Cable vs. DSL?

I weren't sure where to post this, so here goes.

I just went thru a horrible DSL experience. Anyway I got cable hooked back up & I was wondering where some of you test your speeds at. I've been using bandwidthplace.com for a while, but I was wondering what ya'll use or if any of you know if these scores are close to accurite?

I ran the test 4 times in a row & these are actually the lowest of them all.

Communications - 3.5 megabits per second
Storage - 428.2 kilobytes per second
1MB file download - 2.4 seconds

This is way up from what the DSL was getting. I was supposed to have had the 1.5meg DSL, but i was lucky if I got 60-70k at best. Plus the service was atrocious. Made me wonder if being an idiot was a prerequisite to employment. LOL

Anywho.........ideas?

Edit: I'm using a Farralon NIC running the Realtek drivers, as they seem to work better than the drivers that came with the card.

Chris

 

when I first got a cable modem 2 years ago I was getting a 3.5 meg connect and 500k download speed.But after @ home went under my cable company took over running it and they limited the bandwidth so now I get between 1.2 meg and 1.7 meg connect and about 200k down and 248 up. If you want a 3.5 connection now you have to get cable pro and they want 95 a month for that. They are the biggest cable provider now and they keep finding ways to rip you off.. but still better then good old dial up. I use pcpitstop to run my tests as my cable company uses it also for testing.

 

as a speed test site, www.dslreports.com is pretty good.

how was your line quality for DSL? were you a long way from the exchange? do you have many phones plugged into the line?

IMX cable is a bit more stable than dsl, though prone to having shovels stuck thru it.

 

I've got DSL To LA and back.8.30 this morning.This is on a compaq 450 stock going on 4yrs old.
Same test every morning.

2003-09-03 09:32:00 EST: 1077 / 256
Your download speed : 1077209 bps, or 1077 kbps.
A 131.4 KB/sec transfer rate.
Your upload speed : 256739 bps, or 256 kbps.
Seems like broadband .. above the 1mbit barrier!

 

Well we had actually just had all new phone lines run throughout the house, but yes I was quite a distance from the main terminal. I didn't even have a phone hooked to this number, just the DSL. I guess what upset me the most was I'm supposed to be getting the 1.5 meg service, only to find that it was never even available here? So I was paying for something that I never got & never would have.

 

I believe im pretty decent at showing the differences

DSL:
Connects directly through the phone line
This is your OWN PRIVATE DSL LINE, unlike Cable, you DO NOT SHARE tHIS LINE!
Typically, dsl is a bit cheaper, but it all depends on where you live.
For dsl, it depends how close you are to where they are setup to send the signals etc...

Cable:
Connects from a "cable line" (like how you plug cable in to a TV0
Although cable is usually faster than DSL, it is shared within your region of people...in o ther words, if I was in your area....your screwed haha


I think that about covers the basics...

EDIT: If your getting 3.5 mbit speeds all the time...shoot yourself in the head if you go back to DSL

So in other words, if you find out your pretty close to the DSL building, and you live in an area with a lot of rich people, and possibly pr0n people like me....go DSL ....INHO

If not go cable, its typically faster, depending on the people in your area

 

Try www.numion.com seems to do a good job.


www.testmyspeed.com might also be usefull. Can't really say, never used it.

 

No, T1, T3, etc. give you a private line, DSL does not. DSL VS. Cable debate has been going on everywhere for a long time, it needs to stop.
DSL and cable pretty much do the same thing, which one is better strictly depends on your ISP.

www.bandwidthplace.com is a good place for info and speed testing.

 

www.bandwidthplace.com

"Home DSL vs Cable


This is the hottest topic in our discussion forums and is certainly a question asked by most people looking for high speed home Internet connections. Depending on who you ask, you will get very different stories. There is no shortage of both horror stories and praise for both technologies. And that, unfortunately, is the answer - neither Cable nor DSL is better all the time. It depends completely on your local provider.

Despite what some companies would like you to believe, DSL connections are shared Internet connections. With cable connections you share the connection to your ISP with your neighbors and it is true, with DSL you do not and so have your own private connection to your ISP. However, as you can see on our diagram, at the ISP all their users share the ISP's connection to the Internet. This applies to cable, DSL, satellite, dial-up… everything.

As a consumer shopping for a connection your best bet is to talk to people in your area who own the connections you're considering. Cable is highly dependent on the neighborhood and DSL is highly dependent on the physical distance from your house to the nearest ISP CO (central office). This means that experiences vary not only from city to city but even inside the city and inside the same provider. In addition to transmission speed you have to consider price, installation time, and customer support, all factors that depend on the ISPs, not the technology."

 

Ok so I'm doing good then? I really was just wanting to find out some other places to test speeds. i've been using PC Pitstop & Bandwidthpalce for quite some time & just wondered how many others use them or some they felt gave more consitant results.

I named it Cable vs. DSL 'cause I couldn't think of a snazzier name.

 

Just to give you something to compare with...

I ran the test. Here are my results:


Communications: 489.7 kb per second
Storage: 59.8 kb per second
1 mb file download: 17.1 kb per second

I use Bellsouth FastAccess DSL, but have not hooked up the PCI card for ethernet yet, so this is a USB plug and play modem. I just moved to the 'burbs a few months ago & my speed was MUCH faster where I lived previously, in uptown Atlanta around the business parks.

Anyway, you ARE doing well!
I would have opted for cable too, but there is a $22/ month difference where I live. I would LOVE to get a T3 connection one day!

Anyway, I get so much help here that I thought I would post to a thread I didn't begin!

Take Care & Happy Surfing!
Gina

 

Man this site has helped me in ways they could never know. I find my answers alot just searching the archives. I send people here all the time.

 

Re: Just to give you something to compare with...

ummmm i think anyone who isnt stoned would take t3 for ummm anything...but umm ill give my rig for OC-256