Internet Providers (Cable v. DSL)
 

I'm seriously pissed at Comcast. I've lost a couple hundred today because my cable connection keeps dropping. So I turn to OOT for answers.

What are the differences between cable and DSL? Is there any significant speed difference, and if so, does it matter for someone not streaming/downloading large files all the time?

Is there a difference in terms of quality of connection? Does DSL drop as often as my [censored] cable has been dropping?

Mostly I'm just pissed that Comcast is the one and only option in terms of cable/internet in my area. I can see the need for a government-sponsored monopoly in the past, but in today's world of steadily decreasing physical infrastructure needs, that's pretty much a thing of the past. Feel free to disagree or rant with me about companies like Comcast holding on like grim death in the face of the coming media revolution.

Re: Internet Providers (Cable v. DSL)
 

First of all, it's your own fault. If you have hundreds of dollars on the line at any particular moment and don't have a back-up, you're not thinking straight. Especially since dial-up back-up costs 20 or 25 bucks a month. I can, and have, run 8 tables on a 33k dial-up modem before, so it's perfectly workable and utterly cheap back-up.

Get yourself a battery back-up, too. Getting booted out of your games by your own doing is just not the way smart people go about it.

Re: Internet Providers (Cable v. DSL)
 

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Especially since dial-up back-up costs 20 or 25 bucks a month.

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way cheaper, blarg

Re: Internet Providers (Cable v. DSL)
 

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First of all, it's your own fault. If you have hundreds of dollars on the line at any particular moment and don't have a back-up, you're not thinking straight.

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1) I was not aware such things existed.

2) I never said I had hundreds of dollars on the line at any particular moment.

3) This is a very recent problem.

EDIT: Bah, I'm cranky

Re: Internet Providers (Cable v. DSL)
 

The short answer to all your questions is: it depends.

Here in Denver, most people choose Comcast over Qwest for no other reason than the fact that...well, they're [censored] Qwest.

I've had both DSL and Cable and I prefer cable for a couple of reasons:

1. It's faster (this trumps all - and I'm talking 6Mbps vs. 768Kbps).

2. It's cheaper - usually if you have cable TV and internet you'll get a $10 price break. I have Digital Classice (for Speed vision) and internet and my bill comes to ~$115/mo.

3. It's more reliable. I had more problems with DSL than cable. That may have changed in the past few years, but I was always having the CO drop my connection.

Re: Internet Providers (Cable v. DSL)
 

You never heard of dial-up modems or net access?

At any rate, it's dirt cheap no matter what your stakes are, in comparison to the money you can lose by not having it. Definitely get yourself a back-up net access of some kind. A pro I know has cable, DSL, and dial-up.

Re: Internet Providers (Cable v. DSL)
 

I dunno about the cheaper part. Yahoo is always having sign-up deals. I think their last one was 19.95/mo and their current one is 14.95/mo. I haven't seen cable, even $10 off, approaching those prices.

Re: Internet Providers (Cable v. DSL)
 

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I dunno about the cheaper part. Yahoo is always having sign-up deals. I think their last one was 19.95/mo and their current one is 14.95/mo. I haven't seen cable, even $10 off, approaching those prices.

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This is just for the internet access, you still have to lease the line from the ILEC, which will cost you ~$20 a month.

Re: Internet Providers (Cable v. DSL)
 

how about just finding out whats crapping out your cable and fixing it? i've had comcast for a while and they were down once for 5 mins at about 3am.

Re: Internet Providers (Cable v. DSL)
 

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1. It's faster (this trumps all - and I'm talking 6Mbps vs. 768Kbps).

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I can't imagine my cable being any slower. For several weeks now, every web browsing session has required roughly 1 Ctrl-R per 3 link clicks. I have to refrain from doing any BitTorrent downloads while using the computer for anything else, because the network will be unusable. When I do use BitTorrent (Azesus), my download speeds are like <30 (although I must confess, I don't know whether thats Kb or kb, nor do I know what kind of numbers I should expect) so downloading a 350 meg episode of Lost or Smalleville will take >5 hours. Maybe I have a virus or zombie or sometihng. Or maybe Oceanic Time Warner sucks ass.