Comments on: Cable vs DSL: Which Was Better?

By: Naomi

Naomi — Thu, 17 Oct 2013 11:09:47 +0000

Thanks for this post. I understand that it's your own personal experience, and that there are lots of variables effecting the outcome, but overall it's given me a better understanding of DSL and Cable, especially on advertised speeds vs actual speeds! I'm in Barrie, Canada. I'm going to try DSL and come back and post with my personal experience!

By: Bon Gart

Bon Gart — Mon, 09 Sep 2013 19:43:23 +0000

Speaking specifically about Cox... and what I know about their Customer Retention Department (and how it is the highest paid department at Cox, among other things), if you went through with calling Cox to cancel your service you would be transferred to that department... where they would proceed to kiss your butt to get you to stay. My point is that you can most likely get them to replace your equipment for free, in order to get them to keep you as a customer.

Remember, talking with Tech Support is NOT the same as talking with the Customer Retention Department. You would be surprised what deals they whip out of their butts to get you to stay. How do I know? My Ex-Girlfriend just completed her training program with Cox... and she was hired to work in their Customer Retention Department.

By: chris

chris — Thu, 22 Aug 2013 08:57:41 +0000

I don't know where you live, but here in vegas I have never had a problem with my speed since 2003. Its 2013 and my speed is always at a firm 50mbps and sometimes increases. maybe someone should do a undercover boss for cox and help your city's cox cable. The reason for my comment is to say dsl is a rip off compared to cable and has speeds that are shameful to have. get with the times and upgrade to at least 20mbps.

By: Talbert McMullin

Talbert McMullin — Fri, 19 Jul 2013 18:56:14 +0000

I agree with the results the author found. We have Cox Cable internet here in Gilbert, AZ. Around 7:00pm every day, the internet speeds are horrible, thanks to a bunch of bandwidth hogging neighbors and their brats. Cox advertises much, delivers much less. DSL may not have the capabilities of cable, but it does offer consistency. Cable is anything BUT consistent.

By: AthomSfere

AthomSfere — Sat, 15 Jun 2013 01:29:30 +0000

I am going to say its regional too, or something wrong with your wiring or modem. I have the ~12 Mb/ps but generally do much better on a D2 modem (I really should get a Docsis 3 modem too).

Now, although not the final verdict on speed, I just pulled 31 and 6 on speedtest.net.

By: chris williams

chris williams — Sun, 12 May 2013 21:26:54 +0000

I find cable so much faster. Especially when watching tv online. I have created a directory of legitimate places to watch tv online. http://www.readwatchcreate.com

Consider this your legitimate source for online entertainment content. Find a book or article to read; a movie, tv series or video to watch, or learn to create virtually anything.

By: kronos

kronos — Tue, 23 Apr 2013 16:23:17 +0000

Yes the type of data does make a difference. However the tool that I used, performed the test using the same type of data from each host device. This should've gotten rid of that issue.

By: kelly johnson

kelly johnson — Mon, 01 Apr 2013 20:01:44 +0000

Is not the kind of data carried via cable versus dsl also relevant? I'm not sure it's simply "bandwidth" as different types of data are throttled..ie, streaming content is not the same as the packets delivered for an email or picture. So could it be that another reason cable is usually slower despite bandwidth claims is due to those types of issues?

Just wondering.

By: tou

tou — Thu, 21 Mar 2013 14:36:58 +0000

That kind of the expected results from cable and DSL. You're sharing the bandwidth with all the people that are using the cable connection at a given time. That's not the case with DSL. Cable becomes really slow during peak hours. DSL is somewhat more consistent. I'm sure you will get very different results if your tests were performed at 3 am.

I'm with you that you want to show real world experiences, and I expected the results you're showing as soon as you said you moved to a bigger city (more people).

By: kronos

kronos — Tue, 19 Mar 2013 18:53:46 +0000

You're right. My wording is incorrect in this, however the point still remains. A tighter confidence interval means that the average is more likely to be accurate, and less variable (to a degree).

As far as upload rates go, yes this version of DSL is slower than most Cable on average, however if you look at the variability of the upload rates for the Cable, it's pretty pathetic. This wasn't a post meant to say that Cable sucks, or DSL rules, but rather we're not getting the experience we pay for or deserve as customers overall, no matter the medium.