EggXpert

I've got Comcast cable internet (6mbs.dwn - 756kbs up) and cable tv but I'm thinking about going to Direct tv and Qwest dsl (1.7mbs dwn - 756kbs up) and I'm wondering how dsl at these speeds are doing for others ? if anybody around here has Qwest dsl or some other dsl at about thses speeds?

My son plays UT04 on his pc and Xbox Live on his 360 and other games online and sometimes we'll play online at the same time me on my pc but thats not very often.

As far as downloading stuff goes like demos and such I've never seen any site really go faster than  400kbs or so, so that shouldn't be a problem.

Dsl at 1.7dwn is basicly $32.00 a month and cable at 6dwn is around $45.00 (if you have cable tv with comcast).

Any help would be much appreciated. 

I play 360 online and d/l and upload music all the time and don't have a problem, not sure of my exact speeds but i'm sure they're similar if that helps if not sorry for wasting you time

Are you confusing "b" and "B" by chance?  "B" = byte = 8 bits = 8 "b".  Download speeds are typically given using "B", so 400 KB/s = 3,200 Kb/s = 3.2 Mb/s, which isn't too bad.  Going to a 1.7 Mb/s DSL would be slower than that.  But it might still be enough for your purposes if you're only browsing and gaming and not downloading much.

You could try sites like http://speedtest.net and http://www.speakeasy.net/speedtest to check your performance; note that results can vary with time, location, and load.

CABLE =) any computer tech will tell you that :P

This is one of those "everyone has one" questions.

I use AT&T DSL and it meets my needs.

I do use COX Cable but I go with the very old saying, "Don't put all your eggs in one basket." I don't.

The main consideration before going with Cable internet providers such as Comcast, is whether or not your neighborhood has subscribers as well. Comcast's Internet network is SHARED... that's why they advertise "UP TO 1.5 blah blah blah blah..." but never commit to an exact speed. It's hard to tell if your neighborhood has bandwidth abusers or heavy hitters. Just don't commit to any long term contracts until you've actually experienced the bandwidth pipe and its limitations provided by your cable internet provider.

That being said, the main difference between DSL and cable internet is that DSL providers almost ALWAYS provide a committed Upload and Download speed... it's in their contract. It means that their network will always allow you the bandwidth promised in their advertising. Even if the bandwidth committed is not as high as the estimates given by cable, at least they stand behind what they promise.

My cable seemed alot faster than my DSL, but my friends DSL seemed just as fast as my cable.  The only way I can confirm this was the lower pings on cable and friends DSL versus my current DSL.  Cable is not available in my area but I would gladly switch, Tinybot makes a good point see if you can try it without a contract before you buy it.  The only other thing is with DSL they made me have a phone line and pay for telephone services which are overpriced and I sure as hell dont need a LAN LINE phone, that fact perpetually pisses in my cheerios every morning.

Cool lots of answers and yes I got the KB/s mixed up.

So does anyone have the 1.5 Mbps (not 1.7) dsl with qwest ? and is it fast enough to play online games via pc and 360 ?

I called to see how long it would take to get it installed (actual I'll do it) and they said a week at the soonest, hope its because their service/product is so good.

DSL or cable regardless of the download speed will be more than adequate for online gaming.  The size of the files being pushed back and forth isn't enough to tax a 1.5 Mbps pipe.  The most crucial parameter is latency or pings.  That is why when you compare dial up or satellite for online gaming, dial up wins hands down all the time.  Even though dial up doesn't have the throughput as satellite, it'll perform better in the long run due to lower latency.

With me, I had both DSL and cable.  I had DSL when it was 1.5 Mbps down and got it bumped to 3 Mbps down.  I also had cable when it was 1.5 Mbps down and was told my provider bumped it to 3 Mbps down.  What I found was my provider Adelphia was a bloody nightmare.  I got latency problems and DNS issues constantly.  Eventually my download performance began suffering too.  I also had an outage that lasted almost a full day.  I never saw the 3 Mbps down they promised.  Add to these problems, I was paying $54 a month because I didn't have their rip off TV package.  The DNS issues drove me to build my own DNS server.  Eventually, I was able to get DSL and I never looked back.  Of the 3 or so years I've had DSL, I can still count on one hand the number of times I've had any sort of issues which were minor in duration.

