DSL vs Cable – What’s Best?

For Internet users considering installing a broadband Internet connection, a question that frequently pops up is: DSL or Cable?

DSL, or Digital Subscriber Line, and cable both offer high-speed Internet access. However, they do differ in some fundamental and important ways. These two technologies can be compared by keeping the following in mind:

DSL vs. Cable – Connection Speed

Strictly in terms of speed, cable modems generally come out ahead of DSL. This stems from the fact that, unless the rates are capped, cable modems can achieve speeds of at least 30 Mbps, while DSL rarely reach speeds of 10 Mbps. There is, however, a newer form of DSL slowly becoming available to the public that is called VDSL which is capable of matching cable’s performance. Though it’s not yet widely available, it’s sure to heat up the dsl vs. cable debate.  

However, the speed issues should not necessarily be a deciding factor when choosing, because the performance of both cable and DSL depend upon traffic use and congestion on the Internet. Neither technology will ever actually reach peak performance levels due to Internet traffic.

DSL vs. Cable – Bandwidth Concerns

Another issue that should be considered is the fact that cable modem technology delivers what known as “shared bandwidth” which DSL delivers “dedicated local bandwidth.” This means that, with cable, the connection performance at any one time depends upon how many cable subscribers in the neighborhood are currently using the network in addition to using the Internet. This sometimes means that during high usage periods, cable modems can perform somewhat sluggishly. DSL users do not have to worry about this problem since their connection is dedicated.  

DSL vs. Cable – Service Quality

DSL is also a distance-sensitive technology. This means that generally, the farther a home or business is from the provider’s facilities, the lower the quality of the Internet connection. The bandwidth that is available to a home user actually depends upon the length of cable that runs from the home to the provider’s facilities as well as the electrical quality of that line. 

Overall, it could be said that cable modems edge out DSL in performance advantage. However, it’s likely that is advantage is not long-term, as the majority of cable networks have not yet reached high enough subscriber numbers to make the shared bandwidth a critical issue as of yet. With technologies like dedicated-bandwidth VDSL on the horizon, DSL is threatening cable’s speed advantage even before cable services become completely overcrowded. And in the end, no matter how you side on the dsl vs. cable issue, you’ll likely enjoy a very fast broadband Internet connection, one that is much easier to use than dial-up.

SOURCES:

http://compnetworking.about.com/od/dslvscablemodem/l/aa111200a.htm