Is DSL or Cable better?

Question

And why?

Answer 1

It's not a simple answer.

Unrestricted, Cable is much, much faster. I know at least one on-line gamer who feels cable gives him an edge in many games.

BUT - speed is affected by the users in your area. Your speed will decrease as more people on your service line use it. And too, some cable companies are artificially limiting the speed of their basic cable modem service. If you want the fastest speed, you can expect to pay heavily for the privilege.

The speed of DSL, on the otherhand, is consistent. So if CONSISTENCY of speed is important, then you might be better served by DSL. DSL also tends to be cheaper in order to stay competitive.

Reliability is a wash in my mind. The technology of both is highly reliable. But the companies that provide them vary greatly. Usually, in any given town in the USA, you have ONE provider of cable service, if they are unreliable, you are stuck. But in that same town, you may have several DSL providers. If vendor "A" is a crook, you can always switch to vendor "B".

So if you can live with a slower, but still fast, internet connection and a lower price, then DSL may be for you. But if it's SPEED you want, and to heck with the cost. Then Cable is your best bet. I have cable and I like it.

Answer 2

Depends on your area and what is available. 4Mb Cable is better than 768Kb DSL. However you rarely get the "marketing" speed on cable since it is a serial type connection.

The transport (DSL or cable) has nothing to do with security, most providers provide adequate security tools these days, and in the end it is really in your best interest to make sure you are secure.

Answer 3

cable tends to be better because of newer lines in the ground make it more reliable, and the connection tends to be faster, and it tends be billed month to month.

dsl tends to be slower, cheaper, can be less reliable .. then you have to hound them to fix it, and they usually want a 1 year committment. All that being said, it tends to be ok. sometimes the connection is more reliable than cable.

you should save a little extra money and buy a router for either dsl or cable and be a little more secure. a pc on the raw internet is a bad plan.

Only port forward ports on that router if you keep your patches up and feel brave .. in general don't do it.

Answer 4

It relies upon on the place you reside, in case you reside in a crowded region you have got cable and that's alot slower than dsl, and in case you reside in a community with much less inhabitants and characteristic cable connection that's speedier than dsl.

Answer 5

Cable is much better in terms of speed and security.

Answer 6

cable is better because of speed.

Answer 7

cable is way better

Answer 8

I've had both
DSL is cheaper BUT way way way too S L O W