Cable or DSL Broadband?

Discussion in 'Hardware' started by MJames23, Mar 6, 2007.

  1. MJames23

    MJames23 Private First Class

    Hi,

    I called my local phone company today and they offer Cable and DSL Broadband service at 256 Kbps. Cable is 34.95 and DSL is 39.95. The modem on my computer is fried, and it continues to fry new modems, so the only way I can connect to the Internet is by an Ethernet card. From what I understand both services connect to a Cable/DSL modem and then connect to the computer via Ethernet cable. So this would work for my computer. However, Cable connects to my cable-tv line and DSL goes through my phone line. My question is, is there any reason I should choose one of these over the other besides price? Is DSL for some reason better? Moreover, I think I'm going to have to do wireless Internet in my house through a router so that I can have all the PCs connect to the Net whenever needed. We have about 3 computers. Do you have any recommendations for routers and are both Cable and DSL compatible with wireless routers? Thank you so much and I hope to hear from you soon!

    Sincerely,
    James
     
  2. Docktor D

    Docktor D Private E-2

    Hi
    I prefer DSL, in my area I have had less down time then I did when I was with cable. there both excellent but keep in mind the more on cable in your area can affect the speed.
    Good Routers
    Dlink is my fav they have given me the least issues
    Lynksy - Belkin - Netgear are all good names
    I have had many an issue with Netgear, but their Tech support was excellent and in instances where the product had to be replaced they sent me new unit
    then I sent back the problem unit (thats excellent service)
    Lynksy not quite as good but I would still buy theit product.
    hope this helps
    Doc
     
  3. Colemanguy

    Colemanguy MajorGeek

    First its linksys not Lynksy. Second linksys makes very decent routers/network stuff. Any router your find is decent enough to be used, its just a matter of personal choice.
     
  4. aidan80

    aidan80 Private First Class

    Get cable drop DSL then drop your phone line and get a VoIP service. Thats my advice, for under $100 (US) I've got basic cable, unlimited calls to north America & Europe and an 8 Meg cable connection.

    What I'd like to know is.. how is your "modem fried" and how does it "continue to fry new modems" I'm assume you refer to an internal 56k PCI modem.
     
  5. Colemanguy

    Colemanguy MajorGeek

    Depending on where you live, you may also qualify for dsl with out having phone service on the line. Its starting to be offered that way.
     
  6. MJames23

    MJames23 Private First Class

    Hi,

    Well, I've replaced the internal 56K modem in my computer three times now. Each time it will work for about 3-4 months, then next thing I know the computer doesn't even recognize the modem. It used to be that if I replaced the broken modem with a new one it would work fine for another couple months. Nowadays, even when I put a new modem in all of the slots on my motherboard the computer does not recognize the modem and there's no way I can get on dial-up Internet. It does, however, for some reason recognize my ethernet card still. Bear in mind this computer is seven years old this summer! I run WinXP SP2, 735 MHz PIII, 256 Megabits of RAM, 20 Gig HD. The only things I've upgraded on this machine are the following: added 128 Megs of RAM, added a NEC DVD RW drive Christmas 2006. I also installed a Netgear ethernet card after my US Robotics card had a similar problem that my modems are now having. It runs basic applications like MS Office and web browsers wonderfully. I use it to store financial information, music, and text files and photos. I bought it in June 2000; it's a Micron.

    My next computer will probably be a Dell, with 2G RAM, 1 Terabyte HD, Vista Home Premium or Ultimate, Intel Core 2 Duo 2.7GHz+. Looking at upgrading sometime this fall. Maybe after SP1 comes out--when is that supposed to happen by the way?
     
  7. aidan80

    aidan80 Private First Class

    I'm assuming you've uninstalled the drivers, rebooted and then reinstalled the drivers when your computer failed to recognize your modem?

    Where you do live? Do you get many electrical storms, it's possible if you don't have any protection against surges or spikes that maybe the problem. I've had a few modems and ISDN's fried in the past due to electrical activity and surges over the PSTN. Surges and spikes on the grid should (most of the time if they are fairly small) be stored and or discharged when needed by the capacitors in the PSU. I'd recommend a surge protector and or UPS if you are in an area prone to electrical storms. Just an idea!

    Good luck with the new machine, I hope you get it together! I'm looking forward to my new machine!
     
  8. MJames23

    MJames23 Private First Class

    What are the specs going to be for your new machine? Just curious... BTW thanks so much for the advice--I appreciate that.

