Hi! I'm currently on dial-up and getting ready to switch to either cable or DSL. I only have a few choices, for Cable it's Comcast, and for DSL it's eaither Earthlink or Bell South. Can any of you refer me to links or provide me with some solid advice as to which I should choose? Here are some of my concerns:
Can I still use my own browser and email programs (IE and Outlook Express) or do these companies make you use their programs (ala AOL)?

I have a personal web page which I post to via FTP-will I still be able to post, without problems, to my current location (current location not controlled by my dial-up provider)?

Thanks for any solid advice.

Cable, all the time is connected to the internet. I use TW Roadrunner cable. I love it. Faster i've been able to download was 4megs a sec. But On average, I get 300kb/sec only cause I believe most of the places I download from their servers don't get faster than that. Only place I noticed that goes as fast as my connection is, is fileplanet. I'm totally happy with mine. I live in a very populated city too. I do believe cable you share with everyone else in your area. So the more people using it, the slower yours go. But i've never had that problem because Time Warner Roadrunner service is really big.

Not on to DSL. Just about all my friends have DSL. My work had DSL. Speeds I guess, you can say is close to cable, cause I don't think many places you download off of can keep up with you. But I noticed when going to fileplanet, or download off of kazaa or bearshare, my cable is always much faster. WIth DSL though. You can always be connected, but you always have to connect first when your start up your computer, very similar to a dial-up process. You only have to do it once whenever you start up your computer.

Now on to the browser thingy, cable its just connected to the internet. Thats all, you don't have to really downlaod anything. On DSL, most of the time its no your not using their browser unless I do believe AOL, you still go through the same thing as if u were going through dialup aol.

How I would break it down, I believe cable is more consistant. Never have I've seen a drop in my speeds. Its never up and down and its consistant always, for the past 3 years. I've been very happy with it. And I do believe cable is faster, but honestly it doesn't really matter because like i mentioned, places you download off of don't really keep up with boardband, so you never really get to download to your full potential. DSL, I use at work all the time and at my friends houses. Its not as consistant. Example at work, we have SBC DSL. We all hate it. Speeds are very consistant, it will be very fast, then later very slow where we have to reconnect. We've also experiance problems connect. Sometimes it can freeze or not connect. Takes a long time to start up and our work computer is very new and very fast. This could be just a SBC problem. At my friends house, don't usually have a problem, but I noticed its not as fast as my cable. I've also noticed my ping is always lower when on cable.

You can argue on what is faster, cable or dsl. But i don't think it matters, their both very fast and the servers you go off of, most of the time won't be able to keep up and you will be able to download at a limit. DSL i do believe runs less. Maybe 10-20 dollars less depending who you go with. Either way, there both good, 100x better than dial-up.

IMO, i think cable has less problems, and is more consistant. Plus, I love not having to connect. Don't have to worry about anything. I just use my computer thats all, and thats awesome, but the price is a lil more. But it comes down to what you perfere.

I agree that to me, speed is not the issue while I'm trying to decide which to use, I'm more concerned with safety and reliability and wanting to keep the internet options I currently have. I love my dial-up provider, but I live in the South and the phone lines down here in Bell South territory are crappy for the internet-not up to date and such (as I've been told.) I am constantly getting kicked off or only connecting at low rates like 28,800. That's one of my fears if I were to choose Bell South DSL. I like the idea of DSL being more secure in the fact that you share cable with everyone in your neighborhood and DSL runs through the phone line. But I wonder if I choose Bell South DSL if I'll still have connectivity inconsistencies because I'd still be using the same phone lines that are making my current dial-up so inconsistent.
Thanks for your insight Ballhawk3 , I'd appreciate solid advice from other members too.

Cable usually is faster than DSL in pure speed but as mentioned already, most web sites won't keep up anyway. The realibility of the connection seems to be a function of the provider as much as anything. I know people who seem to have chronic problems using both technologies.

DSL modem used to require the user to login like a dialup connection but every one that I have worked with in the last couple of years will work as a stand alone device. I have been using a SBC DSL connection for almost 5 years now with very few problems. My download speed is 1.5 Mbs with Upload at around 285kbs. I was told recently that I could upgrade this to 3Mbs and 380Kbs but don't feel a need at this point.

I would suggest that you check around locally. Talk to everyone you can about their access and how well it works for them. If you decide to go with DSL make sure that they run a check on your lines before you sign up for the service. Have them tell you what kind of speed you can expect since this can be distance sensitive.

Since the original poster has not responded in over a month I am marking this topic as done so it can be closed by a mod. If you have a similar problem please start a new topic.

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I've locked this thread since the issue is resolved Please pm a mod if you want it reopened for any reason.

thanks,

ach