DSL vs cable hook-up

[Gina Stevenson]

Yes, have heard enough stories about DSL getting bogged down to not much faster than dial-up on occasion [how often, don't know], so have been reluctant ... especially since seeing these prices that seem to just last a few months & then go up ... and are contingent upon staying with them well beyond the "cheap/catcher" rate.

So, I looked up what cable by itself might be without TV. Well, you can get $29.99 for a few months if you have the cable TV. Otherwise, without that, you can get the cable/high-speed internet for $59.99. $60 for computer hook-up on low income? Don't think so ... so still sitting here frustrated, since the air cards were something like $45 (slowest) & up to about $80/month, averaging about $60, it seemed.

Not cool, when sometimes -- like this afternoon -- I sat here "forever" trying to get through to even check on the cable prices for internet, and gave up after about half an hour or more, when they never appeared.

[Bob Evans]

Most cell phone carriers sell air cards. That might just turn out ot be the cheapest way to go.

[Ryan Scott]

This sort of thing is highly dependent on your location. We have cable internet without cable tv service and we pay less than $20 a month. Even on the slowest speed, DSL is much faster than dial-up. But it all depends on carriers in the area and competition.

[Jim Chabot]

We have had DSL for about five years now, have been very satisfied with it. Much faster than dial up, no comparison actually. Maybe cable is faster, but DSL is plenty fast enough.

We have a bundle for 69.95 that includes DSL and unlimited US and Canada phone service. And yes we have a TV antenna, I can't see my way to actually pay money for TV.

[Jon Twitchell]

We use DSL, and pay $27.99/month for it. I don't think I've ever noticed it being anything less than quite fast! Certainly never as slow as dialup.

[Mike Wooldridge]

I have WiFi from a wireless router off DSL here. I had a wireless router off cable in the nursing home. My bundle was cable TV and Intenet for a bit less than $70/month. My cell phone is separate and is $30/month. Here (my parents' house) we have a bundle that includes AT &T local and long distance, DSL and DISH Network TV for about $100/month, no extra charge for the WiFi. I did have to buy the router. I haven't noticed much difference, if anything the DSL is a little faster.

[Gina Stevenson]

Most cell phone carriers sell air cards. That might just turn out ot be the cheapest way to go.

[from first note in thread] ... so still sitting here frustrated, since the air cards were something like $45 (slowest) & up to about $80/month, averaging about $60, it seemed.

$45 & up is a lot ... when you consider that (w/all the fees they add+taxes) would end up being $50+, added to the phone, now $35 ($30 + those fees/taxes). $85's nearly $100 !!

This sort of thing is highly dependent on your location. We have cable internet without cable tv service and we pay less than $20 a month. Even on the slowest speed, DSL is much faster than dial-up. But it all depends on carriers in the area and competition.

Cable internet without cable TV and less than $20!? Must be we need more competition that we don't have, having only one cable company from which to choose @ the moment (ck'd Comcast & Charter; no Charter here, & Comcast was this $59.99 price).

@Mike: That's the thing ... they always want to bundle things together! They wouldn't let me keep my $30, actually, if I were to bundle the cell with internet, but push the $30($35 w/add-ons) up to $40($45), and then .............. also, they tend to want TV to be one of those, whether it's TV/land line, or TV/cell phone. And when you're talking "about $100," that's just too much for the budget, too.

Thanks again, y'all. SOMEONE has to come down somewhere. Even DSL is $25 (at least for a few months or year, & then ... ??), which would end up $30 w/all those add-ons added to anything re "communication."

[Gina Stevenson]

Goodnight ......... so tired ......... zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz.

[Rich Schmidt]

Re: DSL bogging down -- I survived on dialup for years before finally giving in and switching to DSL about... 7? 8 years ago? DSL has always been much, much faster than dialup.

Sorry to hear there's not much competition in your area. I guess there's not that much here, either. But we can afford the DSL, so we're happy.

[Jon Twitchell]

A story about bundling:

Our parsonage phone is paid directly by the church.
I pay for the internet at the parsonage.

Both the phone and the internet are handled by the same company.

This week, they decided to automatically bundle the services together and send the bill to my treasurer.

I called them, and told them that this wasn't an option for them... that they'd need to fix it, or I'd have to find a different internet company.

Within 10 minutes, the accounts were separated back out again.

[Susan Unger]

I was on dial up and then went to DSL. Only once have I had problems with my DSL and that was during our Feb Blizzard. I think it is just as fast as my parents' cable internet. So if you can find a deal on DSL, I'd go for it. I did and don't regret it [got it at $15 a month].

[Gary Creely]

I have used cable, DSL, and dial-up, and fios.

Your needs will depend on what you are doing. Most people will be fine with DSL. DSL speeds range from 750k to 7mbs. Many locations only support upto 3mbs, and even others only 1.5mbs. Cable is faster in 2 reguards, first it it will often support 30mbs and higher speeds, but their is an other factor which is ping speed, or response time. One thing you rarely see discussed is ping speed, but it really effects you browsing experience.

typical ping speeds would go something like this:

DSL 40ms
Cable 10ms
Fios 4ms
Air cards/cellular data 500ms

If i use my iphone as a modem I can get upto 3mbs download speeds, but browsing is sluggish because of the ping speed. Ping speed matters for general browsing, playing games, and VOIP(phones). It does not matter too much for streaming video.

The best all around is cable, but typically the most expensive. Air cards have the advantage of being mobile, but they are sluggish and typically have relatively low bandwidth caps.

DSL is a good compromise of price and performance depending what you need. I use a company called DSL extreme that works through the excising phone company. I use a magic Jack for my home phone. Very affordable way to go, however I need more bandwidth than I currently have (but I am not the norm).

[Betty Bolerjack]

I agree with the others, Gina. Go with DSL. Good grief, girl! If they raise the price in a year, you can deal with it then. You can always cancel and go back to dial-up. Meanwhile, enjoy it! I'm guessing that even if they did raise the price, it wouldn't be a lot and you would find a way to pay for it because it is so much faster than dial-up. We're on the slowest speed that AT&T offers and even though it takes a few minutes to download videos, it's not the hours and hours that you wait to download them on dial-up! I promise you... you'll be amazed at the difference!

[Glenn Messer]

The cheapest way is to install a wireless card and then find out which of your neighbors has unsecured wireless intern ....... Uhhh, maybe not.

[Mike Wooldridge]

Well, I get to make the choice between DSL, cable and wireless when I move.

[Gina Stevenson]

The cheapest way is to install a wireless card and then find out which of your neighbors has unsecured wireless intern ....... Uhhh, maybe not.

Uh, yeah, right.