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Anon |  Re: Cable winning the speed race
I am using ADSL in BC, Canada. I retired my cable modem
after one year to try ADSL, and believe I will be keeping
it. My provider uses the same backbone as Telus.net, so
speed is comparable to them.
On peak performance, cable is faster than ADSL, make no
mistake about that, both up and down. Trouble is, peak
performance is not consisitent.
ADSL, while a little slower than Cable at its peak, offers
a consistent connection with constant speed, up and down.
Cable would often go up over 320 KB/sec (3.0 Mbps) downstream, and hover around 50 KB/sec (400 Kbps) upstream.
ADSL gives a steady 240 KB/Sec (2.2 Mbps) down, and a very consistent 35 KB/sec (300 Kbps) upstream. I am located about 1.5 miles of telephone wire from the CO.
The drop in overall speed is more than compensated for by
the consistency of the connection, in my opinion.
Cost of ADSL is slightly higher, but should the Cable Co. ever start charging for cable modems, the price will be almost exactly the same.
I don't want to say cable was bad, because the opposite was
true, the service was very good. Not all users will agree,
but usage on my local loop was low, so speeds were high.
For my highspeed dollar, I have to say "ADSL". | |
djrobx
join:2000-05-31
Valencia, CA
 ·PHONE POWER
 ·AT&T U-Verse
·AT&T CallVantage
·Time Warner VOIP
 ·RoadRunner Cable
| The problem is that you're not comparing typical cable to typical ADSL. Here, DSL that can do 2.2mbit is not typical and very expensive, where 2-3mbit cable IS typical and sells near the $40 price point.
I think getting all of that speed for the small price I can deal with small amount of speed inconsistency. I've yet to see inconsistencies here though.
Cable is winning the race, and it has absolutely nothing to do with the technology. It's just that DSL providers are being very stingy about their bandwidth caps, especially the upload. The mysteriously unadvertised Covad/Earthlink 1.5mbit/384k for $49/mo is the closest thing I've seen to my MediaOne Road Runner connection at $39/mo. Just look at Bell Atlantic. 640/90? Where did they come up with those numbers? The upstream channel is slower than ISDN's. What's up with that? I feel fortunate to live in PacBell 1.5/128 territory, then again I've heard they're going to pull back on that.
Oh, as for the modem, modem rental is usually included in the price. Lots of cable providers offer service for $30/mo if you purchase the cablemodem.
-- Rob | |
Anon | Interesting.
I guess we've got it pretty good up here in the North.
Its 64.95/month (CDN $) including 5 IP's, 10 hours of
dialup access, and 10 gigs of transfer/month, which so
far has not been monitored.
Given that DSL service in the U.S is slower and also
charged in USD$, I could see why it would require some
thought before deciding.
-Doug | |
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