Cable vs. DSL--which is faster?

CNET News ^ | 4/22/03 | Jim Hu

[Leroy S. Mort]

Cable modems are outpacing digital subscriber lines in terms of connection speeds, as household broadband access continues to increase, according to a study released Tuesday.

The number of Internet users accessing the Web through home broadband connections rose 9 percent between October 2002 and March 2003, according to Net measurement firm ComScore Networks. That brought the total percentage of broadband connected households to 28 percent of all homes with Internet access.

However, despite signs of consumers' appetite for broadband, connections speeds vary depending on whether they use DSL or cable modems, according to ComScore. Individual service providers also showed differences in access speed.

The study said cable modems were 50 percent faster on average than DSL connections. According to data tabulated during February, Cablevision reportedly had the fastest connections, averaging 800kbps, or 13kbps above the industry average. Comcast came in second at 794kbps, Cox third with 688kbps, and Adelphia last with 575kbps. Time Warner Cable, the nation's second-largest cable television network, was not included in the study.

DSL providers showed huge swings in performance. AT&T WorldNet averaged 762kbps, or 63 percent faster than the industry average of 467kbps. SBC came in second with 584kbps, EarthLink was third with 369kbps and Qwest was fourth with 240kbps. Notable omissions from the study included Verizon and BellSouth.

According to ComScore, competition for broadband services will continue to intensify, leading to pricing pressure and greater importance placed on performance.

[tubebender]

Using Cox.net I get 1823/227 from Eureka Ca. I'm surprised because it's carried by microwave from here to So Cal?. We have no fiber cable to the out side world due to a dispute between SBC and CalTrans over 23 moles of right of way near Willits. SBC has installed cable the rest of the way from Ukiah.except for the 23 mile section. SBC is working on upgrading local lines while the right of way dispute winds it's way through the courts. BUMMER for many business's and schools.

[WSGilcrest]

Check THIS out.

[WSGilcrest]

[tubebender]

What, you think I made a mistake when I said moles ? Haven't ever seen a road construction site that didn't look like some big moles at work...... :-)

[Mr. K]

The difference is that they just recently started installing their infrastructure- while the U.S. is still using stuff instaled years ago. So even if they install cheap two year old technology it is still hundred of times better then our 10 (or 20) year old technology.

Stuff becomes obsolete so fast it is incredible- then what do you do with your investment in hardware (that still works, albeit slow...) ??

[Bloody Sam Roberts]

Here's what I got. I'm on Comcast Massachussets.

How did your speed compare?

kbps

257

513

769

1025

1281

1537

1793

2049

2305

2561

ugh

«33.6k modem download speed

ugh

«typical 56k modem download speed

slow

«single channel ISDN

bearable

«dual channel ISDN

ok

«IDSL

ok

«150k Video Stream

ok

«Fastest multiplayer games

fast

«192k 'near CD quality' MP3

faster

«300k Video Stream

rocks

«half megabit

awesome

«1mbit barrier

your
download

«1735 kbps

your
upload

«252 kbps

insane

(2mbit barrier not shown)

dude!

(5mbit barrier not shown)

=Your tested speed (grey = est. TCP transfer overhead)

[NormsRevenge]

I am salivating as I watch the ComCast crews working their way towards my street and getting ready to bring fiber to our neighborhood, hopefully before summer.

Pacific Bell had aborted a broadband project 4 years ago in our neck of the woods and AT&T Broadband did diddley squat during their brief ownership of the local cable and decided not to upgrade any of the cable network infrastructure. Now that ComCast has control, I see many crews working in the area and lots of cable being laid.

Soon, I will be more than happy to tell Earthlink and their dial-up crap to pack sand.

I could have gone Earthlink or SBC DSL within the last 6 months but opted to just wait it out. We sat about 20,000 feet from the closest CO 'til then.

Thanks for the good news.

[NormsRevenge]

PS , how's your Yahoo Fantasy Racing Team doing? I jumped to #4 :-) , but Im about to lose my top driver, #24. :-(

[tubebender]

Eureka must have been one of the first towns wired for FO. I remember Scientific Atlantic stringing the lines and because our house sits 200 feet back from the street I thought we would have to pay a contractor put it in. Wrong... cox had the cable put in with a small machine that vibrated the cable into ground.

[Bloody Sam Roberts]

I am salivating as I watch the ComCast crews working their way towards my street

If you have dial up now, you will never, ever go back once you get a fat pipe in to your house.

It's like a crack addiction. You'll keep it no matter how much they want to raise the price. That's scary part....but you won't care.

[WSGilcrest]

Sore subject. I'm 26th, and my wife's 14th. I have an excuse though, I forgot to change drivers for three races. :)

[Jeff Chandler]

548kbps downstream, 568kbps upstream using Qwest VDSL. Since I frequently upload many files, the upstream is more import to me than the downstream.

[Keith in Iowa]

711 Down - 205 Up on 768k DSL service. I'm happy with it.

[billbears]

Bump for later

[Psycho_Bunny]

If you need throughput; get cable - if latency is important; get DSL.

[jokar]

Bump to bookmark

[fnord]

4.3 meg down
520k up

cable rocks :-)

[boris]

In my experience, cable is faster and more reliable. My friends with DSL all tell horror stories of multiple failures to connect, repeated reboots, exotic rites which must be practised to mollify the DSL gods. Sacrificing small animals, painting yourself blue, turning widdershins 3 times...that sort of thing.

Thank God I'm a Cable Boy!

--Boris

[Leroy S. Mort]

4.3 down? Who you with? OptOnline?

[fnord]

Insight cable, but I think I may be the only one on this node, so the whole pipe seems to be mine, lol.