    James
     
  9. aidan80

    aidan80 Private First Class

    The bold items are what I've already purchased so far the rest are what I will get when more funds are available.

    Intel PentiumD 805 @3.66Ghz - ZALMAN CNPS9500
    G.SKILL 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Dual
    2x 160GB - 320GB SATA 3.0 RAID 0
    ABIT AW8D Intel LGA 775 975X Motherboard
    • 2x PCI Express x16
    • 2x PCI Express x1
    • 1x PCI
    • 1x AudioMAX – 8 Channel Dolby Master Studio
    • 2x Dual 10/100/100Mbps LAN
    • 4x USB 2.0
    • 2x IEEE 1394

    EVGA NVIDIA GeForce 7600GT 256MB PCI-E x16

    The idea is.. lots of power for little cash! I haven't made up my mind about a case, PSU, monitor or optical drives yet. I may add another GeForce 7600GT SLi in time and most likley add larger drives in time but for now.. the above is what I'm aiming for on a budget.

    As far as an OS is concerned.. I'll wait till all the wrinkles are ironed out of Vista before I fork over any cash. I currently have Vista B2 & XP Pro running dual boot with SUSE 10.x in a VM.
     
  10. sosaman

    sosaman Sergeant Major

    well, i would say go dsl for the price, however that depends on your location. where i'm at, i've got dsl for about $20 a month, but lately i've been having problems (i'm 90% sure on their end again), off and on. anyway, they advertise cable (internet), for like $39.99 a month for 6 mo., then it's back at it's regular price ($49.99), which i'm not going to pay. so, i'll stick with my dsl for now, because of the price!! ;)

    fyi, the most i've had in my apartment, was 6-7 computers at one time (doing basic stuff, etc.).

    also, i've used linksys adapters, d-link modems/routers w/o any problems. however, i'm leaning more towards d-link as i'm getting more used to their software. - sos
     
  11. MJames23

    MJames23 Private First Class

    One thing that concerns me about Dell computers lately when I've configured them for fun is that they no longer offer options for a sound card. And great music quality is important to me. All my music files are in WAV format on my PC. On the computers I've configured they only offer integrated audio. Any thoughts on this or reasons why this might be?

    Also, Aidan80, are you going to use Vista Ultimate or Home Premium or what? What are you going to do with dual LAN?

    Finally, does anyone have any recommendations for a good external HD to backup a MacOSX HD? I need to find one for work--I work in a research lab and I need to find one to backup our data. (Maybe 50 Gigs needed).

    Thanks,
    James
     
  12. aidan80

    aidan80 Private First Class

    You could check what type of sound card you have on your Dell and go to the manufacturer’s website and download new drivers. E.g. you have integrated audio on an Intel motherboard, get the model number for the motherboard (should be in the documentation) or the sound card and run a search on intel.com. Often you will find new features with updated drivers and additional options, sometimes better audio management software. I try if at all possible to avoid integrated audio for personal use; I still use an old SB Live Value which cost about $50 for an OEM 4 or 5 years ago when I purchased it. That SB Live still beats the live out of most integrated audio that I’ve encountered so far, well at least for MP3 & WAV playback. You could always search out a dedicated audio processor if you want truly great audio.

    Integrated audio has become common over the past 10 – 12 years in my experience. Back when I first trained as a IT Technician we were still using the ISA bus to connect the old Creative SB and SB 16’s and variants.. then manually configuring the DMA’s & IRQ’s in DOS, Windows 3.x or even Windows 95. It’s a lot cheaper and easier now for a manufacturer to add an extra few IC’s to a south bridge than it is to produce an actual card, with a chip installed and connected to a spare PCI slot. Integrated audio also allows the manufacturer to free up valuable real estate on the motherboard which can be used for an additional components.. a PCI slot for example.

    I’m not sure which Vista to go for just yet, depends on how well stocked the bank is when it comes time. I would like to aim for the ultimate edition if I can. I honestly have no use for dual LAN at home, it’s integrated on the motherboard I’ve got it weather I like it or not. I could bridge it and use ICS should my router suffer an early death. :)
     
  13. Lanfear

    Lanfear Private First Class

    around my area DSL is on very shakey ground... the max speed i can get is 1.5mb... not megabyte..... megabit..... that is just unacceptable to me... so i have a 10mb cable line.... and now i am planning on upgrading that because they just finished running the verizon FIOS lines in my neighborhood.... 20mb line here I come
     

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