posted on December 28, 2001 09:31:44 AM new
We had cable until we had to move to a new area then went with verizon dsl because the cable connection was not available. I found that the cable connection was faster but it did slow down at peak times. Our dsl has been very consitant and plenty fast enough. Installation was a breeze with no problems for 6 months. Hope this helps
posted on December 28, 2001 10:08:35 AM new
I signed up for COX cable as soon as it became available in our area. After 60 days I was so disappointed with the so called high speed and the number of times their system went down I switched to Qwest's DSL.
I have had DSL now for two years with little or no problems to report. I am very pleased in fact so much so I added Qwest's digital TV service as well.
posted on December 28, 2001 10:10:02 AM new
Nope, cable and DSL are not the same thing; but, they DO both provide broadband service.
And as far as satisfied users - I'm sure everyone has their fair share of horror stories.
I've been using Verizon DSL in NJ for the past year and have had (luckily) 96% satisfaction. They screw up a few times a year, mostly with e-mail being down.
If you want TONS of information, take a look at www.dslreports.com. You can get news, reviews, and more info than you ever thought possible - along with ratings of some of the major DSL providers.
posted on December 28, 2001 10:12:50 AM new
They both fall under the term "broadband". Depending on the area you live, your choices may be limited. But if you have a choice, I'd go with DSL, EarthLink if possible. If you ever have a question about your service, you are likely to get a straight answer from EarthLink as opposed to newer companies that have just entered the Internet Service market. EarthLink has been around for a long time and I've been using them for dial-up and DSL for five years now.
posted on December 28, 2001 12:54:09 PM new
Your limiting factor is likley to be what is availble to you
I cant get dsl where I am i can however get a cable modem I have had one for about 3 years and have been happy with it It has been down twice in tht period once for a few hours and once for a couple of days but that was due to a tropical storm and our electric was off most of that time
Given a choice I would take cable over DSL peaple I know in this area with DSL experiance a fair number of outages
Either way you will be amazed at the differnce .
posted on December 29, 2001 10:42:12 AM new
Definitly depends on your area.
Go to dslreports.com, look at the page with listing the fastest current service providers, and dslreports.com will tell you that cable is almost always fastest.
But there are issues with cable...
I live in an area of less than 200,000 people (last I read) and there are 5,000 of us with cable internet service and much of that is new lines and hubs that they are putting in right now. I know of people from work that hook up internet service as the trencher is outside putting in all brand new lines.
Our cable is cheap, fast, and always on. I usually only give pages like CNN.com about 3 and a half seconds maximum to load.
But I have friends in cities, down in California and up in Portland that tell me their cable bogs down really bad in the evenings, and a couple of them (2 of them) switched to DSL and they are much happier because of the peak time issue. I even had a repeat buyer awhile back in Tacoma, Washington that told me that she quit going online between 6 and 8 pm because cable bogged down so much, though I don't know if that's true or not.
For me, because of the small area I'm in, I'm told that DSL will only be as good as these old country phone lines will handle.
So bottom line is that my experience says that much of the difference between Cable and DSL could depend on your area and number of people, and what condition and capacity your area's infrastructure is in.
I'm having cable put into a second place we have on the coast, a really small, "rustic" town about 200 miles away. I'm very curious how the service will compare, even though it's the same cable company.
It could suck from crappy, overloaded lines, or it could be screaming fast if there are not many demands on the cable lines over there.
posted on December 31, 2001 09:16:06 AM new
I live on an island with about 4-5 million other people. I guess cable is out.<s> I'll get over to that site yet.
posted on December 31, 2001 12:57:57 PM new
No matter what you do--keep a dial-up setup as a backup at least until everthing works for at least 30 days. Nothing worse than having auctions up and not being able to communicate with them.
posted on December 31, 2001 01:51:30 PM new
I think speakeasy.net is nationwide. We have iDSL because the phone lines and cable are archaic where we live and speakeasy was the only answer for us. Check to see if they are in your area - their customer service is unsurpassed.
posted on January 2, 2002 06:10:08 AM new
As to whether DSL or cable is better, ask people where you live about their experiences. Performance depends on how adept your local companies are.
Whatever you do, GET SOMETHING. Fast internet will make your life easier.
