Is DSL really a great deal slower than Cable?

Question

Our cable goes out way too much to get their phone service. I think I could save a lot if I could drop cable. How noticeable is the difference between the two internet options?

Answer 1

Seems like cable is faster and more reliable than DSL. I have DSL and it works okay, but I always notice when visiting friends with cable that it is much faster.

Answer 2

DSL can be a lot slower, depending on how much you want to pay. (A while ago I compared SBC Yahoo prices and speeds vs RoadRunner Cable prices and speeds, most of the plans were quite a bit slower then the cable plan, and it seemed to me that a DSL plan with the same speed as the cable plan would likely have cost the same. Also, DSL is affected by the quality of the phone lines and the distance between you and your telephone exchange. (The farther away you are from the exchange, the lower your max speed can be.) You also have to put filters on your regular phone cables if you use DSL.

As far as how noticeable it would be, it really depends on what you use the internet to do. If you do a lot of downloading or video streaming the difference could be quite noticeable if you go for one of the cheaper plans. Especially if the DSL link quality is bad. (I've seen a DSL connection that seemed worse then dial-up.) If you just do some web surfing you might not notice much of a difference. Either way, decent DSL is still better then dial-up.

Answer 3

DSL is faster then cable.. mainly because the switching panels for dsl is over a phone line.. the phone switch board is a lot faster then a cable.. a switch panel is what a server uses to send data to the client which is requesting the data..

when you use cable.. like you are playing a video game.. the connection will start to get real laggy or slow thats if another person with cable gets on the same server as you.. which is because of the switch panel..

DSL doesnt have that problem.. because the communication switch board is a lot more advanced.. more then one dsl connection attached to a server will not lag it or slow it down.. the phoneline server is far more vast an used more then any other internet connection

an even if you had a very stable 10 meg download from cable internet provide.. you would still have a slow connection if multiple cable connections got on that same server.. because the server is having latency problems with the switching from one cable user to the next from the pipeline internet gateway cable runs at..

Answer 4

OK here you go.... Yes cable is faster than DSL (under most conditions) However, DSL is fast enough to search the net with very little lag time. Most consumers will not notice the difference between cable and DSL for home and business use. (MOST, Gamers not included) For most people DSL is the fastest, most affordable conclusion. Cable in our area is about twice the cost of DSL.

Answer 5

Depending on your use, likely none, but it totally depends on quality of the network.

Cable, in theory, has faster burstable speeds, because it is a load of bandwidth shared amongst users. Alot of DSL is sold as a capped (but dedicated) connection. Still, DSL can be oversold.. So again, we're back to being quality of the network issue.

As you have learned from your experience with cable, people can shout all day that one is faster than the other and yadda yadda, but in my opinion reliability is way more important. Therefore, if your current connection is not reliable, change it and see how life is with DSL.

Answer 6

I talked to my DSL provider and they claim they are better than the cable provider in my area and that the cable users are hooked up to the same box and are shared while my internet i only for my house, I will have to do a speed test one day....

Answer 7

It really depends on the ISP, the amount of bandwidth you get with cable and DSL may be much different; I'm sure when and if you decide to leave you can ask about rates for packages and ultimatly get enough mbits to download and upload at the rate you want.

Answer 8

I have had both..and the difference is not that significant, unless you download massive amounts of material. Since Time Warner Cable has such terrible service, I would stay with DSL.

Answer 9

First of all, it depends on what the providers offer. In the Philippines, I know of a cable internet provider who offers as low as 64 Kbps while PLDT DSL's lowest speed offer is much higher than that.

Answer 10

if you online game,go with DSL, cable spikes continuesly wihich u never notice just surfing, DSL stay a stable signal and give you a better overall experiance.either way you go, UPGRADE!! both basic services suck! basic is good for surfing only, basic downloading, but if you game, download alot, or like watching videos my god upgrade! lol..