Which is better -- DSL or broadband?

[poltr1]

Earlier this evening, I had a very slow connection, and was dropped 4 or 5 times. I rebooted and things are Much Better Now.

If I surf the Web using IE, I have no problems. But if I bring up Eudora, I get dropped either when downloading mail or soon afterward.

Maybe it's some type of software or driver glitch that's knocking me offline.

These are the times I lament dialup.

I've been contemplating upgrading to either DSL or broadband for a few years. But I couldn't justify the cost. Now that the price is coming down, it might be worthwhile to upgrade.

Pros for DSL: Faster, $14.95/mo for X months (but what's the rate after the intro period?).

Cons for DSL: Provider is SBC/Yahoo! Are there others I can get the service from?

Pros for broadband: Faster. Cable will also support digital phone.

Cons for broadband: May have to upgrade to digital cable and get digital phone, which means more money to Time Warner. I probably wouldn't mind so much if I was a stockholder of theirs.

Any recommendations -- for or against?

Comments

[redaxe.livejournal.com]

First, DSL is broadband. The term just means a high-bitrate (always-on) connection. DSL and cable and satellite (and, potentially, broadband delivered via powerlines) are just forms of broadband.

Around here, Verizon DSL after intro is still significantly cheaper than cable (IIRC, it's around $21.99 or $29.99/month). You can check around for other DSL providers at DSL Reports.

We have Earthlink (check with them) over cable (provided by Time Warner, but not as Roadrunner). We also have cable TV via TW, and while we were forced into a digital upgrade, that was independent of the cable Internet offering (we know, because it happened to us before we went to cable Internet). We deliberately don't have digital phone service, but I understand that if we used all three of their offerings, there's some price break relative to the total costs of all three independently. Earthlink cable is not cheap (we pay somewhere between $42 and $50 monthly; I forget); we use it largely because maya_a had an account with Earthlink (via her ISP that got eaten by another, which Earthlink ate) already, and this preserved her e-mail address. But we're happy with it, save for the price. We actually found room in our budget by adjusting our phone service -- remember, you won't have nearly as many or as long calls once you eliminate the online stuff, depending on your habits. And TW has been pleasantly surprising in terms of their customer service, for which they're famous in the other direction as a cable TV provider.

Until recently, the speed of cable has dwarfed that of home DSL; I understand that's recently been boosted, although it still depends on how far you are from a switch (and in terms of cable, theoretically, how many folks are on, on your overall shared bandwidth).

My recommendation: if you're not at the outside limit of distance from the switch, investigate DSL, and consider it strongly. But cable, even through TW (and you can get it via AOL, or Earthlink, etc.) is also good, if pricier.