Does DSL always bite the big peach?

[Snowdog]

When I switched from Cable to Dish Network, I also cancelled my broadband cable service.  As I missed the speed of broadband, I signed up for Bellsouth’s DSL Ultra. 
I figured file sharing with the Ultra’s 1.5Mbps transfer rate would still be acceptably fast even though it doesn’t compare well to the cable in the area (3Mbps, IIRC).

After installing, I found I had a download speed of 240Kbps.  I contacted Bellsouth and a technician found “bridges” on the line that services my street.  After reconfiguring the line, my download speeds averaged a little over 1.2Mbps, which I found acceptable for now.  I plan to switch to the faster DSL Xtreme or Xtreme 6.0 (3Mbps & 6Mbps) whenever it's offered in my area.

Two days later (and after a fairly brisk windstorm), the garbage 200ish Kbps returned, with connection being spotty.  When I called Bellsouth, they informed me I might be charged if a technician is sent out to investigate and it proves to be merely a speed issue.  They didn’t seem at all concerned I was receiving speeds less than a seventh the speed I was paying for, only that I had any connection... crappy or otherwise.
I was able to schedule a technician to look into the matter again (and hopefully make a more permanent repair) though I warned them I would switch back to the seemingly more reliable cable if they dare charge me.

I’m sure some here use DSL and I understand it’s gaining popularity.  Is DSL always this spotty? 

[Manedwolf]

When I switched from Cable to Dish Network, I also cancelled my broadband cable service.  As I missed the speed of broadband, I signed up for Bellsouths DSL Ultra. 
I figured file sharing with the Ultras 1.5Mbps transfer rate would still be acceptably fast even though it doesnt compare well to the cable in the area (3Mbps, IIRC).

After installing, I found I had a download speed of 240Kbps.  I contacted Bellsouth and a technician found bridges on the line that services my street.  After reconfiguring the line, my download speeds averaged a little over 1.2Mbps, which I found acceptable for now.  I plan to switch to the faster DSL Xtreme or Xtreme 6.0 (3Mbps & 6Mbps) whenever it's offered in my area.

Two days later (and after a fairly brisk windstorm), the garbage 200ish Kbps returned, with connection being spotty.  When I called Bellsouth, they informed me I might be charged if a technician is sent out to investigate and it proves to be merely a speed issue.  They didnt seem at all concerned I was receiving speeds less than a seventh the speed I was paying for, only that I had any connection... crappy or otherwise.
I was able to schedule a technician to look into the matter again (and hopefully make a more permanent repair) though I warned them I would switch back to the seemingly more reliable cable if they dare charge me.

Im sure some here use DSL and I understand its gaining popularity.  Is DSL always this spotty? 

Gaining? DSL is olllllllld.

I see mostly either cable broadband, or fiber.

[Gewehr98]

I was always under the impression that DSL only got as good as your proximity to the telco's Central Office Switch, and that for best performance one should have well-maintained or new phone wiring from the pole to the house, and also from the external junction box to the DSL modem inside the house. If voice phone quality is less than crystal-clear, then the DSL signal traveling over those same copper wires will suffer, too. 

Since you mentioned a storm reduced your bandwidth considerably, I'd wager there's a connection that's less than optimum out there swinging in the breeze somewhere. 

[Snowdog]

Well I do believe the wire from the box to the pole is as old as the house (20 years old). Judging on how much of a tightwad Bellsouth representitives seemed during my last call, I'd imagine they'll bill me for any line replacement even if that's precisely what's needed to acheived advertised speeds for the service I'm being charged for.

I'd hate to switch back to cable internet, but I suppose it must remain an option.  I'm glad I didn't give away my Motorola Surfboard.

Thanks for the info!

[mtnbkr]

I've had good experiences with DSL here, but our neighborhood is less than 15yrs old.  Being in Northern Va, the telcos *seem* to take data services a bit more seriously.

I've heard too many people complain about the various cable providers around here to even risk that.  I know several people who switched from Cable to DSL because their average performance was below that of DSL.  Then there was Comcast's ploy a few years ago with not letting residential users run IPSEC VPN clients over their connection (for telecommuting purposes, not running a biz at home), claiming that was "business use" and either canceling their account or upgrading them to a business class service (at much greater cost).

Chris

[K Frame]

"I know several people who switched from Cable to DSL because their average performance was below that of DSL."

Yep, I'm one of them.

I had cable for about 4 years. I was very happy with it, until early last year it became exceptionally unreliable. Going out and staying out for hours on end, every night around 7 p.m. it was as if someone pulled the Fast into the garage and replaced with it a glacial, and the cable company didn't seem to be the least bit interested in trying to figure out why my service was sucking the big chunkies.

I switched to DSL.

It's been very reliable, but it's not nearly as fast.

My download speed holds steady right around 740, my upload right around 200.

I'm thinking of paying a bit more money to get faster service: 3 Mbps down and IIRC 1.2 up.

