cable modem vs.dsl
 

anyone have an opinion on which is better?

or know where i can read about which is better? my choice is rogers vs. bell (telus too??) up here in canada....

thanks in advance!!

Re: cable modem vs.dsl
 

I think cable is faster. at least the last 2 places i have lived. Some areas give cable pretty cheap too. I was getting service in texas for like 20 dollars a month but in New mexico I get the same speed for 60.

Re: cable modem vs.dsl
 

The notice is not that much and where I live cable is decently more expensive. OBV I go with DSL.

Depends on what you are being offered.

Re: cable modem vs.dsl
 

The answer is DSL.

YMMV, but where I'm from, cable can slow to an unusable crawl when traffic picks up. I switched to DSL and have not yet lost service. With cable, in the evenings, I lost service several times a week, for an hour or longer.

Good luck

Re: cable modem vs.dsl
 

thanks for the responses!!

the problem i'm having is that my cable modem speed is very inconsistent...

i'm wondering if it's a problem sharing your local area (sorry, don't know correct expression) with people downloading TV shows and movies etc.... i know 5 years ago when i was downloaded 5 TV shows at a time (don't do stuff like that anymore, for various reasons), but that i assume uses up alot of capacity.

is DSL more consistent because of the dedicated bandwidth? or is it fairly inconsistent too? (i realize the problem can be further down the line).

thanks in advance!!

Re: cable modem vs.dsl
 

also take into account if you are going to get cable TV. sometimes you can get it all in a package for a discounted price. I've heard of the traffic issues with cable but I have never noticed it. I think it really depends on your region.

Re: cable modem vs.dsl
 

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I think it really depends on your region.

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Correct. I have never noticed any slowdowns with cable where I live. And except for about a two week stretch once in the last few years, I have never had a major problem with it.

I suppose if I lived somewhere else, DSL might be better, but I really have no reason to switch.

Re: cable modem vs.dsl
 

I have had high speed internet in all four time zones, so I have a lot of experience with this. I have lived places where the cable is a lot better and I have lived places where the DSL is a lot better.

Re: cable modem vs.dsl
 

I used to be a cable installer, cable modems are almost always faster than DSL, but tend to be slightly less reliable.

Re: cable modem vs.dsl
 

Unless you're going to be downloading like crazy its not going to really matter which you get since they're both high speed (although Cable is usually faster than DSL).

DSL no matter the provided is through the same Central Office in your area (so just find the best deal; local phone company, Earthlink, AOL, etc.).
Cable is with whomever is your cable provider.

If you're able to get DSL in your area then you're probably close enough to get a decent broadband speed (although the closer the better).

Cable...I'd ask your neighbors what they think.


You should also be able to go to DSL Reports and see what the reviews are in your area (I think).


http://www.dslreports.com

Re: cable modem vs.dsl
 

In this area (Cincinnati) I hear people with cable modems bitching all the time about their spotty service. I've had DSL for six years and it hasn't been down for probably 3 or 4 years at least.

Re: cable modem vs.dsl
 

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I used to be a cable installer, cable modems are almost always faster than DSL, but tend to be slightly less reliable.

[/ QUOTE ]

This guy hit it on the head. I live in a condo and the cable wiring is the old skinny black wire. I had a hell of a time keeping the cable going. I would get kicked off all the time, usually during a critical hand in a tourney. Finally I switched to DSL and yes it is a bit slower, but not that much. I have never had a problem with DSL yet.

Re: cable modem vs.dsl
 

I don't know what stakes you play but if you play any sort of high stakes, you need to get both.

I learned that lesson when I had $900 in tournaments open and Source Cable went down for a few hours.

That was last month. I've had both for a month and I've used the backup 3 times already.

Ryan

Re: cable modem vs.dsl
 

Someone correct me if I'm wrong, but I was always under the impression that you share bandwidth with your area when using cable modem, but you don't with DSL. So in areas where a lot of other people have cable modem (and are abusing it), you're better off getting DSL. But if you live in an area where it's just a bunch of 70 year old retired people, you can probably assume they aren't using tons of bandwidth.

Re: cable modem vs.dsl
 

If you live in a smaller sized town then a cable modem will absolutely fly! If you are in a city in a big apartment this can be a different story.

Re: cable modem vs.dsl
 

thanks for all the fantastic responses!!!

yes, my concern came from being in second place (out of 4 players) in SNG, and then i lost the session forever (and lots of smaller emergencies too). complete gift to my fellow players.... although it was very low $$$$$ level, so no biggie.... but i'd like to move up quite substantially if i had confidence in a few things (internet access being a biggie........... other concern is to find financially-secure, non-PT poker site).

