Author Topic: ISDN, DSL, cable Modem quandry (Read 3024 times)

Hajo · « **on:** January 13, 2001, 10:27:00 PM »

Gentlemen, I know many of you use different devices to connect to the NeT. I have cable (roadrunner) DSL, and ISDN available to me. The ISDN will be more expensive, but I need some knowledge and expertise on the subject. Which way whould I go to connect? I've heard good and bad about each and could use some good advice before I make a selection. Your help on this matter would be greatly appreciated.

Hajo

Toad · « **Reply #1 on:** January 13, 2001, 10:36:00 PM »

Hajo, I have Roadrunner.

It was great when very few in the neighborhood were on it. The hookup to the trunk is in my yard.

Now everybody in the neighborhood is on it. There are predictable times when the thing obviously slows way down and stutters. Unfortunately, this lasts from when people come home from work until they go to bed.

In short, it's right when you want to play.

When they finally get a switching station close enough for DSL, I'm gone.

Just my .02. I want my own connect that isn't shared.

TheWobble · « **Reply #2 on:** January 13, 2001, 10:42:00 PM »

Compared to DSL or Cable ISDN is a total joke so rule that one out for sure.

Cable in general is more stable and will give faster Dl's, people will tell You DSL is better because with Cable you have to "share" your connection, however this isnt really what it seems, if you get lets say a 1.0mbit down 500kbps up set up like I have many will say that if someone in your "grid" has it aswell that you will share that 1.0mbit, that is a falsehood, you are gonna get a true 1.0mbit for sure no matter if people all around have it too, plus with most cable setups you get a static assigned IP that never changes, as you do with DSL aswell. I had dsl when I lived in Corpus, but when I move to Victoria I got Cox@home Cable, I am VERY happy with it, i get excellent gameplay and i usually Download at anywhere from 75k to 110k a second no matter what time of day, 128k is the max you can get with a 1.0 mbit connection.

The only time I have ever had what many people mistake to be the "connection sharing congetsion" is when one of my ISP's backbones went down, the problem was the fact that their backbone was overloaded, not my connection, many people will get a slowdown during prime time and assume that its because they are sharing a connection with their neghborhood, but if you use a simpl tracerout util 99% of time you will see that nay slowdown is usually at your ISP's gateway, so the whoe "shared connection congestion" that people bash cabel about is largly unfounded, we back when cable first came out people DID share connections, but that was phased out as bandwith and equiptment prices fell. If you get or have cable and you are getting congestion i would squeak at your isp, because if You sign up for say 1.0mbit, by law you are to be guarnteed no less that 75% of that speed, the only exception is when there is a down router/backbone, or other ISP related equiptment problem.

I would for sure go with cable, if the cable service is horrid, THEN try DSL but cable is usually faster. forget ISDN

[This message has been edited by TheWobble (edited 01-13-2001).]

Hooligan · « **Reply #3 on:** January 13, 2001, 11:03:00 PM »

ISDN doesn't compare to the other two.

I have had DSL and have cable currently and both are great. Cable is probably cheaper than DSL and I would recommend it for that reason.

Cable is shared in the following manner. All the cable users in my local area share the bandwidth to my local cable company. If everybody in my section of town decides to get cablemodem, then I am going to experience slowdowns but so far this is not a problem.

DSL shares bandwidth too, just farther upstream. If you have DSL, they actually have a card in your local exchange dedicated to you. So there is nothing between you and your local exchange that you share with. But, you and everybody else using your local exchange shares the bandwidth from it to the next level.

No matter what kind of internet connection you have, at some point you are sharing bandwidth with a lot of other users. In general the main differences between cable and DSL are 1) cable is cheaper 2) DSL shares bandwidth farther upstream and as part of a bigger pool so the service MIGHT be more consistent.

When your DSL service guarantees you 1.5MB, that is only between your house and the switch. If you live in Redmond WA, I can guarantee you that you won't get 1.5MB from anywhere on those days that Microsoft releases a windows update.

Hooligan

TheWobble · « **Reply #4 on:** January 13, 2001, 11:06:00 PM »

Perfect hooligan, i was just about to post a follow up that said that.

Dinger · « **Reply #5 on:** January 14, 2001, 12:31:00 AM »

DSL also tends to take longer than cable to get hooked up. When you look at DSL, make sure you figure out how close you are to your switching office. This may make a major difference in bandwidth available to you.

