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DSL Newsletter

 

DSL Newsletter – October 7, 1999                          www.mminternet.com/dsl

888-654-4971

 ADSL vs. Cable Modems

 Here’s about as controversial an issue as you can find when it comes to discussing Broadband Internet access, DSL vs. Cable modems. Broadband access is used to describe the lower cost technologies that bring high-speed Internet access the “last mile” to a home or business location. Broadband includes cable modem, all types of DSL, and some wireless services designed for low-cost access  to the Internet.

All of them have their advantages and disadvantages but the big battle is shaping up between ADSL offered by the local telephone companies and cable modem service being offered by local cable companies. There are technical issues, political issues and business issues all at stake over who wins in these battles. The question is, does the consumer benefit.

The Political Side:

Cable companies have had FCC protection and have been able to offer their exclusive Internet servies with with cable modem service. The FCC is protecting them form having to “open” up their Internet access to third parties like AOL because of two reasons. First, it’s expensive to invest in upgrading cable networks to offer Internet access so the FCC is allowing them to recover their investment. Second, the telephone companies were still offering higher-priced ISDN services as the only “low” cost high-speed Internet access and the FCC’s current opinion is that phone companies are only rolling out ADSL so fast now because Cable companies and competitive DSL providers are a real threat.

Either way, a huge capital investment in equipment is being made to capture the connection that high-speed Internet users want. Some telephone companies have been rolling it out faster than others so certain areaa of the country are getting wired faster. There are still many Cable areaa that still are a year or more away from having cable modem service.

In many cases it’s a race to who gets the high-speed Internet access to the location first, telephone companies or Cable companies.

The technical side:

Your lucky if you have a choice between cable modem and DSL service, there are many people who cannot get either. After availability of the service is established, you’re making a price/performance evaluation between the two.

Since pricing for ADSL and Cable modem service start at about the $40-$50 range, each service offers good bandwidth for the money. Especially when compared to a dial-up connection with a dedicated phone line either cable modem or DSL is a no-brainer.

Is one faster than the other? It depends on how you buy the bandwidth. Cable companies have established a practice where they open up the cable network for full access with downloads and advertise speeds up to 10MB per second. This speed is the speed available to all the users on the network so as more users get cable modems in an area, the speed slows down. Speed varies a little also based on the time of day and the network utilization the cable company allows.   Most Cable modem users seem satisfied with the speeds they are getting.

Cable modems are a good value for access. Using them for hosting, ftp sites and other applications where a small business might want to use a server on their end of the cable service is different. Most cable compaies have limited their upstream speeds to 128K, they charge anywhere from $7 to $15 each for connecting additional computers to the cable modem and cable modem service is typically not available in business or office locations, although there are exceptions.

Also, the cable company becomes your ISP and you have to evaluate their support and services.

With ADSL you have more choices simply because telephone companies have to sell their local loop. Some national backbones like Covad and Northpoint provide their DSL services through many ISP’s. Local telephone companies offer their DSL services to ISP’s. With that you have may more choices if DSL is available to you.

Pricing and services will vary form ISP to ISP. The backbone connection is important but in all cases the telephone company manages how much traffic is aggregated through their local central office. ADSL has a few advantages for supporting small businesses and people who want ot run servers since different bandwidth and services seem to be more readily available.

For businesses, ADSL may be the only choice since you may not be able to get cable modem service. Also, for anyone wanting more committed upload bandwidth,  ADSL offers more choices.

 

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