ADSL or Cable...!?

[beavereater]

I am probably an idiot for asking, but I just don't know really!! I have ADSL 12MBPS...its fast, alhough I never really get the 12Mbps but rather about 5~8. Anyway, recently, cable companies have been promoting cable Internet. This is the new thing here!! Japan is so advanced in some ways and so far behind in others. Anyway, I am just wondering which is REALLY better...stability, quality, security and so on.

[hech54]

I had a cable modem back home in the U.S. and I SORELY miss it. That was back in the MP3 heyday and that bastard SCREAMED. The provider sort of sucked (Adelphia) but it was damn fast when it was running....which was about 90% of the time.

[Hardcoreruss]

For you being in Japan it does not matter really as the slowest broadband connection (dsl, cable, satellite etc) is at least 8mbs.

I would focus on price and customer service.

[beavereater]

The slowest right now is 12Mbps but thats never what I get (Don't expect it either) However, I was wondering, I heard that there is a lot of downtime on cable Internet. Is this true!?

[mrtristan]

It depends on your cable company. My local company is owned by TimeWarner. They offer a guarantee. A friend's friend is a prick and calls them whenever the network is slow and they prorate his bill. The network in my area is hardly ever down and they upgrade often, so it hasn't slowed down since I started subscribing about 3 years ago.

Since you're in Japan, I would stick with DSL. DSL is an older technology in Japan, so it's probably more reliable. The DSL companies in my area are still a little shaky, so I haven't switched over. A few friends of mine have DSL and said they liked their cable connection better, because of the speed and reliability.

[iooi]

The slowest right now is 12Mbps but thats never what I get (Don't expect it either) !?

Dont ever move to the UK then.....
Most are lucky to get 512K let alone 1 or 2 meg via ADSL... Cable here is only just getting upto 2 meg and most are 600K thats if they are in your area....

[4smiley20]

I also have TimeWarner and I like it and everything I guess. But when deciding what to go with does it really matter whether you get 8Mbs or 12Mbs. I have never even hit close to what my isp can provide because how many sites are out there that offer 12Mbs downloads? A key factor in deciding is your upload speed. Cable gets capped at about 40-50Kbs depending on how good your provider is. This is pretty slow if you are transfering data to more than one location. I think this is the edge that dsl has over cable since they offer faster upload speeds. So I leave it up to you: cable with a faster download speed, which you'll probably never hit, and a slower upload speed or dsl with a slower download speed, which is still pretty quick, and a higher upload speed.

[808smokey]

Cable rulz... Beep Beep (Road Runner??)

[VCDHunter]

Cable rulz... Beep Beep (Road Runner??)

Ain't Roadrunner Meep Meep

[WishMaker]

Using this speed test, (I like the speedometer)
I only get a bit over the 1000 mark. (1.383 Mbs) does that
mean I only get a little over 1 megs per second?

Cable Modem
http://us.mcafee.com/root/genericURL_genericLeftNav.asp?genericURL=/root/speedometer/t...atalog_nav.asp

[WishMaker]

Not a complete wizard, am I...
It says it right on the speedometer.

Still, that's better than what I was getting on
dsl.

[WishMaker]

If you use that URL I gave you, you'll have to
test twice. I clicked it to see if it was valid and it
sent the needle all the way.

Sorry, didn't know going straight from there would
mess up the test.

My 1Mbs is at least consistant, no matter the day or
time. Okay. I'm outta here.

[gmatov]

beaver,

DSL in Japan and other Asian contries, advanced ones, are WAY faster than American cable, so, anyone here who gives you their opinion is just going by US standards.

Japan, Taiwan, S. Korea, deregulated their telecoms, so there is competition, each outdoes the other, and holds down the rates while doing so.

Here, we have gone from 14.4, or less, to 56K in steps, charging more each step. Marketing, y'know, profits at each step, and they don't have to do anything on their end, as the speed was always there, just don't let them know.

Here, in PA, Comcast has doubled our speed to 3+ mbps, quite good, for 40 bucks a month, but, since it's the only game in town, that is all we are going to get. At that, it is twice as fast as a T1 line, which not too long ago went for 1,000 to 1500 bucks a month, although they guaranteed that throughput for that money.

Wish,

When you try to do the test a second or third time, you have to empty your browser's cache, as the file you are speed testing with is in Temp Internet Files, or whatever your machine/browser calls the cache. Else it will load from the cached file, give you super readings.

Cheers,

George

[krazydl]

Cable rulz... Beep Beep (Road Runner??)

i agree w/ 808smokey.
used dsl for 2 yrs and switched to cable and it is way faster than dsl.

[indolikaa]

Ka-band satellite.

[Greg12]

I have 3 meg Comcast service

it's quality service.

[handyguy]

I settled on DSL because my ISP that offers DSL from the phone company has the best Usenet provider & no cap on use. Can get 2 gigs of stuff a day if I want. Then the Comcast very skimpy Usenet, so you have to buy extra.

Im only on up to 1500....But speakeasy offers 6mb DSL. Our local cable modems top out at 3mb now. DSL faster than cable. Amazing.

[disturbed1]

Using this speed test, (I like the speedometer)
I only get a bit over the 1000 mark. (1.383 Mbs) does that
mean I only get a little over 1 megs per second?

Cable Modem
http://us.mcafee.com/root/genericURL_genericLeftNav.asp?genericURL=/root/speedometer/t...atalog_nav.asp

It maxes out at 2mbs, not enough for most people.

Try these-

www.atl.speakeasy.net
www.bos.speakeasy.net
www.nyc.speakeasy.net
www.lax.speakeasy.net
www.chi.speakeasy.net

[stiltman]

lax.speakeasy.com

[handyguy]

You got a t3 line stiltman?

[gitreel]

had comcast cable internet for about three years. now I have dsl

[stiltman]

You got a t3 line stiltman?

8)

[jtommyj]

2004-04-26 19:00:04 EST: 4224 / 574
Your download speed : 4325538 bps, or 4224 kbps.
A 528 KB/sec transfer rate.
Your upload speed : 587947 bps, or 574 kbps.

This is with Adelphia Cable Powerlink Premier outside of Pittsburgh, PA.

Tom

[stiltman]

not bad for a cable connection....Is it like that during peak times of the day?

[jtommyj]

Yeah, it's really good. I upload a bunch and download from newsgroups. I get up to as high as 4.6 MBPS download speed even during the day and early evening peak hours.
I live in a little podunk town south of Pittsburgh and I don't think too many people have it out here so I can chunk up all the bandwith.

It also allows me to upload a full 5GB in less than 24 hours which is much faster than it used to be.

It went from 128 up to 256 up and 3 MBPS down for around 40 bucks per month.

Then I upgraded to the premier for 512 up and 4 MBPS for 70 bucks per month since I upload a lot of family DVD's to family members all around the country.

Even though it's rated at 4 MBPS down I often get up around 5 or so.