DSL Vs Cable Broadband - Which One Is Superior?
DSL vs cable broadband - is one better than the other? We'll run down the differences and similarities between the two major forms of high speed Internet connections in this article.
Speed
A few years ago, cable held the advantage in speed. DSL offered lower transfer rates, but competed with lower prices. However, these days, you have DSL providers who offer connection speeds every bit as fast as cable, and many cable providers have begun to offer 'lite' packages that offer lower speeds with prices that are competitive with the DSL starter packages. One thing to keep in mind when comparing speeds between DSL and cable is that a DSL connection 'should' give you the advertised throughput speeds. You are the only one using your DSL connection. Conversely, a cable connection can be degraded because you share the main cable with other users in your neighborhood.
Reliability I remember when I first began looking for a broadband connection at the end of 2000. Most of the information that I could find indicated that there were myriad problems with DSL. Subscribers seemed to have all sorts of complaints. Cable seemed trouble free by comparison, so I went with that. However, if my first year of cable broadband was 'trouble free', I pity someone who actually had some difficulty. But after that first year, the connection became very reliable, and consumer surveys now indicate that DSL performance is just as good or even better than cable in that regard. Cost As stated earlier, in the recent past, it seemed that the DSL providers were willing to compete on price, offering packages with slower speeds than their cable competitors for as little as one-third the price. But now, most DSL companies have myriad plans, with the faster ones being equal to cable's offerings. And many cable broadband providers, who had been loath to lower prices and seemed to be content to just continue to raise the speed of their packages, are now offering lower priced tiers of service at a commensurate lower price. Availability DSL would seem to have an advantage here, because everyone has a phone line, right? However, that's not quite the way it works. While DSL does come in over the regular phone line, some lines do not meet technical standards for DSL use. Also, the DSL customer must be within a certain distance of the phone company's office. However, fewer people have cable connections than those with phone lines. So this would appear to be a tossup, or perhaps a slight advantage to cable. Ease of installation When you get a cable broadband hookup, an installer has to come out to your location. However, most DSL providers offer self-install kits consisting of a modem and/or router and some filters for your phone lines and simple directions. This would have to be scored as advantage DSL. Keep in mind, though, that if you have more than five "phone devices" (phones, answering machines, fax machines) you will probably not be able to use the filters, and will require a visit by a technician to install a new line fed by a splitter for your DSL. As you may have guessed, we can't declare a winner. It will come down to your pocketbook, your need for speed, and what providers are offering service in your area. Take your time and do some careful research, and it'll be hard to go wrong these days.
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