I'm on @home cable, and frankly, it's unusable for Aces High. In my neighborhood, it seems everybody's got a cable modem, and additional noise issues between the cable drop and their router mean that I ping the router between 7 and 150 ms when there's nobody on and up to 800 ms and beyond during peak traffic. The cable modem will lose the signal for hours at a time; I had to buy a telephone modem to play Aces High. I In all fairness, after three whole days on the phone and 5 truck rolls, @home has agreed not to charge me for this service, but it's been like this for 4 months, and it's getting old.
DSL may give you less bandwidth (The Wobble's right -- when the cable modem can actually connect, I get pretty mean bandwidth), but if you want to play games such as AH, a stable and flat link to the server is far more important than bandwidth, and in this DSL really shines.
if ISDN costs more than either of these, don't even consider it.

Jimdandy · « **Reply #6 on:** January 14, 2001, 12:44:00 AM »

I have DSL and I will say that it's better than my old 33.6 modem but it isn't what I expected. It can still get some bad variance during peak hours. On the over all it is good. I'm still not ready to give it up and go back to dial up. I haven't ever used cable so I can't compare.

TheWobble · « **Reply #7 on:** January 14, 2001, 01:47:00 AM »

Dinger, how many users have cable should not affect your ping, check and see if the clog occurs at your ISP's gateway if it does and they are not doing anything about such a horrid problem they could be reported to the better business beuro for what i think is called "failur to provide service as advertised " I have COX@home and I get 36 ping to htc server, I am in texas though but 800ms is just sickening. I would raise a MAJOR stink.

Fishu · « **Reply #8 on:** January 14, 2001, 02:42:00 AM »

My DSL works great, downloads about same speed from US as from Finland...
Ping is stable and latency bounces within 10% radius.

Just avoid those overloaded DSL providers

They're literally giving away more than they can offer for. (And their biggie cable gets overflooded)
I hear that @home is one of these..

Saintaw · « **Reply #9 on:** January 14, 2001, 02:56:00 AM »

DSL is great ! But make sure you get the Right ISP. (avoid world.com familly...)

Ping · « **Reply #10 on:** January 14, 2001, 03:15:00 AM »

I have both @home cable and Sympatico DSL service at my home.
During peak hours cable is painfully slow.
I use DSL to play AH which I have not seen these slowdowns that do affect cable.

DSL here is the same price as cable and it seems to be alot more stable.

Nash · « **Reply #11 on:** January 14, 2001, 05:44:00 AM »

Cable, DSL, ADSL, T1, 14.4 whatever.

Just do *NOT* use RoadRunner for AH.

StSanta · « **Reply #12 on:** January 14, 2001, 07:11:00 AM »

I must be lucky.

I have a cable, and my isp grants us 1Mbit connection. That's 120k+/s down and 30 k/s up.

And it's cheap, too

. I pay around $25 a month and have a 4 gig traffic limit; more traffic and I pay more.

------------------
StSanta
9./JG 54 "Grünherz"

"I am the light at the end of your sorry little tunnel." - A. Eldricht

TheWobble · « **Reply #13 on:** January 14, 2001, 07:41:00 AM »

1mbit down, .5 up no traffic limit and $40 a month for 2 computer each with their own permanint IP, never had any slowdown even during peak hours EVER. Im a happy wobble.

DrSoya · « **Reply #14 on:** January 14, 2001, 08:38:00 AM »

Cable user here, about $19 a month (CAN$30). I bought the cable modem, renting it would be CAN$5 - i.e. about US$3 - a month more. Specs say 1.5 Mbps down (192KB/s), 120 Kbps up (15KB/s). 6 GB limit including 1GB upload.

Download speed can get to 240 KB/s, sometimes up to 350, but usually it's around 40-100 during peak hours.

My biggest beef is the upload speed limit; it used to be 320 Kpbs but my ISP has declared war on anyone trying to serve data and content on home connections, so they reduced the upload speed. At 15KB/s upload speed I don't even bother anymore with videoconferencing.

DSL may be "better", but it depends a lot on the provider. Personally I don't trust my local phone/DSL provider one bit. I used to work for an ISP, and I rarely heard good stories about them. (If I lived just 50 miles east of here, where the phone provider is not the same, that'd be different, I'd quickly change to DSL).

Right now my cable modem service is decent: they're planning to deliver IP telephone service in the future, so they've been upgrading their network.

But the day a new DSL provider arrives with better upload speed, even at less download speed I'll probably switch.

My advice is to go with the provider with the best reputation for customer service and product, not the involved technology.

Although I'd stay away from ISDN: it's more reliable than the two others, but requires the installation of a digital phone line which costs more than a regular one (and may even be charged by the minute depending on the provider), so you have to pay two bills, one to the phone company and one to the ISP. The relatively small bandwidth it gives (64 to 128Kbps) isn't worth it. Go for cable modem or DSL instead.

------------------
DrSoya
308 (Polish) Squadron "City of Cracow" RAF
Part of the Northolt Wing (First Polish Fighter Wing)