For the price, I can save about $132 for this year and maybe an additional $60/year afterwards if I go DSL. I am comparing both charter's and sbcyahoo's package of 3.0Mbps. I do lots of online gaming, and I am wondering if DSL is slower than cable, and if so, would it even be noticeable in online play when I enter games with 60 players? (ping jumps up from 100-300 (when full) and I have cable) Thanks
My cable speed is 6 meg, down 384k uplink. You just need to get the full specs from your cable guys. DSL is not available in my area. But FOI has just been installed. It starts with a 5 meg down, 2 meg up. And can goup to 15 meg down and 5 meg up if needed.
I've seen a general trend of DSL having better latency than Cable. I'm sure it isn't the same in all areas but it sure is around me. When I ping my servers at work from my house I get 15ms on 3mb dsl. When I ping from my neighbors house I get 240ms on his 5mb Cable connection. His download speeds are almost twice mine at times but his latency cannot even come close to mine. If you do a lot of online gaming go with DSL.
DSL tends to have better quality - but it also have more factors - age of your house/phone lines, etc. Cable is fairly new with their wiring. If you have a house built.. pre 1950s, you could have problems with the wiring.
The biggest killer of the DSL is the contracts they make you sign.
DSL is good, don't get me wrong. I like DSL but I prefer Cable over it because you don't have to sign a contract. That's what kills DSL.
DSL can be just as fast or faster than cable. They're close enough to be alike but it comes down to the factors effecting service. If you have a problem with DSL, you have to pay to have your home phone lines redone, etc. Plus you're stuck in a year long contract.
Cable may have it's peak times that cause slow downs, but I've never really noticed.
Strange ... my experience of DSL vs cable is the opposite.
I live in the UK (London) and cable tends to have much better latency than DSL. I regularly ping <10ms to game servers. Friends with DSL say they have a much higher contention ratio and worse pings.
I guess it depends on the area you live. You could try asking friends in the same area how they rate the services of their provider, or ask the ISP what contention ratios they use.
Seriously, I switched from cable to DSL and have not complained. I found the service to be about the same. I also play online and it hasn't affected my gaming at all. I would agree with the suggestion of talking to your neighbors. See what people around you think/see...
I'm in the US. As far as UK/EU area goes, your cabling is probably newer in a lot of the places for DSL. Over here we have to sign 1 year contracts that lock you in regardless. Some people sign a contract and aren't able to even get the service working but they still get screwed into paying to get out of it.
The services are almost exactly the same. You really need to judge based on price/bandwidth and contract. I'd go with cable here because it's so easy to work with. DSL on the other hand you have your contract plus you're liable for your own phone lines within your house to be capable of supporting a good quality signal.
If it were cable, the cable company would rerun that line through your house at no charge.
For cable: you share the upstream and dowstream with all the people on your node. Depending on what modulation your provider is using, for example, qam 16 with a 3.2 mhz channel width will provide a 10 mbs upstream (reverse path) and a 256 qam downstream modulation will provide about a 45 mpbs downstream (forward path). If there are a lot of people, the DOCSIS bandwidth could be saturated and you will have slow bandwidth.
For DSL: If you are about 24000 feet from the CO.. you can't get DSL. You're bandwidth from your house to the DSLAM is yours and not shared with anyone however, this is very strictly rate limited.
At least with cable, when MSOs move from DOCSIS 1.1 to DOCSIS2.0, their bandwidth nearly triple. There is only so much bandwidth you can pump through a twisted pair.
Well thanks to everyone who answered. We just built a new house so some of the old wiring issues should not be a problem. As for everything else, it should all be fine since SBC says we can get DSL.
Problem with DSL is those blasted filters you have to attach to every phone in your house. Depending on how close to the CO you are your speeds will be faster/slower. DSL tends to be cheaper (especially for slower speeds) which is good for users who are not looking for high speed gaming. Cable is better in some areas than others as is DSL. In Tampa/Saint Petersburg, Florida, my preference is cable all the way. But, I have business class so I cant exactly compare to residential service. If you are close to the CO and you have new wiring and you DON'T mind putting a stupid/annoying filter on every single phone in your house, get the DSL. If you want equal service, with no hassel. GO CABLE!
personally for me it depends on how much upload you want. With DSL you'll have same up and down, with cable they really limit it. Now in some places like Kansas City and New York, they're begining to run fiber into the homes and businesses. They are really begining to hit that "last mile" with fiber. We have some places here with 30mb up and down in homes. For businesses its 100 up and down if you want it. But between cable and dsl, for me to get the most out of what i do, I would go with dsl.
For cable: you share the upstream and dowstream with all the people on your node. Depending on what modulation your provider is using, for example, qam 16 with a 3.2 mhz channel width will provide a 10 mbs upstream (reverse path) and a 256 qam downstream modulation will provide about a 45 mpbs downstream (forward path). If there are a lot of people, the DOCSIS bandwidth could be saturated and you will have slow bandwidth.
For DSL: If you are about 24000 feet from the CO.. you can't get DSL. You're bandwidth from your house to the DSLAM is yours and not shared with anyone however, this is very strictly rate limited.
At least with cable, when MSOs move from DOCSIS 1.1 to DOCSIS2.0, their bandwidth nearly triple. There is only so much bandwidth you can pump through a twisted pair.
Absolutely correct. I can add that if you ever plan to host game servers your choice is a DSL line with static IP address. Additionally cable lines have some security issues as your are routed based on your MAC address which can be easily imitated, If you are smart enough you can easily steel other people's bandwidth with that.
It really depend on your area.
I live in NYC and I am using RCN cable connection.
They offers 10Mb download and 800kb upload.
It is the fastest connection in my area.
