Cable vs. DSL

Blitz

Hopeful
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Jan 6, 2002
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I have an Internet connection through my cable company. I have Verizon as my home phone and cell phone carrier. I was thinking of looking into the deal Verizon is offering where you package your phone service with DSL and DirecTV.

I need knowledgeable opinions (KMA or anyone else in the know) about the differences and advantages and disadvantages between cable and DSL.

Also possibly the Pro's and Con's of cable vs. DirecTV...


Thanks for the help...
 

Kdogg21

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Dec 8, 2001
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well since i work for Comcast i would tell you to get cable, but seriously i do like cable internet. its faster a little bit more reliable. i also like the fact that you dont have to have a phone line. dsl wasnt to bad for me, but something happened 1 got a bunch of virus's and my speed went way down hill. i never really figured out what happend....

cable tv is definatley a little bit more high in price, but the advantage is you don't need a cable box for every tv. if you do thats fine, most cable companies offer more movie channles than satelitte. direct tv has a kick ass sports package. comcast just started launching theres so we will see what happens with that. comcast if its in your neighboorhood has a cool feature called Video On Demand. thats whereyou can order old moives/shows/original programming from a library of stuff. you can fast forward/pause/rewind everything. really cool. thats one thing satelitte can't do. i can probably go on and on about different things, but it depends what your looking for.
 

Simply In The Red

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Let's see. Cable at home, DSL at work. Couldn't stand working with DSL. Now work at different place with cable internet. Still got cable at home. I've talked several people out of their DSL into cable and they have been happy. :shade:

And no, I don't work for the cable company. :)
 

stomie

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Just made the switch from cable to DSL, biggest factor IMHO is how close you are to the CO or phone company anything over 2 miles, stick with cable.
 

Munson

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I have been a Comcast customer for a couple of years and am pretty happy with it overall. Service was down 3-4 days both in April and May but those were the only occurences. The one thing I really don't like with Comcast is the upload cap at 30kbps. I download and upload a lot of files and most are 3-4 gigs. Because of the cap, it takes quite a while to share files that large. If you plan to do the same, I would definitely ask if they have an upload cap. A friend of mine has dsl and can upload just as fast as she downloads. If I moved, I don't know which service I would choose. Go with whichever suits your needs better.

M
 

Big Daddy

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If you are going to want to subscribe to the NFL Sunday Ticket, you will need DirectV. They have exclusive rights for the next 5 years.
 

Kdogg21

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i know in chicago they increased their upload to 384kb. i did hear by next year it would be 5 something, but don't quote me on that. i know by the end of the year they are suppose to be at a download rate of 6mb which would be even better.....

direct tv does have a great deal with the NFL ticket. But i heard that the contract ends this year and the NFL wanted in on the cable $$$ as well.
 

ryson

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I have had DSL for years, going to switch to cable after football (dumping the DTV), my ISP is a pretty rock solid shop and this is what I get from speed tests @ dslreports.com. Somebody with cable post their results. I know folks with cable and it seems faster to me.

Yours
?703 kbps down
?132 kbps up
 

kosar

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Nov 27, 1999
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Blitz,

I have Comcast cable modem at home and Sprint DSL at work. Even though my computer at home that uses Comcast is a dinosaur compared to the one at work, it's much better and faster than the better computer that uses DSL. Especially on downloads, but also just on speed. I would go with the cable.
 

GM

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Jan 21, 2000
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While living with my GF we had cable. The speed was usually very good, but I am still not convinced it is as secure as DSL is. I also noticed a bit of a slowdown during peak evening hours on cable. This doesn't exist on DSL. However....

I'm out of there now and have switched back to DSL, and I just can't get WinMX to DL or UL at a decent speed at all. I'm using the same computer as before and done all the necessary adjustments, but it just isn't going to cooperate. Other than that the speed seems to be alright in general...but just alright. Cable was faster I am sure.

On top of this I've had a lot of problems with either hiss on the phone line, or people complaining that they can't hear me, even when the computer is not logged on to the internet...hell, even when the computer is off! I've had techs out here and they claim everything is fine. It's not. First they claimed the wiring in the house was too old...then they claimed I lived too far from the local central office. Then they told me to use double filters on the connection in the living room...which is why no one can hear me now. But now they say it's "fine". :rolleyes:

Sound quality is so-so on the phones in the other rooms, and poor on the phone connected to the same jack as the DSL modem. I've ended up hooking up the base of the cordless phone in the kitchen but keeping the handset with me in the living room so I can have a somewhat decent phone line.

Too many headaches with DSL. When I get my new place in 6 weeks I am going back to cable.
 
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Kdogg21

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the funny thing about SBC Yahoo DSL, is that the company doesn't make any money off that. Its just to have their name out there. it is only 3% of their business....
 

Simply In The Red

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ryson said:
I have had DSL for years, going to switch to cable after football (dumping the DTV), my ISP is a pretty rock solid shop and this is what I get from speed tests @ dslreports.com. Somebody with cable post their results. I know folks with cable and it seems faster to me.

Yours
?703 kbps down
?132 kbps up


Hey Ryson, I check mine and it came out with this.

Yours
2450 kbps down
227 kbps up
 

ryson

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Dec 22, 2001
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Simply In The Red said:
Hey Ryson, I check mine and it came out with this.

Yours
2450 kbps down
227 kbps up

There we go it looks like your cable is 3x down and almost 2x up, I am switching to cable after football season, I can handle the down but the up is what kills me.
:cursin:
 
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