Road Runner vs. DSL

[rburt5]

I have the Time Warner triple package with phone, internet, and cable. I am very satisfied with Road Runner, but even more unsatisfied with everything else. I would like to switch to another company that offers the same package, but they use DSL. I'm concerned about reliabiltiy and speed of DLS because we need internet for some college classes right now. Is there reason for concern?

[Squ1rrel]

That really depends on the company, the package, and the need. I have AT&T's DSL, and have had Time-Warner's cable in the past. To me, there was little difference between the two, especially since I used the "Pro" package from AT&T, and I do alot of graphic and content intensive work online. I also like AT&T's customer and technical support much better than Time-Warner's. You may also want to look at a fiber-optic system, which is faster than DSL or Cable, although not available everywhere, and often costs much the same.

[Webber88]

I seem to recall these facts. If I am not correct, someone can jump in and correct me.

Another consideration for DSL is how far away is the "hub". The Hub is the office where the DSL line ends up for transmission to the internet. There is a limit to how far DSL lines can transmit and the further the office, the slower the line.

DLS lines use telephone lines. Telephone lines are thin copper lines which are ideal for voice transmissions but not really made for high transmissions such as internet. Cable companies use a thicker wire which can transmit more at faster speeds. Think of a water pipe: the larger the pipe, the more water will go thru it.

Also many users may share a DSL line. If this is so, then it will slow down faster than a shared cable line.

If your needs are modest you may be perfectly happy with DSL. If you have a business that depends on a lot of internet activity, stay with cable.

I hope this helps!

Rick Parsons

www.plumberfocus.com

[jimbo]

Not a good analogy, webbr. Your DSL connection is your indiviual( not shared) line straight back to the telco office. Your cable connection is shared off a common line, and it is cable connections like Roadrunner which can experience local neighborhood slow-downs when too many users get onboard. It is true that RG cable is designed for much higher frequencies than the twisted pair, but the digital signals of the DSL have found a way to operate very well.


DSL has limits as to how far you can be from a central switch....but once they confirm your setup,there are not often any problems. Cable has higher maximum theoretical speeds than DSL. DSL is offered in good/better/best configurations, and for almost any user, will provide a satisfactory connection. I have medium DSL. Do not do any heavy downloads, so I cannot compare service in that arena.


At one time, modems were just a few k bytes download speed. Then we had 14K then 28 K then 56 K. At each upgrade, they said "this is it. phone lines can't do any better!" Now comes DSL. What next?

[theelviscerator]

DSL is pretty darn slow....

Depends on what you need really...

myself I feel the need...for speed....

[D.Smith]

[PEW]

Key factor with DSL is distance from CO. We run our business with 12 of our users having internet access without any problems. But, we are very close to the CO and have high speed DSL. Cable company wanted over 3k just to run the wires, telco was already here..... made it a no brainer.

[Redwood]

3 computers on DSL here...
Everyone has been after me to get cable so we can be soooo fast!

I told them the computers are slugs because they need more RAM and less crap running in the background.

But No! What do I know...

Daughter borrows her older sisters laptop...
OMG its soooo fast on our DSL!

But what would I know?