DSL a Shared Resource?

I'm being told by my ISP that DSL is a shared resource.

Any truth to this?

I was under the understanding that the amount of people in your area using DSL wouldn't really affect the bandwidth.

 

Based on the following link, ADSL is distance sensitive only from what I read.

http://computer.howstuffworks.com/dsl3.htm

 

So, what does this mean to me?

If I am getting approx 1.5/896 now, then it will drop off dramtically as more users adapt to DSL in the area?

DSL is new to where I live.

I know my wireless 1.5/1.5 service dramtically drops in speed as users increase.

I thought DSL was more stable than cable because it wasn't a shared resource.

I am confuzzled.

 

http://www.cnn.com/TECH/computing/9903/02/dslsecret.idg/

Hmmm, I guess I'm not seeing any advantage of DSL over cable.

Save that I can't get cable.

The above article is 5 years old..do you think these issues still exist?

I guess I need to hear from some people in big cities with DSL on how the performance is.

Thanks for the info.

 

Also, would this pipe include everyone on Qwest lines?

I can see the telco station from my house for my area, but I guess I am maybe misunderstanding the pipe.


If everyone gets thrown into the same "pipe", is that really any different than the backbone your ISP uses?

 

True, but beyond the CO the pipe (total bandwidth) opens up dramatically in comparison to from your house to the CO. My understanding is that beyond the CO users are switched onto the backbone, sharing it yes but the bandwidth of the backbone is so huge it can handle the load. Cable doesn't have the same switching setup that a telco CO does.

 

Just to add, your DSL provider (in my area SBC) should be able to guarantee the bandwidth of your line to the CO.

 

I am many miles from the central office. They put some kind of repeater in my back yard and I'm the first on the line. Zing Zing.

 

Hmmm...

I thought DSL was more reliable than cable.

 

Man, I wish I came across this post a long time ago. I used to be on the Tech Support team for SBC, supporting the "Ameritech" region. Now this post is going to be a little long but I could'nt think of a simple way to answer your question.

First, understand that Cable and DSL use Identical Technology over Entirely Different mediums.
Frequency Division Multiplexing, is the name of it. You see, a single wire is capable of transmitting Much more then just one signal at a time on different frequencies. With a regular dial-up modem, you are sending data one 1 and 0 at a time, whereas Cable/DSL your sending hundreds of 1's and 0's at a time.

Now the difference between Cable and DSL is sort of the difference between a Hub and a switch. With cable, when you send a transmission, your Broadcasting it to everyone on your "Node" including the central switch, and it is the responsibility of the Modems to tell the difference between transmissions going to you, and transmissions from someone else that are meant for the switch. With DSL, telephone lines RARELY (if not NEVER) connect with each other before they hit the central switch, which is why they say you have a dedicated connection.

Now, with Cable there is usually a lot less people on one "Node", because cable has many more "Nodes" in one region then DSL but even with that, you are still sharing a wire with as many as 10 or more people.
With DSL you have Many people connected to a single "DSLAM". And yes,,, the ammount of people connected and Using a single DSLAM, WILL CAUSE IT TO SLOW DOWN, no matter what any salesman tells you, However, because with DSL you get a strait connection to a DSLAM and are not sharing a wire, DSL scales much better.
When I say "scales much better" I DO NOT mean you are going to be getting better speeds, because you can be DAMN SURE that the network administrators are going to push it to it's limits by trying to connect as Many people as possible (Sometimes more) to a single DSLAM.

The last difference worth mentioning is New vs Old. think about this, when was the telephone line invented, and how long has it been in place, that's right, it's pretty old, Even if those telephone lines were designed with DSL in mind, your still talking about lines that have been put into place in the late 1800's using 1800 technology, Cable however, has only recently had their lines put into place, and cable lines were designed for the express purpose of carying an FDM signal.

Sorry it was kind of long, but I hope this helps.

 

I dont know all that much about how ADSL works

But over here in the UK i moved into a new housing estate, and i got blinding fast speeds, now a year later and many more people have ADSL, my speeds are at least 25% slower than they were a year ago. My upload is about the same speed, but the download dropped off significantly as more and more people started moving into the area. I beleive it has got to the stage where the phone company wont let anyone else has ADSL on this switch as they say they reached capacity on it.

I complained several times, but the phone company say the ADSL line is at capacity, and unless people lcancel their ADSL it will remain like this