Ok so I am moving into a new apartment and I have to get a contract with a new internet service provider.

My 2 options:

Time Warner Cable 8mb download ??upload
ATT DSL 3mb/s download, upload 512kb/s

so basically my dilemma is thus, I have always had cable never dsl and for the most part I have always been happy with it. I have never seen 8mb dl speed (i have seen up to 2.7 mb) but perhaps i have never had an 8mb connection before.

Right now Time Warner is running a promo for 29.99$ a month for their 8mb/s cable but that promo only lasts for 6 months, at which point it jumps up to 54.99 a month.

Att is 24.99 a month but requires a home phone line (naked phone line costs 5$ a month) so once again 29.99$. It will remain at 29.99 a month.

Basically what I am asking are
1. What are the pro's/cons to DSL over Cable
2. Is 8mb/s download really applicable to anything I would be doing on the internet, it was my understanding that you are limited by whatever server you are downloading/uploading to/from, meaning you would never see an 8mb/s download. (I could be wrong)? Is it worth it to go with time warner just for 6 months and have to deal with switching services later on (possibly when verizon Fios or ATT fiber optic is available) or should i just go with ATT now and not have to worry about it. Is DSL really that much worse than cable?

My experience is DSL is better for games, due to the turnaround time, but Cable is better for downloading / sailing the Caribbean sea.

However, the fact that you have to purchase a phone line will likely bump the DSL price to near that of the cable anyways.

I dunno what deal you have in Texas, but out here, when you add a phone line there’s an installation/setup fee, then there’s a thousand little surcharges and taxes they hit you with. The minimum you can get single landline service per month out here is about $25, and that’s local calls only. Some of the taxes we get hit with are FCC related, so you likely get them too.

If yer phone/DSL provider has some deal where you can activate a line for DSL only, and not pay the local phone service charges, then you might go with the DSL to save the cash anyways. There's surcharges with that too (and the cable as well), so mind you it's always +$10 to +$15 whatever it says it is, be it cable or DSL.

PS. Out here AT&T offers 384K/784K/1.5MMB DSL from like $12-$22/month in addition to the 3MB deal you have there, any of which would be fine for gaming, but the lower end may suck ballz for DL (not so much as to affect standard browsing or streaming movies though).
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Thothie

From what i've gathered, DSL speed will be based on distance since you have a near direct connection. So it will be very consistent. Cable speed will be based on number of other users online, so being in an apartment that might totally suck. Personally I've never used DSL, but i've always been very unsatisfied with Time Warner.

In fact Time Warner royally screwed me a month or two ago. I use Grande Communications for my Cable internet, and while its not always consistent, the service is by far superb.

My advice would be to try to ATTT DSL.

I think i am leaning that way. Time warner has screwed with us too alot in the past. On top of that, ATT might soon be getting Uverse (fiber optic cable/internet) in my area. If they do, it will be 74$ a month for internet + fiber optic digital cable.

though right now at my current job we do alot of work with ATT wireless. I know they are always having problems/outtages/ etc. I wonder if their high speed internet is the same way.

If you're in Texas, get Time Warner.

Comcast just bought Houston's cable areas, it would be logical for them to move out into the surrounding areas too eventually.


Cable is going to be superior in both upload and download speed, and it will actually go 8 mbps (or more) instead of the potential 3mbps that DSL claims to have.

Cable's speeds will vary, but you will get much faster speeds through it in general than you will with DSL.



If you go with cable, keep in mind the modem needs to be hooked up to a cable outlet - so if you're not using wireless, you need to plan out where to put your computer based on the location of the cable outlets in your place.


Expense wise, cable will be about $62 after taxes and other shit, and you can usually find a basic land line for $15 a month, bringing up DSL to $45 + taxes and fees. So really, cable will be about $10 a month more.

More than worth it in my opinion, but then my view is skewed.

--Locane

My experience (and I'd say knowledge of the subject says, except that I forget the exact reason why - I think someone here actually reminded me recently), is although, obviously, 8MBPS > 3MBPS, that DSL turns individual random access packets faster than cable, and thus, DSL > Games, however, cable is better for streaming files due to the greater bandwidth, this cable > piracy. (Gotta remember, game packets are always a fraction of your bandwidth, whatever it maybe, unless, of course, you are hosting a server.)

My experience is also, that despite the insane bandwidth I have at home, I find that gaming and internet browsing is fine at Lady X's house, insomuch as I can do so on her lower end computer, and she only has 384/128 DSL - I just wouldn't want to try file sharing on that. (Then again, she has a 60GB music collection, most of which she downloaded on that.) While on the other hand, at my friend's house, who has 6MBPS Time-warner cable and an INSANE $10k rig, my ping to the Jiggly server is >100 at all times. On the third hand, back when he had AT&T Roadrunner (before the buyout that allowed use of the proper logo, and in another city), I got around 50 ping at his place. I get around 25 ping at mine, save for when the Jiggly CPU starts getting swamped, of course.

Back in the days of $20 5MB/5MB SDSL (before all the DSL companies got gobbled up by the big fish *sigh*) I had average ping of 12ms on the TFC server. (Granted, it was also on a different network at the time)
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Thothie

P.S. In some areas, you don't have to purchase a phone line to get DSL. In fact, I use DSL yet have no telephone line. Huzzah! Skype for $5/mo vs. $15/mo for standard telephone service, when I know I'll pay for "dry loop" DSL anyway? No-brainer.

Check with your DSL provider about this so-called "dry loop", non-telephone-line-needing DSL.