an issue also the more users are online in the same time the slower it will be.

[Chris]

Uh, i was under the impression that Cable had a 128kilobit maximum upload, and a multi megabit download.

[Polygon]

Alright here is the deal with Cable and DSL, keep in mind what Neutrino posted.

DSL:

Is a private line just like your good old telephone. The difference is that the telephone bounces back and forth along the wire, this is analog. The DSL signal travels in a straight line on the wire, which is digital. Now obviously DSL is fast because it travels in a straight line. DSL is also quite secure as in most cases you are behind a hardware firewall that is if you have an external router, which is the only way to go. The internal cards they give you are crap. The external routers are managed and can be set up in many different ways. DSL is capable of transfer speeds of up to 7 megabits per second, now like Neutrino said, this all depends on how close to the relay switch you are on conventional copper lines. If you are on fiber then it does not matter since signals sent on fiber lines travel at the speed of light, hell that’s all fiber optics are.

Cable:

Is shared with other people in your service area. If you have cable in most cases if you open the network neighborhood you will be able to see anyone’s systems that have shared drives or printers, and if they are open, meaning no password, you can jump right in and do what you please, or print to their printers. This makes cable VERY insecure. Crackers love people with cable access, they are easy targets unless you buy a router to go between you and the internet. As far as I know cable is not capable of transferring up to 7 megabits per second and I have heard that the upload is capped at 128 kilobits per second. Cable companies don’t want you hosting a server on the net you know. The cable modem is just that, it is a modem converting an analog signal into a digital one and vice versa whereas DSL is all digital. The cable modem is also not manageable; you just plug it in and pray someone does not crack into your system.

In my opinion DSL is by far the better choice. That is mainly because security is my number one priority. You just need to look at yours. I have DSL running 648kbits down and 256kbits up and it came with a Cisco router and I like it very much.