my sped fluctuates from 230k (peak time) to 4mbytes during off peak hours. You really only need one guy seeding a couple of HD movie to muck things up.
I have dsl and i use it for wireless for one laptop and also have it wired to my xbox 360 for Halo2/GOW/Tiger...and ive never had any problems....its more reliable than TW from my experiences and cheaper. my vote is for dsl
What 230k? Dude that is crap... do you have TW or DSL? There has not been a time where my connection was below 1MB and thats when I'm d/l Huge files (Movies)..With TW you should average 2.5-4.5 even in peak times.. My Line to the tap is old and I still get those speeds...
For anyone who really wants to see the true potential of cable modems, check out this site. They peddle their own hardware, but it's a good resource, too.
Looking at all these responses, it is pretty clear that a blanket statement cannot be made concerning the speed and reliability of Cable vs. DSL. There are several variables that are unique to each customer's location. The only constant I see is that you will be billed for your service.
well 230kbytes/sec is not that bad, in yahoo DSL terms it's 1.84mbits/sec. I have Cablevision since I'm in NYC =P
blanket statement: cable is faster and more reliable than DSL. if you use bittorrent, DSL is better for you as most cable companies will shut down your upload if you hog the pipe uploading for an hour or two.
MY AT&T/SBC DSL experience: I was getting lag spikes for about 6 weeks. During that time, the connection will got out for about 5-10 seconds every once in awhile at certain times. I've been annoyed out of my mind because of things not running correctly. They sent about 4 different people over, and only one's helpful in any way. They kept trying to come with a semi-threat that they'll charge me if they ever find out that the problem is on my end. I guess that's pretty intimidating, except I'm positive that it's not. This is the second time that it's happened, and last time, they basically made me buy another modem, which cost me quite a bit, only to find out that it wasn't the problem. I find it weird that both times, it's happening as soon as my warranty for the modem is over. Hmm.... This time, I've made my point over and over again that it's probably their card bank. After 4 weeks, they finally agree with me and proceed to "spend money" to change it and might take 2-4 days. This was their scenario, only to call me back a week and a half later that they're "working on it." I got a call about a week after that saying that they moved me to a new card bank.... During that time, I've called numerous time to just get an update of what's going on as no one wants to answer the phone when I call. (the field agents) Also, my answer is always: "we're not totally associated and we don't know and let me transfer you to ...." I've gotten a couple Indian accented people during afternoon times when I called and they were supposively "tech support" and doesn't even know what bandwidth or spikes meant. That first call where I got transferred told me that he'll transfer me to the "auditing department" By that point, I just want to be transferred anywhere, so I said ok and he started to transfer me. My phone was dead silent for the next 5 minutes, until I started talking again and the same indian sounding guy said... again... :"ok, let me transfer you...." Overall, it's working so I don't care, but I'm going to call about getting some credit back. The support, for the most part, was horrifying.
I had TWC RoadRunner last year and had no complaints about the internet service. Customer support was horrible though, taking multiple times to get things right, and screwing up simple changes every time. Installation took over a month to complete. Standalone price is around $54. Now I have DSL in Austin, for less than $30/month. The download speed is slower, but the upload speed is way faster. I don't game so I don't know/care much about ping times and latency. The installation was done the day I moved into my new place, but I had a problem. I called the tech who installed it the next day and he came over in 20 minutes, and fixed the problem in another 20 minutes.
