For the first time ever, our cable company (Adelphia, Anaheim) is offering high speed internet access via cable modem.

We've had Pacbell's DSL (now called SBC/Yahoo) for a few years and are pretty satisfied with the service.

Cable works out to be less money - about $15 less a month.

How does the speed compare to DSL? (we are a good distance from the hub on the dsl - so our speeds can't get much better -

What about setting it up and reliability?

Any other thoughts?

It depends what kind of DSL they have set up. There are several types of DSL with one being faster than the next. But generally speaking, cable is faster than the DSL that is typically used. However, you also share bandwidth with others on the network when using cable. Cable companies say they monitor the network to make sure things don't slow down too much and keep things balanced out. I have cable and I've never noticed a slow down, even during peak hours.

Personally, I'd just go with the cheaper one. I don't think you'll get much benefit from the extra $15/month. Any minor difference in speed certainly won't be worth that much of a difference in price.

EDITED to add: Look at the differences in upload speeds and see if that might make a difference with your needs. If you tend to do a lot of uploading (sending files to a server) of large files then you'll want to go with the one with faster upload. Cable has a pretty slow upload (way faster than dialup, but a snail's pace compared to broadband download).

Bitter, bitter, bitter.

I used to have a broadband connection until I moved to the ONLY town in greater Portland that doesn't offer it. So this message is brought to you by dialup.

I was pretty happy with the speed and service. It was easy to install, although we had to buy a cable modem and we had to run a line through the wall to the computer room, as the connection goes through the cable jack. A USB port or ethernet card was also necessary. It was extremely reliable.

I can't really compare to DSL because I never had it; however, if you're saving money it might be worth the switch.

I would have to agree with Bill. :)

Cable Modems do run faster, but you useally don't notice the difference between them and DSL during normal internet use. Cable, IMO, is more stable than DSL, and it also normally has better support (less users). Pricewise, I would go for it only if a) you don't have a service contract with SBC for DSL b) you already have cable TV (some companies make you order cable TV in order to get DSL) and c) Installation charges and Modem charges are either free or very, very cheep :)

If you're going to go with cable make sure you can rent the modem from them and aren't required to buy one. Those things can be flakey. We rent ours as part of the cost of the service (I think it's like $3/month) and we are on modem #3. If we had to buy them we'd be out quite a bit more money than what it costs to rent.

The service is fine though, I mean as long as the cable doesn't go out. We've had a couple times where we were out for a few days but they were always pretty quick to send someone out and have always reimbursed us for the down-time. The nice thing about cable is the internet service is through the same company who owns the cable lines. So if a problem happens they are quick to respond. With DSL your ISP is one company and the phone company owns the lines. If there's a problem with either the hardware or the software one company will blame the other and it might take longer to get it resolved.

Originally posted by Bill Catherall
The service is fine though, I mean as long as the cable doesn't go out. We've had a couple times where we were out for a few days but they were always pretty quick to send someone out and have always reimbursed us for the down-time. The nice thing about cable is the internet service is through the same company who owns the cable lines. So if a problem happens they are quick to respond. With DSL your ISP is one company and the phone company owns the lines. If there's a problem with either the hardware or the software one company will blame the other and it might take longer to get it resolved.

That happend with us (DSL or dial-up are the only things we can get). The PPP on the modem went out, and both companies (SBC and MSN) just kept on blaming each other. I didn't have DSL for over a month until SBC just re-provisioned our line or somthing like that. The worst part: We were forced to use our 10 free hours of Dial-Up to get on the net, but over 30 days or so we went over to about 20 hours of use. But MSN still charged us 3 cents a min. for those extra 10 hours. When we explained to them about what happened, they said, "Your Phone company should pay for it" SBC then said "It's not our fault". So we were charged for 1 month of DSL+20 hours of Dial Up even though we didn't even USE the DSL :rolleyes:

We can't get "real" DSL- the distance from the hub is too far for us. So we chose cable modem.

I hate the cable companies. I loathe them. I was very happy when we switched to satellite tv and we could have real equipment and no problems with outages, service, etc.

So I'm not happy that we're still sending money to the cable company, but we don't have to pay for cable TV service to have the cable modem.

We have had very few problems, knock on wood. We've had a couple of outages- probably two in 3 or 4 years and they were no longer than a few hours. I don't think we've had any problems with the modem that I remember.

The only problem I've had ever was occasionally when the IP changed, our airport would stop working. For awhile, I would occasionally reset the airport. I haven't had to do that in awhile, though.

I occasionally upload websites and large files for e-mail but I haven't really had any complaints about upload speed in general.

Adrienne

The cable modem is 99cents through this special so that's not really an issue.

Our DSL service is downloaded at 500something per (whatever it is). We are too far from the telephone co. hub for us to get any faster service (even if we paid more for it.)

We are planning on overlapping services so we can run a bandwidth test and see how they compare.

I hadn't considered upload speed as a problem for cable so I'll have to check that one out. Checked to make sure it was XBox live compatable.

What about the cord length? Does the length of the cord from the wall to the computer affect the speed you get from cable?

Originally posted by justagrrl
What about the cord length? Does the length of the cord from the wall to the computer affect the speed you get from cable? No.

