Broadband Internet Information Information Research

Tell a Friend about this Site

Compare Cable vs. DSL


Okay, so you are finally tired of those slow dial-up internet connections, and you want to go broadband. Good deal. But first, you may be wondering which type of broadband connection is best- DSL or Cable? Or, at least, which of the two gives you more speed for the price? Here we take a look at these two popular broadband connections and try to determine which one is better: DSL vs. Cable.

Cable Speed vs. DSL

The most common question that comes up is which type of connection is faster, DSL or Cable? To answer this, it is important to compare both upload and download speeds. Now, so you have something to compare these speeds to, your average dial-up connection is about 28 - 56 Kbps. Most often, however, you won't be able to get 56k through dial up, as most services can not handle this speed.

The average speed of a DSL download is 1.0 - 1.5Mbps. That's megabytes per second - about 20 times as fast as the fastest dial-up connection. This is fast, but consider Cable, which can give you up to 2 - 3Mbps. Thus, at least for downloading, cable can give you almost twice the speed of DSL - that's impressive. On the upload side, however, cable and DSL are pretty evenly matched. They both provide about 100Kbps - 400Kbps. It seems that cable has won this battle.

What about Price and Quality of Service?

There is more to discuss here besides the speed of the connections. Take price for one. Cable and DSL connections are both going to be more expensive than dial-up. But, DSL seems to be the cheaper of the two at the moment. You can get a good DSL internet connection for about $35 - $45 per month. Cable modem will cost you about $45 or $50 (this price may be included in a cable TV package). These prices, however, are really close and they change almost from month to month.

DSL is nice because you can talk on the phone and be online at the same time. In addition, business-level DSL service provides guaranteed data rates, so your connection speed is never a surprise. On the other hand, DSL speed tends to decrease the further you are away from the data center, and it is typically not as widely available as Cable. Cable speeds are not dependent on distance from the data center, and is occasionally cheaper than DSL when included in a cable TV rate. A cable modem, however, may require costly professional installation, and there may exists some limitations on downloads and uploads. All of these factors should be taken into consideration when choosing either broadband service.

Bradley James is a senior editor at SciNet.cc, a website containing many helpful consumer electronics review articles. For more information on DSL and Cable technology, please visit our DSL vs Cable webpage.


MORE RESOURCES:

Virgin Connect broadband internet business launched in Russia
Telecom Paper (subscription), Netherlands - May 16, 2008
Working with Trivon, Virgin has secured licences to launch the broadband internet service in 32 regions and 20 of the largest cities across the country.


Comstar-UTS to launch broadband internet in Orenburg
Telecom Paper (subscription), Netherlands - May 16, 2008
Comstar UTS subsidiary RTC-Orenburg is to complete a project to increase network capacity to accommodate for internet broadband access service in Orenburg ...


Increasing adoption of Broadband Internet in the Arab World is set ...
Al-Bawaba, Jordan - May 14, 2008
The silver lining is that more households are connected to broadband Internet services which would positively affect adoption of Internet-based services ...


Mio Group Plans Launch of Mobile Voice and Wireless Broadband ...
FOXBusiness - May 10, 2008
Mio will be the first in the Caribbean to offer affordable unlimited wireless broadband Internet access and voice plans that include voicemail and unlimited ...


’SA’s telecommunications bottlenecks to be broken over the next ...
The Times, South Africa - May 16, 2008
"Although broadband penetration locally remains low, the number of people connected to broadband Internet services will grow dramatically over the next few ...
Follow The Latest Trends In The Asian Telecommunications, Mobile ... Business Wire (press release)
all 12 news articles


Broadband Internet growing rapidly in Tennessee's rural areas
WBIR-TV, TN - May 13, 2008
By NAOMI SNYDER Staff Writer A non-profit group that works to expand broadband Internet access said half of all Tennesseans now have broadband service at ...
Tennessee businesses jumping on broadband bandwagon Bizjournals.com
Half of Tennessee homes have broadband, group says Knoxville News Sentinel
Connected Tennessee’s Impact Evident in State’s Broadband Growth Emailwire
Bizjournals.com - Knoxville News Sentinel
all 18 news articles


800-Mile Underwater Cable to Bring Broadband Internet Access to ...
TMCnet - May 13, 2008
... under a contract with Indonesia-based PT Indosat Tbk – is expected to meet a growing demand in southeast Asia for high-speed broadband Internet access. ...


Comstar Ukraine launches broadband internet, IPTV bundle
Telecom Paper (subscription), Netherlands - May 8, 2008
Comstar Ukraine launches Double Play, a bundle which includes a broadband internet service and an IPTV service. Users can choose between six tariff plans ...


The Line (subscription)

$270m set aside for broadband internet
The West Australian, Australia - May 13, 2008
The federal government will provide $270.7 million over four years to extend the Australian Broadband Guarantee program until 2012. ...
$4.7 billion for broadband network in Budget NEWS.com.au
all 47 news articles


Ghana: Broadband Internet Facility in U/E Restored
AllAfrica.com, Washington - May 2, 2008
NINE DAYS after the breakdown of the Broadband Internet Facility in the Upper East Region, operators of the facility, Ghana Telecommunications Limited (GT), ...

Broadband-Internet - Google News



MaineBannerExchange

home | site map
© 2006