bimmerm3m5
join:2001-07-14
New Canaan, CT
| [help] How does ATT DSL compare to Optimum Online Cable?
I have been considering making the move from OOL to ATT Yahoo! DSL for a while now mainly due to the high prices of OOL. How speedy is the service?
Mainly, I use my connection for web browsing and torrents/p2p.
Now, OOL is amazingly fast at 15down/2up mbps and I can get some awesome download speeds, but I'm not sure its worth $50 a month anymore.
We are considering going with the Express package which looks like 1.5mbps/384mbps. The Pro package is also tempting at 3mbps/512kbps.
Anyone's thoughts? I think I am pretty close to the switching station...is there any way I can find this out? Anything else I should know being a longtime cable user? |
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billh491
join:2001-08-09
Pomfret Center, CT
 ·Metrocast Communic..
| Well I pay 57.90 to Metrocast cable for 6/1 from where I am sitting you have a sweet deal already. So what is your question is it worth saving 25 bucks to get 1/10th the speed? I guess that is up to you to decide.
I can tell you this when I was on dialup I dreamed of the day I could get 1.5 down then last time I was on the road and was in a hotel downloading a podcast at that speed I could not stand how long it was taking. |
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NormanS
Premium,MVM
join:2001-02-14
San Jose, CA
 ·Pacific Bell - SBC
| reply to bimmerm3m5
For P2P, downgrading your speed will mean longer time to complete a download.
Only you can decided how you wish to allocate your money. I am not a speed demon, and something of a tightwad, so I prefer at&t Yahoo! HSI Pro over anything Comcast offers.
For others, money is no object, and speed is everything. They will never be happy on DSL, short of bonded pair ADSL2, or VDSL, which can keep up with cable speeds. AT&T is not offering ADSL2, or bonded pair VDSL in this area at this time.
--
Norman
~Oh Lord, why have you come
~To Konnyu, with the Lion and the Drum |
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bimmerm3m5
join:2001-07-14
New Canaan, CT
edit:
April 7th, @10:22PM
| reply to bimmerm3m5
What I was really looking for were some stats...
what's a typical ping to yahoo.com?
how about a speed test on this site? |
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NormanS
Premium,MVM
join:2001-02-14
San Jose, CA | Generally speaking, cable latency is slightly lower on average, but with a higher deviation, than DSL latency.
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Norman
~Oh Lord, why have you come
~To Konnyu, with the Lion and the Drum |
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jpwriting
join:2008-02-21
Enfield, CT
| Deviation is sometimes an understatement. I'm with DSL because the variance on cable for my area was absolutely horribly. Between 5pm and 11pm my cable latency would always rise to upwards of 400ms, while speeds decreased drastically. The reason being that cable is a shared resource, your bandwidth and latency depend on how much your neighbors are using it and how dense the information traffic is. DSL is yours, it will not generally vary to any significant degree unless there is a technical issue, and ping times are generally always the same.
All that said, the deal you have now is not that bad (as long as the speeds and latency are reliable). However, if you don't use that much bandwidth and would be happy trading slightly lower speeds for a little extra cash in the wallet then it might be worth it for you to make a switch. |
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NormanS
Premium,MVM
join:2001-02-14
San Jose, CA
·Pacific Bell - SBC
| All Internet is shared. DSL is just shared farther out (at the aggregation router) than cable (on the last mile).
I've seen Embarq and Qwest (DSL) users posting latencies in the 100s to 400s. I've very rarely seen Comcast and Road Runner (cable) users posting such high latencies. But that is not normal deviation
I don't believe that cable is inherently so bad, compared with DSL, WRT latency. DSL latency deviation is normally 1-3 ms on an average of 8-9 ms close to the premises. Cable latency deviation, that I have seen, is normally 8-10 ms on an average of 5-6 ms close to the premises.
I am referring to the statistical standard deviation from a statistical average.
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Norman
~Oh Lord, why have you come
~To Konnyu, with the Lion and the Drum |
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jpwriting
join:2008-02-21
Enfield, CT
edit:
April 27th, @03:15AM
| You seem to be taking my reply personally, ie: as if I were trying to prove you wrong somehow. I only said sometimes it is an understatement, the cable in my area had terrible deviations in ping based on conditions and that DSL is effectively not shared on a neighborhood basis due to the difference in the way it is handled. I never said one was better than the other, only that it depends on the condition of the service in the area.
Please don't read too much into a reply and go on the defensive from the word go, I'm not here to pick a fight or argument, prove how much I know, etc. I was only giving the OP my reasons for preferring ATT ADSL over Cable, and that is performs quite well as a less expensive more dependable alternative (albeit with generally lower top speeds).
I don't believe that the OP is looking for statistical standard deviation (which as you said deals with a minimal difference of a few milliseconds). He's looking for real world application that would be of significant influence to his decision. I was trying to give him that input.
Adding to that information: my speeds are 6000kb/s down 630kb/s upstream with little variance, they almost never change far from that. Ping is generally 57-65ms.
Edit: forgot to add ping as requested. |
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NormanS
Premium,MVM
join:2001-02-14
San Jose, CA
·Pacific Bell - SBC
| said by jpwriting  :You seem to be taking my reply personally, ie: as if I were trying to prove you wrong somehow. Seriously? I don't particularly care what you think about me.
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Norman
~Oh Lord, why have you come
~To Konnyu, with the Lion and the Drum |
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skj
Welcome to the far side of reality
Premium,Mod
join:2002-04-04
Atlanta, GA | reply to NormanS
And now back on topic please. |
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