randy 77zt Posted June 8, 2005 Share Posted June 8, 2005 here in central california you dont have much choice for isp's.i am getting tired of dial-up isp.i wont get cable because i dont have cable-i have directv.sbc is offering dsl at $14.95/month.but i did a google search and found a lot of unhappy customers.and i know my phone line sucks because my internet connection slows down every time the wind blows-so if i got sbc dsl it probably wouldnt work correctly.any suggestions? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tim240z Posted June 8, 2005 Share Posted June 8, 2005 I have cable modem service (with Earthlink), but do not have cable TV service (can not justify the expense as I am not a big TV viewer). Works out nicely and I am very happy with the service. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rival5 Posted June 8, 2005 Share Posted June 8, 2005 I'm using Cox Cable with out the TV service. I'm pretty happy with them, been with them for almost 6 years. If you can't get any service over land you can use a satellite service. I know Sprint used to not sure if they still do. But satellite service sucks for online gaming, the pings are to high, but you can get good download speeds. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
80LS1T Posted June 8, 2005 Share Posted June 8, 2005 From what I know DSL gets slower the farther you are away from the point of origin. I think it only reaches like 6-7 miles from the point of origin. I have Roadrunner/cable modem, and I couldnt be happier. Super fast everything! Guy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mario_82_ZXT Posted June 8, 2005 Share Posted June 8, 2005 I have DSL, and my family WAITED to get it. The ONLY cable company in town required you to get basic digital cable if you wanted internet service. They got rid of this requirement around x-mas. If you ordered it without cable tv, they put you on the back burner! We ended up cancelling our order for cable (after waiting over 1.5 months for nothing) and got 1.5mbps DSL for the same price (its actually closer to 1.3, but who's complaining?). Its great and very fast, and our neighborhood has crappy lines too but we haven't had problems. Cable slows down A LOT if everyone around you has it. I had a friend that would download at 150kbps onn a good day, but come a holiday or Friday night, it would drop to 60kbps! See what they're offering and what's easier to install. I vote for DSL. Mario Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rival5 Posted June 8, 2005 Share Posted June 8, 2005 Yeah there are distance limitations. About 4 miles from the CO (central office) is the max distance to get full speed from DSL. The closer to the CO the better. Every DSL company is different so ask them what the limits are for their different cennection types (ADSL,SDSL,IDSL) and at what speed you can get the connection at. I'm happy with Cox. I have a 3 mbit line and it does me well. Mario has a point. The more poeple on the line near you the less bandwith there is for you, but that is the same for both cable and dsl. I personally am for cable, but I have many friends that love their dsl too. In the end what ever is in your price range is what you should get. Also there can be some trial and error depending on how good the line in your area is and the company. So like always buyer beware and dont be afraid to switch ISP's if youre not happy with what you have. All it takes is money to get a fatter pipe. If you do gaming and a lot of downloading of larger files get the fastest line you can afford. If you mostly just do online browsing and email and such I think any broadband connection will make you happy. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest bastaad525 Posted June 8, 2005 Share Posted June 8, 2005 if you can DEFINATELY go with cable. I have tried both Time Warner/Road Runner cable, and Pac Bell or SBC or whatever they are called now DSL, and I am MUCH happier with the cable, it's MUCH faster, with a max speed of 5mbps, and was just all around easier to deal with. The downside is it's a bit pricier, but after going with cable I would never go back to anything else. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
briann510 Posted June 8, 2005 Share Posted June 8, 2005 ive had sbc dsl for a couple years and never had a problem with it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pop N Wood Posted June 8, 2005 Share Posted June 8, 2005 You really can't tell which will be better by talking to people outside your area. From a purely technical point of view, cable has the potential for the greatest data rates. BUT Rival5 is right. All of that bandwidth has to go into the DSL/cable providers servers. If the local company has more users than servers, the service will be slow regardles of whether it is cable or DSL. Then there is service after the sale. Some companies just seem to try harder than others. If the Aholes won't answer the phone, then even minor problems can turn into major outages. Our cable provider keeps losing emails and won't admit there is a problem. Lucky we have two local cable companies so we are switching to their competitor. Hope we have better luck. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
