I Need Faster Internet!

B

Bruise Lee

Joined
Aug 4, 2002
Messages
363
I'm still poking around the internet at dial-up speeds, so I'm seriously considering upgrading to DSL or cable. I'm sure there are a lot of you guys on this forum with some good advice, so I thought I'd post my questions here.

My main concerns are price, reliability, speed, and tech support, in that order. As long as I can go at least 3 times faster than my dialup connection, which is only like 33k due to crappy phone lines, I'm gonna be happy about speed. Tech support is important, too, though, because I always seem to need to call for help eventually.

I think I am leaning a bit more towards ADSL due to the fact I hate my cable company (rip off prices), and there's always the possibility of sharing too little bandwidth with my neighbors (who I know for a fact do use cable).

I'm a cheap bastard who didn't even like shelling out $20 a month for dialup. I mean $20 a month is one less knife or flashlight a month, right?

So, who is a good company to deal with in Southern California? The best price I've seen so far is $35 a month, which I can live with.

Also, any point in considering upgrading to a new modem with v.44/v.92? I know its supposed to improve web surfing due to better compression of HTML and some other types of files. Uploads are supposed to be faster, connecting to the internet faster, and you got the new "internet on hold feature."

Big deal. I don't think this can help me download MP3 files faster, right? Or the latest Windows service pack, or virus update?

I don't even think a lot of dialup ISP's support v.44/v.92. Is this true? I'm with Juno right now. I know there is no way any dialup service can compare with ADSL in speed, but the cost still makes it an attractive option. And buying a new modem is a only gonna cost me money one time.

Bruise
 
I have a cable modem at my home and just had DSL installed at my work. From the limited comparison I've had, my cable modem blows DSL away. Granted, both will make you loath dial-up forever, but, the d-load speeds I get with cable are faster, and I can do more at once. Reliabilty for my cable modem has been very good, everytime it ever went down, all I ever had to do was reset the modem. DSL I can't say yet. I live in IN, so I'm sure that the providers will be different, but I hope this helps at least a little.
 
Cable Modem all the way.
I've had mine a little less than a month and it's rippin' fast.
Only trouble is that (as stated above) I have to unplug mine every once in a while to reset it.
Lenny
 
Of the choices available today ,in most parts of
the country, Cable is the fastest by far. NOT the
best just the fastest.

Due the rapid explosion of the internet the
telephone companies were not able to upgrade phone
lines to support all the data. If you go to cable
BE SURE AND INSTALL A VERY GOOD FIREWALL ON YOUR
COMPUTER.
 
DSL. The speed is guaranteed. Cable can go faster, BUT it can slow down to around what a normal modem goes at with no warning.
 
Originally posted by J-man_the_jet
DSL. The speed is guaranteed. Cable can go faster, BUT it can slow down to around what a normal modem goes at with no warning.
Click to expand...
Some service providers do have guaranteed speed, but some don't. Verizon here in the northeast used to have guaranteed speed, but no longer. They had problems from the onset. Lots of dropped connections. I've had a cable modem ever since it came to my area. My modem burned out after 3 years of continuous use. I got another one, installed it, good to go now.
 
I live in the L.A. area as well, and use Earthlink DSL ($49.95/mo). I believe that they piggyback off of the local phone companies' lines (Verizon, SBC), but we had a hell of a time dealing with Verizon in getting DSL hooked up (which never happened, after numerous support calls) so we called Earthlink and the problems went away.

I just completed a 20 month project of remote database systems support for a client in NY and had ZERO downtime with the DSL line, with at least 6 applications running on my PC that required network use at any given time(VPN client, Outlook, several telnet sessions, ftp client, X-windows server, several database management programs, and two instant messaging tools). The speed was better than I've seen in many office environments, and web-surfing seems to be limited only by the occasional slow website (not the fault of DSL).

Earthlink's customer support was very helpful in getting everything set up, and I haven't had to call them back since. Plus they are local (Pasadena) if you do need on-site support.
 
If you have a Mac try using the Safari browser. It pre-loads the pages you have bookmarked.
 
And just this morning before work I called to cancel my SBC DSL that I've had for several years. My cable company (Adelphia) has been offering their Powerlink cable modem for a while and did a $20.00 per month promo recently. It was so cheap that I had it activated and then would switch back and forth between my DSL connection and my Cable connection. I'm cable all the way. I also hate my cable company, but I hate SBC as well (took a whole hour on the pohone to kill the service!) so that wasn't the decision maker for me.

On the technical side, I ran benchmarks on both connections at many different times of day, mid week and weekend. My cable connection was just as stable as my DSL connection, just a lot faster. I also have no problem with things like the VPN I have set up to my office for remote database work. My DSL connection was spec'd at "UP TO" 1.5mb/sec. , I never saw more than 600k/sec. while the cable modem has been very stable at 1900k/sec for a couple months now.

To me the equation was easy, DSL at 600K/ second for $49.95 per month, or Cable at 1900k/second for $39.95 per month. Three times the speed for 20% less money works for me.

If I were in the market for a new broadband connection in the L.A. marketplace and was set against cable I would look at www.dslextreme.com. They get fantastic reviews on dslreports.com (a tremendous broadband resource) and I have a couple friends who use them and have been very happy. Their tech support is top notch and I think they're $34.95 per month. I've also seen adds recently for Yahoo DSL at $29.95 per month, but to me Yahoo is almost as bad as AOL. They're not just an ISP, but a portal.

Poke around at www.dslreports.com, there's a qualification tool there that will let you know what's available in your area.

jmx
 
Originally posted by johnniet
If you have a Mac try using the Safari browser. It pre-loads the pages you have bookmarked.
Click to expand...

Safari is only on Mac OS X. But hey I run it :) - Good to see another Mac user.

grnamin, It's guaranteed speed here.
 
Yes, broadband can be quite a thrill but it depends on where you stay and whether such broadband services are available.

For those who have broadband, it is immensely better than the ordinary dial-up.
 
The last thing i'd want is DSL. Compared to cable, it's a downgrade.
Plus the cable here has been 10x more reliable than dsl here, and dsl costs more. Get the cable service, you are'nt likely to regret it.
Typically it's (my cable is 1000kbps +) twice the speed of DSL (512k cap)
 
2 words - cable modem. Have had mine installed for 4 years. No complaints.

AJ
 
Question for you cable modem surfers.

When I travel I take my laptop with me. I currently use dial up, so all I need is a phoneline and access number to surf.

If I were to switch to Comcast Broadband, would I still be able to connect even though I was traveling? I would hate to not be able to surf When I went out of town.
 
With Adelphia, they only have dial up numbers for a few states back east. It depends on the provider. I think if you get Earthlink, you get limited travel dial up service.

jmx
 
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