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Yamraj
@wrdsb.on.ca

Yamraj

Anon

DSL vs. Cable

Hi guys, Sorry if this was already asked before, but I am again a free agent in the internet world. I am looking for a new service. However, I don't know what service to take. DSL or Cable? I was previously with Acanac DSL, and I actually had an OK service, contrary to the popular belief. I was really looking forward to go with cable, but then I realized that with cable, the more connections that you have within your household, the less the speed will be. If I do go with cable, it will be Teksavvy. I have 10 devices running in my house. 1 computer, 2 laptops (Wi-Fi), 1 PS3, 1 iPad (Wi-Fi), 2 iPods (Wi-Fi), 1 Galaxy S3(Wi-Fi), 1 Vonage VoiP box, and a FTA receiver. With all of these devices running, what would be a better choice for me, DSL or Cable?

HiVolt
Premium Member
join:2000-12-28
Toronto, ON

HiVolt

Premium Member

said by Yamraj:

I was really looking forward to go with cable, but then I realized that with cable, the more connections that you have within your household, the less the speed will be.

Who told you this? It all depends on the type of usage on the devices... If you have multiple devices downloading movies, streaming, playing online games, yes it will be slower for other devices... But this is not service type specific, it happens on DSL, Cable, wireless, etc...

Same if you start uploading, like seeding a torrent file. If you don't control your upload speed, you will slow down the connection for other devices.

If you want to control the speeds, there are ways of doing that with QoS (Quality of Service) settings in various routers.
MaynardKrebs
We did it. We heaved Steve. Yipee.
Premium Member
join:2009-06-17

MaynardKrebs to Yamraj

Premium Member

to Yamraj
said by Yamraj:

.....then I realized that with cable, the more connections that you have within your household, the less the speed will be.

That's the same with DSL too.

Your connection to the street will still be the same speed, ie. say 25Mbps DSL or 25Mbps Cable (hypothetical example) but the more devices using the internet simultaneously, the slower the connection will appear to be.

If you have only one device in the house on then it will use all 25Mbps. If you have 3 tv's streaming Netflix at the same time as 3 computers using BitTorrent, then each of those devices are going to have to share the 25Mbps.

Where it gets worse for cable is that if your neighbourhood has say 100 customers on the local cable segment and the cable company has not upgraded the network in the area, then you and your 100 neighbours may overload the neighbourhood capacity and you'll never see anything close to 25Mbps except at 3am when everyone is asleep.

The Doctor
join:2011-11-25
Montreal,Qc

1 edit

The Doctor to HiVolt

Member

to HiVolt
HiVolt think he is getting confused with node saturation making the connection slower.

HiVolt
Premium Member
join:2000-12-28
Toronto, ON

HiVolt to MaynardKrebs

Premium Member

to MaynardKrebs
said by MaynardKrebs:

Where it gets worse for cable is that if your neighbourhood has say 100 customers on the local cable segment and the cable company has not upgraded the network in the area, then you and your 100 neighbours may overload the neighbourhood capacity and you'll never see anything close to 25Mbps except at 3am when everyone is asleep.

It can be the same for DSL, especially people served off the remotes... They suffer from the same bottleneck possibilities, as speeds rise and upgrades arent performed...

Davesnothere
Change is NOT Necessarily Progress
Premium Member
join:2009-06-15
Canada

Davesnothere to Yamraj

Premium Member

to Yamraj
 
When comparing services, it is important that you tell us the city where you live, so we know who are the 'Big Guys' there.

Then you/we can figure out what speeds are available from each, as those speeds are prob'ly available from at least some of the independent ISPs.

THAT should be the starting point of research, and next how much data usage/traffic per month (from your 10 devices) would be the 2nd thing.

After that, just follow HiVolt's advice about controlling what uses your bandwidth at any instant.
Davesnothere

Davesnothere to The Doctor

Premium Member

to The Doctor
said by The Doctor:

HiVolt think he is getting confused with node saturation make connection slower.

 
Yes, in some 'hoods, speed thru Cable is still pretty inconsistent due to clogged nodes.
Yamraj
join:2012-10-11

Yamraj to Davesnothere

Member

to Davesnothere
said by Davesnothere:

 
When comparing services, it is important that you tell us the city where you live, so we know who are the 'Big Guys' there.

Kitchener, Ontario. Sorry to not include that.
Yamraj

Yamraj to Yamraj

Member

to Yamraj
One more thing, all of those devices will not be running 24/7. The only things that will be running 24/7 would be the 1 laptop, the VoiP, and the TV. And if the WiFi is on on the other devices, but they are not using it, that will not affect anything right?

Also, I am planning to get the 18mbps w/ 300GB Bandwith limit with Teksavvy, will 300GB be enough for all of these?