Cable!

I have cable and it works great!

Cable is always faster.  If you want better service, pay for better service.

It is a common misconception that cable is better, but remember, the more people start using bandwith via cable, the more you will......

 

 

.....lag 

I use AT&T (formerly Bellsouth) for DSL internet and DirectTV for TV.

The line I use is 3000/384 (fastest dsl available in my area) and I have that line on a network with 3 PC's.I never lag in games when nobody is downloading but when the other computers start to download stuff at over 240kbps it tends to lag my games up and I lose my connection to the game servers.

I used to have comcast bronze (6000/384) but wasnt happy with only getting 60 channels for so much money a month so i switched to DirectTV bundled with Bellsouth and highly recommend it to anyone else.

 
Its too bad I cant get Verizon FIOS in south florida however, i hear its like 16mbps/2mbps for $45 a month and they have FIOS television thats soposed to get as many channels as DirectTV but im not too sure on how that works.
 

Warfare:

Cable is always faster.  If you want better service, pay for better service.

That's simply not true...  It depends on where you live...  The only Cable offerings in my area are 5 Megabit Down and 256 Kilobit upstream...   My friend who has it is bottlenecked so bad by his upstream he can't do anything on his Cable modem...

DSL in my area is cheaper AND it gives 768 Kbit upstream 3 Megabit downstream...   I can run my own CVS server on my linux box and host my own Warcraft III games without people complaining about how slow the map is sent...

To generalize and say Cable is always better is a huge mistake and a bad thing to suggest to people.. They need to analyze what's available in their area...

My friend on the cable modem, seriously doesn't like to host any Warcraft III games because people complain and whine about the map downloading at only 32 Kilobytes per second.. That's why whenever we play together, I'm the one hosting the game on my Verizon DSL.

Cable modems with 756 Kbit and faster upstream are usually ridiculously more expensive than DSL with 756 KBit upstream.. I'm paying only $30 a month for my 3 Megabit down and 768 Kbit up through Verizon and my friend is paying $45 a month for his RoadRunner Cable that is annoyingly slow sometimes (especially right after 5 PM)...

He's probably going to be switching to DSL soon, or at the very least upgrading the the RoadRunnerPremium or whatever that's 8Megabit down and 1 Megabit up for $70 a month or something like that.. 

I would have to agree with Sidicas on this since I too use AT&T DSL but all I'm using is their basic package 768kbs downstream and 128kbs upstream but for $10 a month I can't knock it.

Reinier:

 
Its too bad I cant get Verizon FIOS in south florida however, i hear its like 16mbps/2mbps for $45 a month and they have FIOS television thats soposed to get as many channels as DirectTV but im not too sure on how that works.
 

That is called "Next Level" service. I comes from a fiber fed local cabinet. If you max speed available through your dsl provider is 1.5Mbs down and 896Kbs up that dslam is fed by simple T1.

It is very similar to the way VOIP or phone over broadband cable works. you get a box inside that divides it all up

Shoot my mother and sister use brighthouse down in Florida for their DSL and its real fast compared with mine.

Warfare:

Cable is always faster.  If you want better service, pay for better service.

Agreed  

StylezRips:

Warfare:

Cable is always faster.  If you want better service, pay for better service.

Agreed  

That's assuming your cable segment isn't oversubscribed and you don't have copious amounts of bandwidth hogs.

StylezRips:

Warfare:

Cable is always faster.  If you want better service, pay for better service.

Agreed  

This thread is going around in circles .. Check my post above.. In some areas, Cable is so bad that you'd be lucky to get 50 kilobytes per second and a 150 ms ping at 5PM (peak usage). Even if the service advertised is 6 meg down they don't give guarantees to provide that to you 24/7 in the service contract like they do with Business DSL.. It totally depends on where you live, not everybody has decent Cable companies, the best ones are certainly not providing service everywhere in the U.S.  To generalize and say that ANY internet service is always better is simply wrong.