auxilary Posted June 8, 2005 Share Posted June 8, 2005 i set up sbc dsl for my parents, and they've never had issues with it. It's an excellent deal, IMO. Comcast is raping people by charging 60/month for the service. Fortunately I'm getting free extended basic cable with it, so in the long run it evens out. But their regular price is 60/month, and they don't even provide vasoline with that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
COZY Z COLE Posted June 8, 2005 Share Posted June 8, 2005 After I changed to SBC dsl I've never had a problem....... LARRY Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest bastaad525 Posted June 8, 2005 Share Posted June 8, 2005 time warner/road runner have some of the best customer service I've ever experienced with ANY company. From simple stuff like... never being on hold for very long before I get a rep, to stuff that blew my mind like them sending out a tech to my house within A COUPLE HOURS of me calling them to report my connection was on the fritz. They really do bend over backwards to take care of us as quickly as possible The price is high... $40 a month, but I say for the customer service alone it's worth the extra $$$$. whereas our SBC took so long just GETTING the equipment out to us... really as bad as our experience was I'm surprised to see so many loving them. Then again when we signed up for the DSL this was way back when it was really just starting to blow up, like 4-5 years ago... so it makes sense that maybe things have improved. Time Warner was awesome from day one though (we switched over to cable after about 3 months when my friend started bragging about how fast his connection was... averaged more than TWICE as fast as ours). Well really who can say what your experience would be with one OR the other. At least you know what you're getting into from the technical standpoint.... DSL is cheaper, whereas cable is faster. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tim240z Posted June 8, 2005 Share Posted June 8, 2005 I pay $42 per month for Earthlink service. I get billed by Time Warner Cable, but I did not need to have cable TV service. I bought a router and while the walls were open during the addition/remodel, I ran Cat5 to every room in the house (except the kitchen and bathrooms). In hindsight, I should have run Cat5 to the master bath Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
(goldfish) Posted June 9, 2005 Share Posted June 9, 2005 You really can't tell which will be better by talking to people outside your area. From a purely technical point of view, cable has the potential for the greatest data rates. BUT Rival5 is right. All of that bandwidth has to go into the DSL/cable providers servers. If the local company has more users than servers, the service will be slow regardles of whether it is cable or DSL. cable is in a neighborhood loop. You share the bandwidth with every one on the same loop as you. The dsl line is direct to your house. Last time I looked at cable modems, they were less secure than the dsl modems. Of course that's all augmented by those cute firewall/router/ect.. boxes. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
auxilary Posted June 9, 2005 Share Posted June 9, 2005 2005-06-09 00:18:47 EST: 3319 / 351 Your download speed : 3398872 bps, or 3319 kbps. A 414.9 KB/sec transfer rate. Your upload speed : 360325 bps, or 351 kbps. on comcast cable according to dslreports.com Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rival5 Posted June 9, 2005 Share Posted June 9, 2005 2005-06-09 01:25:53 EST: 4167 / 502 Your download speed : 4267610 bps, or 4167 kbps. A 520.9 KB/sec transfer rate. Your upload speed : 514088 bps, or 502 kbps Cox Cable through dslreports Pop N Wood is right you need to talk to people in your area. Ask your neighbors who they have and what they think about it. Other wise its just trial and error on your part. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pop N Wood Posted June 9, 2005 Share Posted June 9, 2005 The dsl line is direct to your house.... Sure, but direct from where? A big computer switch/router/server/whatever you want to call it. That is the choke point. If they add more subscribers, then they need to add more hardware to switch all the message traffic. If the company is cheap, they just keep adding new subscribers to the same hardware and things slow down. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mario_82_ZXT Posted June 9, 2005 Share Posted June 9, 2005 Sure, but direct from where? A big computer switch/router/server/whatever you want to call it. That is the choke point. If they add more subscribers, then they need to add more hardware to switch all the message traffic. If the company is cheap, they just keep adding new subscribers to the same hardware and things slow down. But they slow AT the switch/router etc. Cable is a BUS technology and you will see SIGNIFICANT slowdown if everyone in your are got it and started suffering the web at the modem. After this slow down, it will then slow down AGAIN at the ISPs switch/router/etc. Look to see what people have in your area. The only place in my town that I would consider cable is downtown because everyone there has DSL. In almost all the other parts of town, it can slow to a crawl! Mario Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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