DSL vs. cable
who is faster, cheaper, better value?
The High Speed Internet Access wars are heating up, as more and more people are looking for broadband internet access.
On this page we will help you determine which is the best for you, comparing performance and price.
Performance Comparison Overview
You see the cable companies talking about their internet performance and how it is sooo much faster then DSL.
Here is the real story.
To compare actual performance, we will look at two vendors; Verizon for DSL and Comcast for cable internet access.
Note: both Verizon and Comcast have at least two offering, which we are a basic service and a premium service.
Basic is the lower speed, lower cost option. Comcast brags that they offer 6Mb of performance compared to 1.5Mb offered by DSL. They point out that is a 4x greater performance. That sounds very impressive, but is it really? Let's take a look.
Internet Connection Plans
Download speed: This is the speed you can expect when moving files from the internet to your computer. For example, when you download an mp3 file.
Upload speed: This is the speed you can expect when sending files to the internet from your computer. Examples include sending emails with attachments, sharing files, or building web sites.
Verizon
They offer two DSL plans with different Download and Upload speeds.
Basic Plan: 768K / 128K
Premium Plan: 3M / 768K
Comcast
They offer at least two plans, which we will look at here. They are going to offer a fast plan at a much high rate, which will compare with FIOP (fiber optic service).
Basic Plan: 4M / 384K
Premium Plan: 6M / 768K
Download Performance Comparison
The question for you to ask is, "how long will it take a file to download?"
If we look at a 1M file, we see the comparison below.
| 1M Download | Seconds |
|---|---|
| DSL Premium | 2.6 |
| Cable Premium | 1.3 |
| Difference | 1.3 |
| Winner | Cable |
Now lets look at a 6M file, the size of a 5 minute mp3 music file.
| 6M Download | Seconds |
|---|---|
| DSL Premium | 15.6 |
| Cable Premium | 7.8 |
| Difference | 7.8 |
| Winner | Cable |
So cable is 7.8 seconds faster when downloading a very large file. But that is not the whole story! Lets take a look at Upload times.
Upload Performance Comparison
The question for you to ask is, "how long will it to send the email with an attachment?"
For this, we do not need a table. Both DSL and Cable offer the exact same Upload times since they both have 768K.
Price Comparison
Speed is one thing, but how much you pay for it is another. Lets compare the two choices based on price.
| Costs Per Month | $ |
|---|---|
| DSL Premium | 29.99 |
| Cable Premium | 42.95 |
| Difference | 12.96 |
| Winner | DSL |
Surprising! For a difference of 1.3 seconds per megabyte, you will have to pay $12.96 more a month.
I don't know about you, but even having to wait 5, 10, or even 30 seconds every once in a while is not worth an extra $12.96. That's an extra $155 per year.
Summary
For almost anything you want to do on the internet, DSL will be fast enough. In fact, even a huge 10M file is only going to take an extra 13 seconds.
Plus you will save $12.96 per month, every month.
Our recommendation: DSL is the way to go.
And there is one more thing that can be very important. Cable performance drops as more people use it at the same time. DSL always keeps the same performance.
If you live in a neighborhood with a lot of school age children, around 4pm, as the kids get home, cable performance will drop, and it can drop a lot!
Other Resources
If you are on dial-up, we have a comparison for you. More...
If you really need top performance, then we have an additional comparison for you. More...