Re: [WinMac] DSL vs. Cable Modems

Leonard Rosenthol(leonardr[at]lazerware.com)
Fri, 1 Oct 1999 14:17:12 -0400

At 10:41 AM -0700 10/1/99, Darryl Lee wrote:
>In the first generation of cable modems, it *was* easy to sniff the
>line. But the engineers got a clue and programmed the modems to do
>filtering, turning the cable modems into bridges, much like DSL
>modems. i've also heard that they use some form of encryption on
>their packets, but i'm not sure about that.

        AFAIK, there is no crypto in either cable modems - or if
there is, it's not something they are making public knowledge (for
fear the crypto community will nail their butts!)

>By the way, there's nothing really preventing you from running NAT
>on a cable modem. (Um, except some sleazily written service
>agreements. But really, with NAT, it's hard to tell if it's 3
>computers behind NAT, or one really busy websurfer. :)

        Assuming you are willing to deal with those agreements, you
can run NAT on another machine on the network with ANY type of
connectivity. However, if you want static IP's (which is what I
use) then cable is a non-option...

>But DSL certainly seems to be more available than cable. i mean, DSL
>is designed to work over the same copper as POTS (plain old telephone
>service). And at least in the US, there's plenty of that copper.

        Agreed. DSL is available throughout most of the Deleware
Valey while there is almost no Cable Modem service.

> > Another thing to keep in mind with Cable vs. DSL is that
> > Cable modems are designed to be "half-duplex" in that the download
> > speed is high, but upload speeds SUCK (some cable modems use standard
> > 56K for uploads). That means that if you are going to be doing a lot
> > of data sends (Email, FTP uploads, etc.) you may want to look beyond
> > cable.
>
>Sure, but you could say the same of ADSL (Asymmetrical). And at least
>around here, it's a significant amount more to go to SDSL (Symmetrical).

        SDSL is more expensive, but not significantly more, at least
here in Bell Atlantic territory.

>i'd say that DSL's strength is that it can be both a consumer solution
>(ADSL), or a business solution (SDSL, or faster ADSL).

        Yup! And that you can get static IP's over DSL (unlike
cable) and that you can do voice-over-IP.

>On the other hand, not *all* cable modems are asymmetrical. (And i
>really don't think half-duplex is quite the right term, Leonard. :)

        True, that's my old modem days coming back to me...(though in
the old days, they used to describe things like satellite links as
"half-duplex" where the up vs. down speeds were different).

>ALSO, tell me again what makes a PC (presumably with Windows) inherently
>more insecure than a Mac? Just turn off file sharing. It's not like
>it's a Linux box where you have to disable all the ports. >:P

        How about things like BackOrifice, all the known Windows
security holes, etc?

>Leonard wrote:
> > Most of the DSL routers out there include DHCP and NAT
> > functionality, so that you really don't need to hook it up to any
> > computer - it's also a mini hub.
>
>Yes, there are a *lot* of DSL routers out there that do this, and
>they're quite cool. BUT, unlike ISDN, most DSL providers don't really
>give you the option of using whatever cool equipment you just bought
>from Fry's.

        That is true, in most cases they provide the hardware though
you can offer to provide your own if you want. For example, we
actually looked at upgrading my Cisco IDSN router to do DSL, but
since I also needed the ISDN service for other things, I didn't go
that route.

>My home DSL modem is an Alcatel 1000. But can i just go out and buy
>one of these fancy shmancy DSL routers and plug it in? No *way*.

        Sure you can. Unless your service agreement says otherwise,
you own that modem and you can replace it with whatever you want.
I've got a FlowPoint 2200 that Covad provided me, and it's working
great.

>Am i happy about this? Well, on the one hand, choice would be nice,
>but on the other hand, have you ever had problems with an ISDN set-up?

        Not once I got it all configured, nope. I used to have some
problems with the POTS jacks on my Cisco when using them with certain
devices (like Mopiers)...

>How many of you folks
>actually are running on DSL/Cable? Show of hands?
>
        I just recently went to DSL (from ISDN) and no complaints,
once I got the installer past the fact that I was using static IP's
and not NAT...

Leonard

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Leonard Rosenthol Internet: leonardr@lazerware.com
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