Cable vs DSL: Nail in the coffin

[Brinnie]

I've been doing some research on the speed war and I am seriously over the propaganda and claims. On one hand, they have speed tests to prove the cable is faster than DSL, as a whole. [1] On the other hand experts say DSL is faster than cable under perfect conditions, but suffer from latency. [2]

• 1. Consumers tested on speedtest.com and broadbandreports.com reported their majority of faster test results to be cable users.
   
  
• 2. Scientists claim that DSL suffers from latency and that lower speeds are relative to the distance between one's computer and the server.
  

 

Although the majority won in a poll, that's not scientific to me. I want to know which technology is faster. Again, I want to know which technology is capable of the fastest transfers if I plug directly into the best DSL server and the best cable server.

[Buffy]

In theory, cable should be much faster than DSL, simply because of the nature of the wires: Those thick 75-ohm wires the cable company uses are way more shielded than the dinky copper wires coming into your house from the phone company.

 

BUT consider the fact that that the cable cable has to carry all those TV stations *simultaneously* along with your data and that number goes way down.

 

Next consider that the cable was really designed to *broadcast* those signals, and they've had to jury-rig two-way communication on top of it, and you run into the problem that the dynamic requests get shoved much further back in your neighborhood and you run into the problem that many *more* people are sharing that bandwidth.

 

The bottom line is that cable is *much* better when no one else in your neighborhood is using it, but can be much *worse* when the kids get home in the evening and start pounding on facebook, "sharing" stuff with bit-torrent, and img their bffs...

 

The other side-effect of the architecture issue is that the Cable companies have a much harder time providing static IPs and thus throw you into a high-end ($$$) "business" package if you want it.

 

I wouldn't go near Cable...its totally sucky....

 

Communications without intelligence is noise; Intelligence without communications is irrelevant, :phones:

Buffy

[Turtle]

In theory, cable should be much faster than DSL, simply because of the nature of the wires: Those thick 75-ohm wires the cable company uses are way more shielded than the dinky copper wires coming into your house from the phone company.

 

BUT consider the fact that that the cable cable has to carry all those TV stations *simultaneously* along with your data and that number goes way down.

 

Next consider that the cable was really designed to *broadcast* those signals, and they've had to jury-rig two-way communication on top of it, and you run into the problem that the dynamic requests get shoved much further back in your neighborhood and you run into the problem that many *more* people are sharing that bandwidth.

 

The bottom line is that cable is *much* better when no one else in your neighborhood is using it, but can be much *worse* when the kids get home in the evening and start pounding on facebook, "sharing" stuff with bit-torrent, and img their bffs...

The other side-effect of the architecture issue is that the Cable companies have a much harder time providing static IPs and thus throw you into a high-end ($$$) "business" package if you want it.

 

I wouldn't go near Cable...its totally sucky....

 

Communications without intelligence is noise; Intelligence without communications is irrelevant, :phones:

Buffy

 

:) Could this cause a cable modem to intermittently recycle badly enough to call the company and have them 'check everything' and say beats me when it doesn't beat them? I smell my money burning....:doh:

[Buffy]

:eek: Could this cause a cable modem to intermittently recycle badly enough to call the company and have them 'check everything' and say beats me when it doesn't beat them?

Ya think? :D

 

I smell my money burning....:doh:

Of course! :evil:

 

We don't care, we don't have to. We're the phone company, :eek:

Buffy

[alexander]

Actually in theory DSL is supposed to be faster then CABLE, cable comes over a dinky 75ohm coax that has a signal drop per foot that is a lot higher then any modern phone lines. More and more in residential areas, you are connecting to the phone network through a switch within a mile radius (in the city its every block) that is connecting the dinky copper wires to a phat fiber channel. The problem is that phone switches and dsl switches are really overloaded and overcrowded for what they are, so dsl is in actuality slower then cable, but in theory it is supposed to be the other way around.... though you can now get a 14meg cable line to your house... Cable has low up, dls has a low down.... its a trade off :rolleyes:

[Turtle]

Ya think? :rolleyes:

 

Of course! :evil:

 

We don't care, we don't have to. We're the phone company, :)

Buffy

 

I think therefore I am. Is this the party to whom I am speaking? ;)

 

Cable has low up, dls has a low down.... its a trade off.

 

Story of our lives. :hyper: To be or not to be, that is the question. ;)

[alexander]

yes it is :rolleyes: if i had a choice, i would go with what my friend has running to his house,... namely a 30 meg commercial fiber line..... wait where did crash go, he was aiming for a t3 to his place too...

[Buffy]

...The problem is that phone switches and dsl switches are really overloaded and overcrowded for what they are, so dsl is in actuality slower then cable...

Well, actually you have to remember that the phone company is throttling the throughput: T1 is transmitted over the same copper wire as dsl, but the phone company keeps the speed down so they can charge ten times as much for T1 service. There are situations where your local "central office" is overwhelmed, but its still mostly an issue of not being close enough to the central office to get really high quality; although as you pointed out, the phone company's putting the fiber switches way down to the neighborhoods in urban areas, so its not going to be long before your T3 nirvana is here.

 

In the mean time though...

...its a trade off :lol:

 

Our idea is to create a situation in which those lands to which we have obligations or in which we have interests, if they are ready to fight a fire, should be able to count on us to furnish the hose and water, :eek:

Buffy

[alexander]

t1 is just 24 64kbit phone lines tied together, but phone companies are moving more and more over to virtual t1 over fiber, where they throttle you to 1.5mbps but you are still going over fiber in many cases. T-1C is actually 3mbps with 48 channels.