Davesnothere
Change is NOT Necessarily Progress
Premium Member
join:2009-06-15
Canada

Davesnothere

Premium Member

 
Yes, it's a moment-to-moment thing, and hopefully you will have enough control over what happens.

And the wireless devices may have their own little fight over the bandwidth which you router can deliver thru WiFi, which will not likely bother the wired items.

As for the 300GB cap, hard to say - you'll just have to keep an eye on it.
Davesnothere

Davesnothere to Yamraj

Premium Member

to Yamraj
said by Yamraj:

Kitchener, Ontario. Sorry to not include that.

 
Ahhhh, Mister Rogers' 'hood.

The 512Kbps UPstream bandwidth on that plan may be your main headache then.

HiVolt
Premium Member
join:2000-12-28
Toronto, ON

HiVolt to Davesnothere

Premium Member

to Davesnothere
said by Davesnothere:

said by The Doctor:

HiVolt think he is getting confused with node saturation make connection slower.

 
Yes, in some 'hoods, speed thru Cable is still pretty inconsistent due to clogged nodes.

And so is DSL. I have the 25/10 VDSL service, and the speed is slower in evenings on non-multi-threaded downloads...

It's been like that since I got the service in march. I've given up asking about it, because TekSavvy can't do anything about it. It's up to Bell to upgrade the feed to the remote which currently has 1gbps interface, and can support an additional 1gbps.
Yamraj
join:2012-10-11

Yamraj to Davesnothere

Member

to Davesnothere
Yeah, I was thinking to get the first month for a 300GB cap, then If i surpass that then I will have to get the unlimited plan.

The Doctor
join:2011-11-25
Montreal,Qc

The Doctor to HiVolt

Member

to HiVolt
I am in Montreal(Quebec) with bell and only had 2 slowdown.
99% of time my download are always 2.9mbit/s for 25/10 package.
It's mostly likely 1gbps interface is almost reaching saturation or bell is still playing games with the IISP somehow.

HiVolt
Premium Member
join:2000-12-28
Toronto, ON

HiVolt

Premium Member

said by The Doctor:

I am in Montreal(Quebec) with bell and only had 2 slowdown.
99% of time my download are always 2.9mbit/s for 25/10 package.
It's mostly likely 1gbps interface is almost reaching saturation or bell is still playing games with the IISP somehow.

Nah, the issue is the same if I use a Bell login, TekSavvy login or a Primus login...
MaynardKrebs
We did it. We heaved Steve. Yipee.
Premium Member
join:2009-06-17

MaynardKrebs to HiVolt

Premium Member

to HiVolt
said by HiVolt:

said by MaynardKrebs:

Where it gets worse for cable is that if your neighbourhood has say 100 customers on the local cable segment and the cable company has not upgraded the network in the area, then you and your 100 neighbours may overload the neighbourhood capacity and you'll never see anything close to 25Mbps except at 3am when everyone is asleep.

It can be the same for DSL, especially people served off the remotes... They suffer from the same bottleneck possibilities, as speeds rise and upgrades arent performed...

Thanks. Forgot to mention that.
kovy7
join:2009-03-26

kovy7 to Yamraj

Member

to Yamraj
Why not just stay with Acanac if you had a OK service ?
koreyb
Open the Canadian Market NOW
join:2005-01-08
Etobicoke, ON

koreyb to Yamraj

Member

to Yamraj
The biggest thing I would recommend is ensuring you have a DOCSIS 3 modem and not a 2, as most people who have D3 modems do not have any issues in urban areas on cable. To often I see people complaining about node congestion, and it's because they have a D2 modem, that won't allow channel bonding.

Davesnothere
Change is NOT Necessarily Progress
Premium Member
join:2009-06-15
Canada

Davesnothere

Premium Member

said by koreyb:

The biggest thing I would recommend is ensuring you have a DOCSIS 3 [class of] modem and not a 2, as most people who have D3 modems do not have any issues in urban areas on cable. Too often I see people complaining about node congestion, and it's because they have a D2 modem, [because] that won't allow channel bonding.

 
We can never repeat that too often (to cable subscribers).

I'm surprised that I forgot earlier.

I've tried both at my current location in Cogeco-Land, and BIG difference !

FiReSTaRT
Premium Member
join:2010-02-26
Canada

FiReSTaRT to kovy7

Premium Member

to kovy7
said by kovy7:

Why not just stay with Acanac if you had a OK service ?

Because if you stay with one ISP for too long, your head blows up Probably because the OP doesn't wanna prepay for a year and last time I checked, if you go monthly, TSI will be cheaper than ACA. Main savings with ACA are if you prepay, but they are worth it if you've got the scratch.

If the OP's happy with DSL, going with FTTN might not be a bad idea. 25/10FTW. Last time I checked, Velcom had the best-priced metered (400GB) plan, especially if you go static.