Until last week, we paid a premium for 30 mbps Internet Service through the cable company. Every night between 6:30-8:30 pm we tend to have issues with streaming two TVs and working on our computer, rarely more than three devices. The cable company came out on two service calls and hasn’t fixed the situation. We recently switched to a DSL 7 mbps service with marginal improvements on the TVs but still issues with using the computer. I live over 10 miles from the nearest stop light in a rural area of Maine and other than $$$ Satelite Cable don’t have any options. Any advice on whether DSL or Cable is better or suggestions would be appreciated.
I recently switched from Charter (30mbps) to DirectTV & DSL (7mbps). I did this mainly on price not because of issues. Oddly enough I noticed a big improvement in my internet speed. But as most people already know, Charter sucks.
You should not notice any difference in speed throughout the day with DSL. DSL is a dedicated like, unlike cable, where the bandwidth can be split among different “Neighbors”.
**We recently switched to a DSL 7 mbps service with marginal improvements on the TVs but still issues with using the computer. **
The fact that one got better and another didn’t would lead me to believe it’s an internal problem rather then external. The bandwidth being feed to these devices will be the same to all devices anyplace after the modem. If you have a computer having problems that would lead me to think it has something to do with that devices connection, not incoming into the modem.
Have you done any testing? Speed net or anything like that? If you’re getting something significantly different from one device then you are the others it is probably that devices connection.
As far as DSL vs Cable. I’ve had success and problems with both. All things being equal, speed, price and connectivity consistency I’d take DSL. The reason is the one I point out above, even if everything is perfect if all your neighbors are hitting the cable at the same time it could effect your speed and that doesn’t, to my knowledge, happen with DSL. The main factor for me is service consistency. Even the fastest connection is really slow when you can’t connect at all. I’ve had crappy DSL that would drop and stay off for long periods. Miraculously when you finally called and told them there was an issue they would claim “It’s not us”…then it would come back on. I’ve also had great DSL that never dropped. I’ve had the same experience with cable so it really depends on the company and service.
I dumped Verizon FiOS as have two of my neighborhood due to Netflix streaming issues. I have no idea who to blame at this point, but all I know is that with a local DSL provider I am using a 3 down/768 up service and it streams Netflix in perfect 1080 24 hours a day/7 days a week. Seems to me and a lot of my neighbors it’s a Verizon thing b/c they get spotty HD service with Netflix, constantly rebuffering and often not even reaching 720.
My advice would be to see if you have a local provider and give them a shot?
I’d say the answer is quite localized, depending on your available providors, the networks in your area, and neighborhood/home dynamic.
In my area and in my home, DSL sucks. I continually had dropped connectoins and slow. I switched to Cable a year ago, it it works much better and consistently.
My house was built in the 70’s, so the internal phone cable is old. Also the nieghoborhood phone lines are all up in the trees and consistently going down due to limbs, and any time it rained, connectivity suffered. That’s why it will depend on your specifics.
in similar shoes - limited to to only one carrier w/ DSL maxed out at about 3.5 out in country - - - or I can switch to the evil empire for supposedly 30 or 60mbps So far have resisted but I must admit when I take my laptop elsewhere internet is notably faster.
Switched from Cable to DSL because the local cable company started putting monthly limits on my service. Each is about the same in regards to streaming.
No way that DSL will be better than cable. No way. I would look internally for the issue.
I would go with cable and have them show you the upload/download speeds registering at the demarcation point, then go from there. They should work with you on that.
We just bought a new home and are moving 9.5 miles. We may as well be falling off the face of the earth. We have Time Warner now and can only get DSL at the new house. The advertised speed is 5Mbps, which sounds super slow…and even better…you pay for data like a phone plan. It is $60/month for 20G…10G anytime and 10G 3 am-8 am. That just seems absurd. My plan B is to increase my Verizon data plan by 20G ($30/month) and add a 4G hotspot/router ($20/month). Any experience with using a hotspot as primary internet access for the home?
Is it truly related to time-of-day? Do the same combinations of tasks at other times run noticeably faster, or is 6:30 when everyone gets home and all 3 devices are being used at once?
If no real difference, the max bandwidth in your home is inadequate. That might be due to your configuration
How do you connect each device, all WiFi or all Ethernet or mixed?What’s the speed of each leg?For WiFi, most routers only support one protocol at any time, and it has to be the oldest (therefore slowest) detected otherwise the older protocol device won’t see service. If you have a mix of B, G & N, you should see a noticeable improvement if you are able to upgrade everything to N (AC is best, but newest and doubtful all your devices support it - you can get around that with a dual-band router, but these get pricey)Ethernet ranges from 10Mbps to 1,000Mbps. Faster is obviously better, but the wire in the house and the Ethernet port on the device have to support that speed.If there is a noticeable difference in time-of-day, then it is at least partially due to capacity of the provider. No-one, not water, gas, electricity, landline, cell phone, etc.; has the capacity to support every user at a high usage rate simultaneously. Capacity costs money, and they have sophisticated algorithms to determine what capacity is needed to keep customer complaints below their desired level. Providers routinely throttle at the account level to keep a lid on demand, and sneak in stuff they know most customers won’t notice, like video compression. All 1080p feeds are not the same, far from it. And attention goes first to where the greatest potential number of complaints may arise, meaning higher population densities.
All this is a long-winded way of saying that you as a rural customer might fall into the ‘acceptable’ side of the customer complaint equation. But have a look at your internal links and let us know what they are, there might be improvements possible regardless of the provider. Router model # will be especially helpful.
We have been on DSL through Centurylink only because it is much cheaper than Comcast (and the millions of horror stories about Comcast). We stream Netflix and Hulu as our only source of ‘tv’. Netflix works fine with no lag or stopping 100% of the time. Hulu we have problems with maybe 1-2 days out of the week and can only use the SD streaming. For us it is ‘good enough’ without having to pay $100/month or more for Comcast.
Centurylink’s customer service is still awful and their repair service scheduling is equally abhorrent. I’ve come to believe that all telecom companies - mobile, land, cable, phone, whatever, are all just completely awful. Maybe there are so few alternatives that no one cares enough to do the job decently well.