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3andahalfeyed · Mar 29, 2008, 02:54 AM

Okay, so I want to prepare for a wireless setup in the mere future.

Problem is that I cannot select which one I want as there are the given situations from where I am.

First, DSL is only 1.5 mb/s where I am, I understand that the throughput is slow for some content, especially now that downloads and updates are becoming bigger in terms of volume space, and websites are getting smothered with animation, video, audio and long, long pages, especially blogs.
Cable here is 6mb/s through Comcast, even though it is faster, is there a disadvantage to it versus DSL? Such as cable outage or sharing a central line with the neighbors?

Second, who here gets DSL through their phone carrier (AT&T, by the way) and who here goes with 3rd party providers? I don't know who has the edge. Does anyone have 3rd party cable service? I don't know much about it.

Third, Will I have no choice to purchase their wirless routers/modems/gateways that they offer in case there is no rebate? Can I skip what they offer (will they let me), and get my own stuff, or do I take what they offer?

I'll ask about related material later.

Just some good advice and personal opinions from those with experience. Thanks. Don't have to answer all of them, just which ones that come to mind first.

bearcatrp · Mar 29, 2008, 07:52 AM

I had cable but now on DSL since moving to the country. DSL works pretty good for me but there are times I wish I had cable (not offered here) for the speed. Really depends on your needs. Bottom line: Get a good wireless router and set it up properly. My linksys catches most of the crap trying to get in, the software firewall catches the rest. There box usually comes with the service but if they charge a monthly fee, see if you can get your own. Good luck.

Cold Warrior · Mar 29, 2008, 10:43 AM

The cable connection, even though the entire neighborhood pipe is probably shared, shouldn't be an issue. 6 Mb/s will make you much happier than 1.5 Mb. Normally I hate Comcast, but I read yesterday that they're ending their traffic shaping/bit-torrent busting activity.

I have cable (Time Warner) internet in an apartment - 7 Mb/s, no issues - and 3 Mb/s DSL in a home (AT&T). Both work just fine and as advertised.

ghporter · Mar 29, 2008, 12:41 PM

I have DSL through AT&T, and my package (rated at "up to 6Mbps" downloads) consistently gives me approximately 5Mbps downloads-this is a good thing. AT&T now sells a subscriber line without telephone service, in case you want to have someone else provide the DSL connection, but it is still on the same copper pair, so if AT&T can only give you 1.5, most others will probably be the same.

I have a personal problem with cable providers (cable companies are still cable companies and they all have a history of not giving a rat's behind about customers), but it sounds like that's your better choice. Give them a try and see how they treat you.

MichiganRich · Mar 29, 2008, 01:51 PM

Sorry to hear about your mere future.

mduell · Mar 29, 2008, 04:09 PM

Given those two options, the cable will be faster than the DSL.

You'll need a cable or DSL "modem" (which you can buy from the service provider or from a third party), but you can plug any wifi router in to it that you want.

Big Mac · Mar 29, 2008, 09:12 PM

A big factor in DSL speed is the distance between you and the phone company's central switching office. I have only the basic tier of DSL service but get substantially faster speeds than advertised because I'm close to the switching office.

3andahalfeyed · Mar 30, 2008, 01:17 AM

Originally Posted by MichiganRich

Sorry to hear about your mere future.

Oops: I guess my vocabulary folder lost a definition.
I probably should say "near" future.

3andahalfeyed · Mar 30, 2008, 01:22 AM

Originally Posted by Big Mac

A big factor in DSL speed is the distance between you and the phone company's central switching office. I have only the basic tier of DSL service but get substantially faster speeds than advertised because I'm close to the switching office.

I heard about that just a while ago, for example it is possible to get 2.5, which is what 3.0 subscribers get, while paying for the 1.5 service. I have family who are close to the switch because of it and they see the crew over there occasionally. At the same time I have family who can't get DSL because no one in the neighborhood can agree to having a central switch in there area. Not sure if cable is affected by this.

I'll probably just get the DSL which is my first choice and then probably buy a router later, is that a good idea. I don' really want to deal with cable service right now.

ghporter · Mar 30, 2008, 09:06 AM

The distance issue has to do with signal attenuation over the twisted pair that goes to your home. DSL is carried on a high frequency signal that shares the voice pair, but the frequency is not well suited for long distance transmission, so you get more signal when you're closer to the ISP's end equipment than when you're farther away. That end equipment could be a Central Office or a Remote Terminal too-so the actual distance you're interested may be much less than you might think, since an RT often looks an awful lot like a simple interconnect box. And AT&T sometimes has a problem quoting you an accurate distance and potential DSL speed because their cable records aren't always as up to date as they might be, and new cable construction may not be correlated to subscriber phone numbers for quite some time after that cable is in operation. In general they'll give you a lower projected speed because of this and figure out that you can go faster during the couple of weeks they use to tweak your individual settings.

Getting a router is a great idea. When I first signed up for DSL I had the 1.5Mbps package and my wife, son and I all surfed at the same time without any perceptible impact on our speeds.

rogermugs · Mar 30, 2008, 09:57 AM

unless all you do is check your email like 2wice a day you will seriously regret going for dsl instead of cable...

no disadvantage now that comcast has been b-slapped for its bittorrent problem.

dimmer · Mar 30, 2008, 12:18 PM

Note that Comcast voluntarily agreed to stop messing with customers BitTorrent traffic (as it was probably illegal), but in the same breath announced that they'd be applying the same "traffic shaping" policies across the board -- so it's not getting better from a customer point of view, only worse.

Also, check the terms and conditions of your potential service: many cable providers used to look unkindly upon such things as VPN's and would block the commonly used ports if you didn't have "business class" (ie, expensive) service. No reason why DSL providers may not do the same thing.

DSL speed can also vary with the quality of equipment between your location and the local switch: for example, while I'm less than a block away from the switch, the box on the pole outside is ancient, corroded, and filled with bird poop. So every three months speed goes down to a crawl, we call AT&T, they threaten to charge us if it's the internal wiring, their tech comes out, cleans out the crap box, tells us it's being "escalated to engineering" to replace. Engineering come out, check the box, voice is fine, pack up their bags and beggar off.

In this area, AT&T is pretty much the only DSL provider available -- and as we don't have any use for cable outside of Internet service it's no cost justifiable (yet).

As far as the connection goes, I'd suggest you should get a termination piece in your home (provided by the ISP) that gives you a simple ethernet out: to that, add whatever router / switch / WLAN router you like. That's the easiest way to keep track of what parts of the network are your responsibility and which are theirs. Also gives you more flexibility in the future (if you want to upgrade from 802.11g to n; or from wired 10/100 ethernet to GbE for example.)

3andahalfeyed · Apr 1, 2008, 05:39 PM

With cable, it probably means no more phone and dial-up service, eh? For example DSL services offer some kind of dial-up in case the DSL line goes out. Is it pretty much the end of that when cable internet is selected?

mduell · Apr 1, 2008, 08:46 PM

Does your cable service really go out that often when your phone service stays up?

dimmer · Apr 2, 2008, 08:36 PM

DSL runs over your common or garden phone line: cable ISP over your cable. Saying that if your cable ISP fails your phone won't work is kinda squiffy. Who the hell uses land lines anymore anyway?

So, yes, if you have a VoIP line with your cable ISP it will stop if your cable stops working. You are way, way more likely to have your DSL and land line fail when some intern AT&T jockey messes up with a punchdown tool. But you'd never really be in that situation, so...