[Declaration Day]

I signed up for DSL when I moved to my current home about two years ago.  It worked right for about a week, then slowed down to sub-dialup speeds.  I spent 45 minutes on the phone with "customer service" trying to explain what was happening to some lady who barely spoke English. 

After two more bouts with El Servicio del Cliente, I canceled and got a cable line.  It's much faster, and has only blacked out for a few minutes on two occasions.

[Firethorn]

I have found my DSL to be reliable and fast enough for the most part.  Plenty fast enough to download gigabytes in a couple hours.  Of course SRT is the BEST telephone company I've ever worked with, then again, they're also a COOP.

[Calumus]

Depending on your area of course, cable is almost always going to be faster and if you look at the whole picture cheaper. I had sprint dsl when I moved into my place because there wasn't cable internet here at the time. My 3 meg line cost me about to $90 a month including basic phone service which I was required to have. If I ever used a land line it might not have been that big of a deal; but I don't. I live off of my cell. When cable finally came around I dumped dsl and got an 8 meg connection for $53 a month. I wasn't required to sign a 1 year contract like I was with dsl. I wasn't required to sign up for even basic cable tv (which I wouldn't use either). Services available will obviously vary according to where you are but here in jersey Comcast cable is a 13 meg connection, Optimum Online is a 15 meg connection both are available for under $50 a month. Unfortunatly I live in between their areas and have a little local provider. The fastest dsl you can get here is 5 megs for $45, but then that's only if you have their special combination of long distance and voicemail etc. This set up when all is said and done ends up running you over $100 a month and then you have to pay for your long distance calls. Why not get cable and subscribe to vonage and get unlimited local and long distance for $25 a month? I makes no sense to call long distance from a regular phone any more considering that every cell phone plan includes it for free and that most of the big voip services have the same sound quality.

[K Frame]

"and if you look at the whole picture cheaper."

Not even close in my case.

I was paying nearly $60 a month for internet service from my cable provider.

Since I've switched to DSL I'm not paying that much for internet access and local phone COMBINED.

[Liberty.45ACP]

I've had Bellsouth's FastAccess DSL for about 4-5 years. I started with the 1.5Mb and now have the 3.0Mb. I can get the full speed if the server I'm hitting is up to it (downloads of about 350KB/s). More often than not I'm waitig on the server. We're in a somewhat rural area, so I didn't know what to expect. The distance is now from a local switchpoint rather than the local office. I've had VERY little downtime - probably not a total of 2-3 hours over the entire time I've had it. I had cable at one point and had nothing but problems, but that was a very early setup.

[thebaldguy]

I had Qwest DSL for years because that's was the only hi speed internet available. I had problems from the start. My installation was two months late, I had frequent outages, and speeds that were way lower than promised. I switched to cable and it works well.

They are having a pricing increase here; if you don't have cable tv through them, your internet price is almost $60 a month; it's only $45 if you have cable tv.

They are making people "buy" basic cable tv to save $3 a month over not buying basic cable.

[MillCreek]

Boy, am I envious of some of you regarding your DSL speed, cost and other options.  Here north of Seattle, I have 768 kbps DSL from Verizon for $ 33 per month.  My connection speed rarely exceeds 600 kbps from the bandwidth tests that I perform.  Verizon recently dug up this area for their new fiber optic network, but it looks as if that will be almost $ 50 for about double the DSL speed. 

[Felonious Monk/Fignozzle]

DSL IMO is a last resort before going with NetZero dialup.

That's just me.

When you're in NoVA, sharing a cable connection with the other blue-million folks might be a bit dicey.

However, in this little burgh here in Mayberry, most people don't even know what a 'pooter IS, much less clogging up the broadband.  The cable co. called wanting me to upgrade my 3mbps service to 10 for an addition $90/mo.

I laughed at 'em.

[MechAg94]

I use SBC for DSL.  I have the 3 Mbps service.  I have clocked it at 4.5 Mbps once and about 3.5 Mbps another time.  No trouble with downtime or anything at all.  As said above, I am normally waiting on the server, not my ISP.  My home is about 12 years old so it isn't real old.  I used to live in a 25 to 30 year old house that did fine as well. 

My brother had cable service and liked it, but switched back when we went back to satellite TV.

[K Frame]

"The cable co. called wanting me to upgrade my 3mbps service to 10 for an addition $90/mo.

I laughed at 'em."

Never laugh at an opportunity to get porn even faster.

[mfree]

Last speed test I ran showed something close to 9MBps. I'm on comcast, pretty much just on the edge of urban Knoxville, no real issues with bog.

[Marnoot]

In my experience, whether DSL or cable internet is best depends entirely on where you are and local circumstances. In a college apartment where there are tons of people on the internet all the time, cable's likely to get bogged down due to the shared bandwidth. In an older home that's far from a switching "office," or that just has bad wiring somewhere along the way, DSL's going to give spotty performance. I've had the best luck with cable so far, but won't hesitate to switch to DSL if economics and circumstance make it the better option.