At 4:20 PM -0500 1999/11/30, KDenton@williams-int.com wrote:
>Have any of you hooked up to the Internet using ASDL?
>
>How is it? Are you satisfied?
>
>Karl Denton
>
>For more information about the rp-ml, see http://ltk.hut.fi/rp-ml/
Karl,
ADSL is alright, but there are limitations to it, the greatest being
the fact that if there are more than 4 miles of phone lines between
you and the switching station, you can't get any type of DSL service.
Also, distance will severely limit the actual bandwidth you can get
out of DSL. Basically, unless the switching station is right next
door to you, forget about reaping the benefits of any of the
different types of xDSL service.
Second, the price of DSL service is not competitive. Prices generally
start at $80 per month on the average for the slowest bandwidth of
DSL, and rapidly climb from there. Compare that price to cable modem
access at $35 to $50 per month.
Third, speed. DSL is not as fast at cable modem. Period. I read a
terrific article comparing the two, and much to my enormous surprise,
cable came out significantly on top over DSL. For most users --
unless you live on the same block as the switching station -- the
best speed you can get out of DSL is roughly twice as fast as ISDN.
The promise of DSL is still there. It sounds really great to be able
to use existing phone lines in your home or establishment to get this
type of service. But the hardware infrastructure needed to support
this potential is not there. It will probably have to wait until the
telephone companies can deliver fiber-optic cable to the private
home, just at the cable television companies are doing right now.
You still have to connect a router for both services, cable and xDSL,
and xDSL is easier because you can park it next to any telephone
jack. With cable, you will first have to string a co-axial cable to
the router (aka "cable modem"). With both, once you have connected
the router, you must run an ethernet cable from it to your computer's
ethernet port.
To conclude, Karl, I would recommend you get cable modem service. It
is cheaper, and more likely to be available to you than xDSL. Bear in
mind, if you don't have cable access, then it's a good bet that you
won't have any type of xDSL service.
I will see if I can't find a reference to that article.
Bill Richards
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For more information about the rp-ml, see http://ltk.hut.fi/rp-ml/
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