Re: cable modem vs.dsl
 

People act like DSL is millions time slower than cable. It really isn't. Now it all depends on the phone lines in your area, and your actual physical distance from the phone company's CO, but DSL speed is still quite fast. A typical file download say from, well, download.com on DSL will be around 80k/s when a cable download is around 150k/s. The mbps they state like 3mbps and such are not an accurate way to measure the speed in practical terms. The mbps is going on the standard that modems used to work on. Back when modems were 56k or 56700 bps a file download would only be like 7k/s.

$20/month for DSL or $40+/month for cable. Hmmmmmmmmmmm?

Re: cable modem vs.dsl
 

Verizon FIOS

Re: cable modem vs.dsl
 

[ QUOTE ]
People act like DSL is millions time slower than cable. It really isn't. Now it all depends on the phone lines in your area, and your actual physical distance from the phone company's CO, but DSL speed is still quite fast. A typical file download say from, well, download.com on DSL will be around 80k/s when a cable download is around 150k/s. The mbps they state like 3mbps and such are not an accurate way to measure the speed in practical terms. The mbps is going on the standard that modems used to work on. Back when modems were 56k or 56700 bps a file download would only be like 7k/s.

$20/month for DSL or $40+/month for cable. Hmmmmmmmmmmm?

[/ QUOTE ]

does every DSL also require you to have phone service? I have not had a land phone for 3 years. I think the cost for someone like me would actually be about 40 because of the landline.

Re: cable modem vs.dsl
 

For poker you might as well get Bell. The max speed will be slightly less but it will still be very fast and more importantly consistent. I live in the toronto area and the fastest bell service has served me fine for poker and for any large downloads I need to do. Bell isn't really organized in terms of their promotions but you should be able to find something good. We asked to be locked in for a year and got a good discount as a result.

Re: cable modem vs.dsl
 

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
I used to be a cable installer, cable modems are almost always faster than DSL, but tend to be slightly less reliable.

[/ QUOTE ]

This guy hit it on the head. I live in a condo and the cable wiring is the old skinny black wire. I had a hell of a time keeping the cable going. I would get kicked off all the time, usually during a critical hand in a tourney. Finally I switched to DSL and yes it is a bit slower, but not that much. I have never had a problem with DSL yet.

[/ QUOTE ]

I'm in the same boat. I seem to get multiple drops with cable that last about a minute or just long enough to consume my time bank in a tourney. Unfortunately, I don't think that a DSL option is available to me yet.

If cable video service was as intermittant as their broadband, it wouldn't exist.

Re: cable modem vs.dsl
 

Your best bet is to ask neighbors and other people in your city. I have both Comcast cable and Verizon DSL. My cable internet is 10x more reliable than my DSL, but I keep it as a cheap back-up. $20/month vs. Cable connection going out at 4am, while I am in 6 $50 sng's.

Re: cable modem vs.dsl
 

Fortunate to live in a city where the unreliable cable ranges from either a lot faster then DSL to a [censored] faster then DSL. The most unreliablility i've ever experienced was for a week long period when i had a FUBAR'd router and didn't know it.

I'm firmly in the cable camp in my city.

Re: cable modem vs.dsl
 

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also take into account if you are going to get cable TV. sometimes you can get it all in a package for a discounted price.

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There are parts of the US where you can do this with DSL and satellite tv.

Re: cable modem vs.dsl
 

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also take into account if you are going to get cable TV. sometimes you can get it all in a package for a discounted price.

[/ QUOTE ]

There are parts of the US where you can do this with DSL and satellite tv.

[/ QUOTE ]

Yeah, but satellite TV is garbage.

Re: cable modem vs.dsl
 

Over the years, I've been back and forth DSL and cable at home. I find that I like DSL better for stability reasons. You don't want to get bumped off the internet when you have tables up. It's annoying enough when a room's network drops.

To me, it seems that cable drops fairly frequently. I have Speakeasy DSL and they send me emails for network maintainance outages (always during non-peak usage) and reimburse for unexpected network downtime on billing statements. Cable never did that unless you harrassed them over the phone. The bastards. [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

Speakeasy by far has the best customer service I've seen (tech support once called by back about a non-standard modem I was installing w/o me asking)...but you may not be able to get them.

Re: cable modem vs.dsl
 

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
also take into account if you are going to get cable TV. sometimes you can get it all in a package for a discounted price.

[/ QUOTE ]

There are parts of the US where you can do this with DSL and satellite tv.

[/ QUOTE ]

Yeah, but satellite TV is garbage.

[/ QUOTE ]

Seems fine to me.