Next message: Changhsu P. Liu: "RE: [WinMac] Cable vs DSL"
>I'm considering getting high speed internet access for home use and
>have the option of cable or DSL. What's the best way to go about
>choosing which one would be best other than signing up and
>performing speed tests?
>
>I've heard that in choosing between cable and DSL it really matters
>where you are geographically and who is providing the service. I
>realize that cable has a slightly higher potential bandwidth but
>that it's shared with your neighbors where as DSL is more like a
>switched network. So how do I know which to go with?
I have DSL at the office through Verizon (with a separate ISP), and
Cable at home with AT&T (because I cannot get DSL in my home area.)
For reliability, I prefer the DSL, because for the rare exception
when some road crew took out half of the state of Washington two
years ago, it has almost never been down. Cable seems to be down for
periods ranging from a few minutes to several hours every weekend
(and maybe more often, but that is when I am typically using it at
home.)
Cable is slightly faster, but I don't think there are that many
people in my home area who are on the net. So I am not sharing much
bandwidth.
I am able to have a different ISP with DSL, and I do because I did
not like the customer service at Verizon's DSL department. I don't
think that is an option with cable. Although I will also add that it
is usually cheaper to use the DSL company as the ISP anyway.
Security is supposedly more of an issue with cable, but I put both of
them into a router and use Network Address Translation to give my
home and office networks access. That is about as much security as I
need, but then again we do not have to access our internal networks
from outside.
Since you have the choice, I would:
1. Ask other people on the same system about down times.
2. Figure you will get the same customer service with DSL as you do
with your phone company, and with cable as you do with your cable
company.
3. Compare price. (And compare apples to apples here, because there
are usually several bandwidth choices with DSL.)
4. See what kind of firm install date they will give you. In some
areas it is 6 months or more for DSL. Cable is usually faster if
your house is already wired.
5. Take a look to see where you want the modem, and figure you will
need to get the phone line or cable to that point. It's usually
easier and less obtrusive to run the phone line around walls,
furniture, etc.
Either way, both cable and DSL are such a monumental improvement over
dial-up that you will enjoy either one.
Rick Kent
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: Wed Jan 15 2003 - 16:32:38 EST