[CS-FSLUG] DSL (Verizon) vs. Cable (RoadRunner)

Wed Jun 23 19:19:23 CDT 2004

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Hi,
	I've worked with both cable and DSL, and I would personally recommend 
cable internet over DSL. But before I get into that, be aware that most 
telcos and cablecos prohibit any kind of web serving or other types of 
servers. It will work though, usually.

	Ok, so on to my point about DSL vs. Cable. In this area, we have the 
choice of SBC Yahoo! DSL or Charter Pipeline. I use Charter Pipeline at 
home, but have done a number of DSL installs (for people not wanting to 
do the "self install," which is really pretty easy) and I also have DSL 
working on my church's network.

	Here's the thing with DSL: ADSL can go up to 17,800 ft. (IIRC) from 
the central office (CO). If you are on the edge of that, and you can 
find out that at www.dslreports.com, you will get a slower speed than 
if you are right on top of the CO. Here's the kicker: the guaranteed 
speed, at least in SBC territory -- is 384 kbps for $29.95 a month... 
the same as Charter's base package. The thing is, they don't say that, 
they advertise "up to 1.5 Mbps." Whether you get that or not isn't 
something the phone company will help you figure out, but if you are a 
long way away from the CO, you probably won't get it. SBC, and most DSL 
providers, require a 1 year contract... the cablecos usually have no 
contract, it is a month-to-month deal.

	So, for $29.95 a month, you should be able to get 384 kbps for sure 
from either. For $39.95 a month, you can usually get a guaranteed 1.5 
Mbps from the DSL provider or 2-3 Mbps from the Cableco. So, if you are 
into the idea of gambling on what you get for $29.95 a month, go with 
the cable... it will be faster than any of the below-$50 offerings from 
the phone company.

	That said, consider some more stuff:

	* Cable uses a ethernet network, basically. Everything works 
beautifully without any fancy stuff. Plug it into a router or a 
computer and usually it just works (using DHCP for nameserver 
assignments, etc.). On the other hand, DSL providers use PPPoE, which 
is a pain. If you get a good Cable/DSL router (I recommend the Linksys 
BEFSR41 for a wired network, and so far I like my WRT54G wireless one 
as well), it will support PPPoE, but it still isn't as reliable because 
it has to "log in" just like a dialup PPP session and sometimes things 
go wrong. Likewise, I've heard a lot of people have trouble getting 
PPPoE to work on Linux if you hook the DSL directly to your system 
rather than indirectly via a router.

	* While the phone companies love to talk about how cable slows down if 
there is too much demand on the network... do you know any network that 
doesn't? The thing is, a properly administered cable system will have 
enough bandwidth that everyone can max out their connections without 
any problems. I can reliably get 3 Mbps from Charter and its only 
$39.99 a month... the same as half that speed from SBC Yahoo!.

	*DSL will cause some noise on your phone lines even with filters. Most 
people I talk to agree that they can hear "modem like sounds" faintly 
on their phones. There isn't any noise with cable.

	At any rate, either way you go, I strongly recommend the Linksys 
Cable/DSL router if you have more than one system (and even if you only 
have one right now). It'll take care of basic security (it has a NAT 
setup built in) that will make your system essentially invisible to all 
but the best crackers. And if you go with DSL, a router is a must -- 
that way you don't have to bother with annoying PPPoE software on your 
systems: the router will turn it into a normal ethernet internet 
connection over TCP/IP just like if you went with cable (like I said 
though, the PPPoE still causes some problems).

	Anyway, that's my $0.02... :-)

	-Tim

On Jun 23, 2004, at 7:19 AM, K Montgomery wrote:

> Dear All,
>
> Forgive me if this has been asked already -- sounds to me like the kind
> of question someone would have already asked.
>
> I currently have RoadRunner (Time Warner Cable) Internet service.
> Verizon DSL just became available in my area and they're offering it 
> for
> $29.9-something a month -- about $10 cheaper than RoadRunner.
>
> Assuming the price is what they say it is (the saleswoman seemed to
> indicate it was, in response to my questions), can anyone here point me
> to an objective comparison of DSL vs. cable?  Or, has anyone considered
> the switch?  I'm basically doing standard home networking stuff, with
> the possibility of some light server use (a personal web site) in the
> future.
>
> Thanks,
> Kathy
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> ChristianSource FSLUG mailing list
> Christiansource at ofb.biz
> http://cs.uninetsolutions.com
>
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