DSL vs Cable: Need Help A.S.A.P. (work from home)

T

TheTentacledMenace

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Hailz all... long-time visitor, just signed-up.

Here's my situation:

I need to know if switching from cable to DSL would be a smart move, considering I've had nothing but problems with my cable since I changed apts. in the same town.

Online speed testing is useless, as it's when you go to download something that tells the tale, and my cable is having problems specifically at certain times of the day (which they say shouldn't be happening) and dropping from around 119KB to 60KB, which is ridiculous.

There's a DSL company in my town offering 1.5 MEG speeds, and even if that's in megabits, that's still faster than my existing cable:

1.5 megabits = 192 kilobytes = 1536 kilobits

I've never even run at 192 kilobytes with this current cable company.

They even just put in a new line, and it's still screwed.

Suggestions and info would be greatly appreciated, thanks!
 
Have you called the cable company and bitched? If you aren't getting advertised speeds(at least some of the time; nobody ever gets advertised speeds 100% of the time) then call and bitch. If they still won't do anything then DSL might be a good choice. Perhaps sign up for DSL, but don't cancel your cable modem service just yet. Have them both for a month and switch off between the two periodically to see which one provides better service. Or just ditch the cable service right away if it is really that bad.
 
Oh yeah, like I said... they came out for the fourth time this morning and actually ran a new line into my apt. because the old line was indeed bad.

However, so is their connection/bandwidth to this part of town, apparently, which they say there's nothing they can do anything about if that's causing my slow-down.

Like I said, DSL at 1.5Mbit is 128KB, which I've never run at with cable here, even in my old apt. which ran faster than this.

At the fastest, I've run 115KB with cable, which just should not be, especially for $45/month!

It seems DSL might just be the way to go then.

Thanks!
 
you either need to switch or get more involved in the troubleshooting process. force traceroutes on them, do reverse line tests with broadbandreports/giganews. See if you're getting any unusual latency or packet loss at a hop near home.

edit: fyi - a question like "should I switch to dsl?" isn't the kind of thing most people would use ASAP for.
 
you can only received data as fast as servers are sending it. Are you sure its your end? 1.5Mbitr DSL will probaly be cheaper than cable so i'd switch if your sure your having issues with your cable provider.
 
This 'cable' speed changing is a problem in the apt's I live in also, many people here have switched from the cable isp to DSL either from Sprint (our local phone service) or Verizon (which cost more than Sprint here)....

The thing with CATV internet service is that they don't think you have choices either you have CATV isp or your dialup....they think they are the 'big dog' on the block but really they are typically not up to the challange.

Also on the cable issue - I actually have two inbound catv (from the 'street') to my apartment due to 'low bandwidth' I can't watch the same channel at the same time on two cable boxes without 'signal loss' or 'patchy' throughput'....I don't pay for the '2nd' line either...it was the cable companies 'fix'...
 
Also on the cable issue - I actually have two inbound catv (from the 'street') to my apartment due to 'low bandwidth' I can't watch the same channel at the same time on two cable boxes without 'signal loss' or 'patchy' throughput'....I don't pay for the '2nd' line either...it was the cable companies 'fix'...
Click to expand...

Man I hope you don't have Comcast cable. Here in Washington we don't usually let stuff like that happen. I know there are several places that haven't been upgraded yet but we let the people know that they will have to wait a while until we get the upgrades done before the increased speed can be had.
 
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