Cable v. DSL? Any opinions?

[Ed_S]

(bit late, but what the heck..)

I tried DSL with Earthlink for my first broadband experience. They'd been great for dial-up, so why change, right? BIG mistake!

Absolutely horrible experience, worst support system I've run across anywhere! At the time signed up, they already had a major problem affecting most of the midwest. Speeds were (honestly) worse than dial up, and very inconsistant. Calls to determine the problem led you to "level one" techs, who only diagnose the CUSTOMERS system over the phone, They're not given any capability to test THEIR equipment, nor or they informed of network problems. If & when you finally get to a "level two" tech, you may (or not) be told there IS a problem at their end. The first time I reached an L2 tech, he immediately told me the system was under repair and that none of the hoops the L1 guy put me through would possibly help. This was AFTER 2 hrs with the L1 tech!

Turns out this was a MAJOR issue. DSL Reports had a massive topic about it. Took almost six months to resolve!!
By then I was long gone, but getting away took threats of using a lawyer! Their contract calls for a 1 yr commitment yet has NO guarantee regarding speeds!
Even the "termination" was horrid. They simply turned it off w/o even notifying my that they'd agreed, much less telling me WHEN it'd be shut down. Just suddenly it was GONE, as was my dial-up account. To their credit, though, it only took one 45 minute call to find out my account had been closed!


Went to Charter Cable's Pipeline service & have had -0- problems. No commitment period, and their rated speed is a guaranteed minimum. My speed tests are always higher than it's rated. I've need to contact support a few times, and EVERY time I've gotten a reasonable answer in a few minutes.


Obviously, I think you made the right choice with cable!

[Vyx]

I would definatley go cable unless there are like 25,000 people within a 10 mile radius. The only time cable will be slower than dsl is if there are an unbeliveable amount of people in your given area.

[s7ryk3r]

for the last 3 years I've been using cable... first with AT&T Broadband, then with Time Warner, and then back to AT&T... it all started at $39.99/mo, then up to $43/mo, then up to $46/mo... then Comcast comes along, buys out AT&T and jacks my cost to $60/mo!!!

I had enough and switched over to SBC Yahoo DSL at $35/mo. When I had cable, I could get a sustained rate of 170kb/sec which was nice... with DSL 150kb/sec, a little slower, but worth the $25 savings per month.

I still think cable is more responsive, and if costs were the same, I'd stick with them, but $60/mo is NOT COOL...


-=s7ryk3r=-

[agathodaimon]

Originally posted by NiTCOM
Hi!
I've seen DSL that's why I like my cable (more expensive, though.
) A friend of mine has SBC DSL but I couldn't config it to "always on connection". He still has to use the "connection manager" Which I think is a pain. Is this typical for DSL that you acutally have to connect like a dial up account?

--NITCOM

I just recently decided to go with my local DSL provider in my new house... Is it true that you have to connect like dial up internet with DSL???
I'd hate to have to do that all the time.
I'm coming off from Roadrunner cable internet to Alltel DSL lite for $34.99/mo... Sounded like a good deal & they threw in the activation & modem for free! They told me I should AVERAGE 250K/sec downloads with it... I'm hoping it's true.
Often, the cable connection at my old house would bog down, or just sit there, that's why I'm going DSL. Hope I made the right choice!

[sKiT]

I would say if your into gaming and want consistently low pings, you really can't beat dsl. I would steer awawy from Verizon if this is your first DSL as thier tech support lines have about an hour or 2 wait on the phone( I know this from experience). Im very happy with Earthlink via Covad despite thier financial concerns last year I can only say my service has improved 100% including a bump in bandwidth that came to me unexpectedly a few months ago from a constant 75KB/sec down to a more download friendly 200KB/sec presently with game pings down in the 20-30 ms range.

[agathodaimon]

cool.
I game a lot over the internet with some friends, so a low ping is important to me.
Also, I live right smack in the middle of the city, so I'm sure there are LOTS of people who have Cable connections that would've slowed me down.

[AMD2400]

Well I had Directv DSL for awhile until they decided to shut down and quit and not even notify their customers. I found out about their closing down on a message board before I even heard anything directly from Directv DSL.

When I had Directv DSL my service Sucked!!! and it was only because of their messed up network and system. I had Charter Cable before that and it was off/on and speeds dropped to near 56k modem speeds.

I recently switched over to Bellsouth Fast Access DSL and it rocks. I am actually a lil farther out than the recommended distance for DSL service but I go a dslreports.com speed test and get 1380 consistant d/l connectivity and 248 u/l speeds