You should really only be concerned about the upload speed if you do a lot of uploading of large files...like 5MB or bigger. Like I said, it's slower than the download speed you'll get, but much faster than dialup.

Originally posted by DisneyFan25863
, and it also normally has better support (less users).

It varies by area, since it's new to where you live there won't be a lot of users but here it's reversed, everyone has Cox broadband and I use DSL. I think I am like the only person in the area that uses it so that is really nice to know.:~D

The only big outage of cable I can think of was when they did those big upgrades to the system and many people couldn't get on.

Basically you would probably want to go with the newer item to the area since you won't have to share as much. Do they make you sign a contract for a cheap/free modem?

The one thing I like about my DSL is that there is no contract and I don't pay a seperate fee to rent the modem.

Originally posted by Nigel2
Basically you would probably want to go with the newer item to the area since you won't have to share as much.

If you are talking about sharing bandwidth, it really dosn't matter. With DSL, you don't actually "share" you bandwidth with other users. With cable, you do. But there shouldn't be much of a difference, anyway, because the cable service is new, so it has less users.

Yeah, I was just talking about having to share the cable. Do you happen to know how far away you are from your local DSL hub? I think they are called central offices or something.

Originally posted by Nigel2
Yeah, I was just talking about having to share the cable. Do you happen to know how far away you are from your local DSL hub? I think they are called central offices or something.

We're pretty far from the hub - in fact - many of our neighbors were told they couldn't get DSL. If we quit the DSL and sign back up our speed will be capped due to our distance so it's in our better interests to make damn sure the cable is working well before we get rid of the DSL. I figure for a month, we'll have both. It's worth the $20 the cable will cost me for the month.

And no, no contract for the 99 cent modem.

If I want the better price for DSL though, we'll have to sign up for a year again. They would end up being the same price (DSL vs. Cable) if we do a contract.

So we got the cable and let me just say: WOW!!!

Bandwidth test on cnet with dsl averaged about 560 kbps
With cable it's averaging 2300 kbps!!!

What an amazing difference. I was suprised it was so noticable. Thanks again for your helpful advice. :)

Holy Moley! Thanks for sharing those numbers! It's nice to have some reinforcement for our own choice!

Adrienne

Grrr....Why do they not see that they have such a huge market for cable out here.......

Heck, I can get cable out here for only $35 a month, with modem rental.

Will mom let me pay for it? NO! :mad:

Anyhow, enjoy the speed. ;)

So, what would y'all do if you were on a 4-year-old machine you were pretty sure you'd be replacing in the next six months or so? I'd prefer not to be on dial-up anymore.

What does the cable company do when someone gets a new computer? New equipment? New installation? Another fee? Taking a sick day and waiting around all day for the cable guy who never shows up? :rolleyes:

What exactly is this cable modem--is this something that they come out and put into your CPU? Or is it more like hooking up a TV for cable (i.e., a cord you can replace at Radio Shack)? Or something in between?

Apologies for the dumb questions; thanks for any answers.

Cable modems are external devices that generally connect to the PC via either an Ethernet network card or a USB connection. When you call to order cable modem service, they come out and run a coax cable line to a location close by your computer. It does generally require a dedicated data line. You can't typically just connect the same cable that comes from your television set.

At least with an Ethernet connection, the cable company does have to provision the service to allow the MAC address stored in your network card to connect. I haven't used a USB connection with a cable modem before, so I'm not certain if there is a unique ID involved there.

If you do get a new computer, and you haven't transferred the network card from your old computer, you should only have to call the cable company and give them your new MAC address. Generally, it shouldn't take more than a few minutes to switch your service over to work with the new computer and it is unlikely to cost anything.

-Jeff

Thanks Jeff. Would you (or anyone, really) indulge a few really dumb questions so that I can fully understand your post?

I've heard of ethernet cards. I know I don't have one. That's an internal thing, right?

But I don't know what a USB connection, a MAC address, or a network card is, either.

And this would be why I rarely come into this forum. Y'all are speaking a different language over here. :|

Originally posted by Matterhorn Fan
Thanks Jeff. Would you (or anyone, really) indulge a few really dumb questions so that I can fully understand your post?

I've heard of ethernet cards. I know I don't have one. That's an internal thing, right?

But I don't know what a USB connection, a MAC address, or a network card is, either.


I would check the back of your computer for a plug that looks a little wider than a phone jack. If you don't see one, you don't have ethernet. You definatly have USB (universal serial bus), though. Check the back your your computer for a connector that looks like This (http://www.camshare.com/assets/usb.gif). You plug your cable modem into that slot, unless you have an ethernet card, in which you would plug it into that. A MAC address is like an indentification number for your PC. It's kinda like a IP address, only different. I wouldn't worry about it, you won't need to deal with that unless you plan on doing advanced networking. A network card is the same as an ethernet card. It looks like this (http://www3.toshiba.co.jp/sic/seigyo/sancon/prod/fa3100/img/ethernet.jpg) (the silver part goes on the back of your computer, the circuits go inside your computer in a PCI or ISA port)


Hope this helps ;):geek: