Archived from groups: alt.comp.hardware.homebuilt (More info?)

Hello,

I currently have a broadband cable internet connection. It is with Optus
an Australian telecommunications provider. I am looking at another
internet service provider for cheaper access. There is one that is
considerably cheaper than my current provider. They offer an ADSL (through
the telephone line rather than cable) 1.5Mb connection.

I don't have a clue what the speed of my cable connection, but that ADSL
spped sounds pretty good.

Is this ADSL a better proposition? Is ADSL better than cable?

Thanks,
Shane

Archived from groups: alt.comp.hardware.homebuilt (More info?)

Where latency is important, ADSL is usually better than cable. If you
don't play online games very much, then cable is fine.

--
Jafar Calley
-----BEGIN GEEK CODE BLOCK-----
d+ s-:+ a C++++ L++ E--- W++ N++ w-- PE- t* 5++ R+ !tv D+ G e* h---- x?
------END GEEK CODE BLOCK------
Registered Linux User #359623
http://fatcat.homelinux.org

Archived from groups: alt.comp.hardware.homebuilt (More info?)

"no spam" <nospam@hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:41ee1fd0$0$1020$afc38c87@news.optusnet.com.au...
> Hello,
>
> I currently have a broadband cable internet connection. It is with Optus
> an Australian telecommunications provider. I am looking at another
> internet service provider for cheaper access. There is one that is
> considerably cheaper than my current provider. They offer an ADSL
> (through the telephone line rather than cable) 1.5Mb connection.
>
> I don't have a clue what the speed of my cable connection, but that ADSL
> spped sounds pretty good.
>
> Is this ADSL a better proposition? Is ADSL better than cable?
>
> Thanks,
> Shane
>

You don't seem to be a man that will pay for that last 0.1 Mb/s. So I would
go with the ADSL. It is 50X dial up speed and a reasonable price.

JPS

Archived from groups: alt.comp.hardware.homebuilt (More info?)

On Wed, 19 Jan 2005 18:52:49 +1000, "no spam"
<nospam@hotmail.com> wrote:

>Hello,
>
>I currently have a broadband cable internet connection. It is with Optus
>an Australian telecommunications provider. I am looking at another
>internet service provider for cheaper access. There is one that is
>considerably cheaper than my current provider. They offer an ADSL (through
>the telephone line rather than cable) 1.5Mb connection.
>
>I don't have a clue what the speed of my cable connection, but that ADSL
>spped sounds pretty good.
>
>Is this ADSL a better proposition? Is ADSL better than cable?
>
>Thanks,
>Shane
>

Typically cable has higher speed potential, but most people
don't make use of it because the bottleneck isn't at their
end, rather internet congestion in general or the server
they're connecting to (as with almost every website).

If you frequently download very large files, say 100MB or
larger, then cable may have more benefits for you.
Otherwise you might not notice a speed difference at all
just browsing the 'net.... testing might reveal one but in
real-world use it may not matter. On the other hand some
cable companies cap the upload speed quite low, ADSL or DSL
can actually allow much higher upload speeds if/when that
applies. Only you can gauge your need for high upload speed,
some need it and others don't.

Archived from groups: alt.comp.hardware.homebuilt (More info?)

no spam:

> Is ADSL better than cable?

I've had both in more than one location and the answer really depends on
your location. The only way to answer this is get opinions from people
who have the service in the same area that you will be getting it.

ADSL can suffer from line noise which will decrease the speed and cause
inconsistant connection speeds; once, many companies required that you
run resource hogging software on your computer to make the connection.

Cable is generally more consistant and faster, IME, but some places have
weird pricing schemes that can make it more expensive than ADSL.

THE most important thing is the quality of their tech support. You will
need to call tech support occasionally and if the tech support is
horrible then you will waste time on the phone and your connection
problems may not get solved in a timely manner.

I originally changed from ADSL to cable because of terrible tech
support, then the cable company implemented a retarded policy of making
you go through software support before doing hardware support.
Thankfully, they have switched it so that you now speak to the hardware
people first who will transfer you to software if the connection problem
isn't on their end.

--
Mac Cool

Archived from groups: alt.comp.hardware.homebuilt (More info?)

"no spam" <nospam@hotmail.com> wrote...
>
> I currently have a broadband cable internet connection. It is with Optus an
> Australian telecommunications provider. I am looking at another internet
> service provider for cheaper access. There is one that is considerably
> cheaper than my current provider. They offer an ADSL (through the telephone
> line rather than cable) 1.5Mb connection.
>
> I don't have a clue what the speed of my cable connection, but that ADSL spped
> sounds pretty good.
>
> Is this ADSL a better proposition? Is ADSL better than cable?

It depends...

Cable can be anywhere from 1 to 5 Mbps in reality, though theoretically it can
go to 12 or 14. The fastest I've had was 4.5 with @home. Their successors have
gone from 1.5 to 3 Mbps limits.

ADSL is usually dedicated bandwidth, where cable is shared. You may see a
significant slowdown in cable if all your neighbors start surfing at the same
time; it depends on how thin your cable provider spreads the available bandwidth
on each trunk.

Upload speed will be less in either case. Check the specs for each, especially
if you do a lot of sending.

If none of those factors are controlling for you, go for price or company
reputation/reliability.

Archived from groups: alt.comp.hardware.homebuilt (More info?)

no spam wrote:

> Hello,
>
> I currently have a broadband cable internet connection. It is with Optus
> an Australian telecommunications provider. I am looking at another
> internet service provider for cheaper access. There is one that is
> considerably cheaper than my current provider. They offer an ADSL (through
> the telephone line rather than cable) 1.5Mb connection.
>
> I don't have a clue what the speed of my cable connection, but that ADSL
> spped sounds pretty good.
>
> Is this ADSL a better proposition? Is ADSL better than cable?
>
> Thanks,
> Shane
>
>
A lot of this is area dependent. Where I live, in Illinois USA, Near St
Louis, MO, USA, I have a Cable connection at 3.2Meg, which is twice as
fast as DSL. The DSL speed is also dependent on the distance from the
phone DSL Switch. However, Upload speeds on DSL should be faster than
on CABLE. This may be why game play seems better. Cable networking is
a different animal compared to DSL. Cable has a little slower download
speed, but has good connectivity. I use a router and three computers
hooked up to it and it seems just fine to me.
Sometimes, with Cable, some companies get too many customers for the
network to be fast. This is a problem that is hard to judge. Too much
network traffic can slow a network down quite a bit; especially, if a
lot of people are downloading music or video.

Archived from groups: alt.comp.hardware.homebuilt (More info?)

"no spam" <nospam@hotmail.com> ¦b¶l¥ó
news:41ee1fd0$0$1020$afc38c87@news.optusnet.com.au > > Is this ADSL a better
proposition? Is ADSL better than cable?
>
> Thanks,
> Shane

I've read thru all the posts and it seems there're some simple questions you
need to ask yourself.

In case either one is faster, what will you use the extra bandwidth for?

Are you willing to pay/shave that extra dollar for the extra/less bandwidth?
Is there a problem with your current setup or is it just cuz of the price?

Archived from groups: alt.comp.hardware.homebuilt (More info?)

John Weiss:

> cable is shared. You may see a significant slowdown in cable if all
> your neighbors start surfing at the same time

Not anymore.

Does your picture quality go down if all your neighbors are watching
television at the same time?

http://www.cablemodem.com/specific [...] ons11.html
--
Mac Cool

Archived from groups: alt.comp.hardware.homebuilt (More info?)

On 20 Jan 2005 10:33:20 GMT, Mac Cool <Mac@2cool.com> wrote:

>John Weiss:
>
>> cable is shared. You may see a significant slowdown in cable if all
>> your neighbors start surfing at the same time
>
>Not anymore.
>
>Does your picture quality go down if all your neighbors are watching
>television at the same time?
>
>http://www.cablemodem.com/specifications/specifications11.html

Could you be more specific, detailed?

If referring to analog cable TV, there is an isolation
spitter(s) every so often, if not at every curb (undergrond
cabling) or telephone pole junctions (overhead wiring).

As for digital though, aren't the issues quite different?

Archived from groups: alt.comp.hardware.homebuilt (More info?)

kony:

>>http://www.cablemodem.com/specifications/specifications11.html
>
> Could you be more specific, detailed?

DOCSIS 1.1 basically cured the slowdown problems around 2002. You'll
notice the telcos don't run the ads about bandwidth sharing anymore. You
can read the specifics, if you care to, at the link above. My brother-
in-law explained it once but it was over my head, I understood the gist
was the problems were essentially solved. I've had cable during this
same period; previously I would get slowdowns around 6pm-10pm, but a
couple of years ago the problem went away. When I experience slowdowns
now, I can usually trace the problem to a netwide slowdown during one of
the DOS attacks.

> If referring to analog cable TV, there is an isolation
> spitter(s) every so often, if not at every curb (undergrond
> cabling) or telephone pole junctions (overhead wiring).
>
> As for digital though, aren't the issues quite different?

Actually I was being a bit of a smart-ass about the television signal
comment but I don't think analog really requires much bandwidth compared
to the net or digital television; and with television, everyone is
getting the same signal. I switched to satellite when I got an HDTV
because they were half the price of cable HDTV. Later this year, both
satellite companies are switching from MPEG2 to MPEG4 compression which
will hopefully alleviate some of the artifacting that is so obvious on
an HD set.

--
Mac Cool

Archived from groups: alt.comp.hardware.homebuilt (More info?)

Mac Cool wrote:

> John Weiss:
>
>
>>cable is shared. You may see a significant slowdown in cable if all
>>your neighbors start surfing at the same time
>
>
> Not anymore.
>
> Does your picture quality go down if all your neighbors are watching
> television at the same time?

Other than sharing the transmission medium Cable TV and Cable internet are
different animals and trying to claim one works like the other is like
discussing the color quality of AM radio because broadcast television is color.

>
> http://www.cablemodem.com/specific [...] ons11.html

Archived from groups: alt.comp.hardware.homebuilt (More info?)

David Maynard:

> trying to claim one works like the other is like
> discussing the color quality of AM radio

I said as much yesterday. Would probably help to read the thread.
--
Mac Cool

Archived from groups: alt.comp.hardware.homebuilt (More info?)

Mac Cool wrote:

> David Maynard:
>
>
>>trying to claim one works like the other is like
>>discussing the color quality of AM radio
>
>
> I said as much yesterday. Would probably help to read the thread.

I just reply in the order I read them.

Archived from groups: alt.comp.hardware.homebuilt (More info?)

On Wed, 19 Jan 2005 18:52:49 +1000, "no spam" <nospam@hotmail.com>
wrote:

>Hello,
>
>I currently have a broadband cable internet connection. It is with Optus
>an Australian telecommunications provider. I am looking at another
>internet service provider for cheaper access. There is one that is
>considerably cheaper than my current provider. They offer an ADSL (through
>the telephone line rather than cable) 1.5Mb connection.
>
>I don't have a clue what the speed of my cable connection, but that ADSL
>spped sounds pretty good.
>
>Is this ADSL a better proposition? Is ADSL better than cable?
>
>Thanks,
>Shane
>


ONe thing to consider at least in the USA.
Cable providers do not require a long-term
rent agreement, DSL providers do. Your situation
may be different.

Where I line in AL cable is faster than DSL. I know
there are different DSL "packages" offered, but where I live
at least, if all things are equal cable is faster.

Not much difference in price between cable and DSL so at least
for me, cable is the best choice.
---
Elbert Clarke
elbert.clarke@**adelphia.net
remove ** to email

Archived from groups: alt.comp.hardware.homebuilt (More info?)

On 20 Jan 2005 21:02:05 GMT, Mac Cool <Mac@2cool.com> wrote:

>I don't think analog really requires much bandwidth compared
>to the net or digital television; and with television, everyone is
>getting the same signal

On a per carrier basis digital and analog TV use the same. I think the
downlink internet uses the same 6 Mhz channels as analog and digital
TV does.