Why I pay for a cable modem

I’m currently downloading a large file from work (through VPN, then through Wi-Fi) at close to 700KB/sec. That’s 700 kilobytes, not kilobits. I don’t really like paying Comcast $100 a month for the small amount of TV I watch plus Internet access, but at times like this I’m very happy I have a cable modem and not DSL.

5 Comments »

  1. leeg Said,

    March 18, 2007 @ 12:54 am

    I know that feeling. I used to live in a house with a cable modem, then moved here which only has ADSL… in Britain, “up to 8 meg” ADSL actually works out at about 500kb/s. That’s a lower-case b :-(

  2. Rosyna Said,

    March 18, 2007 @ 1:12 am

    DSL is the devil’s work!

    I often multitask on multiple computers, all browsing the internets and downloading large updates. With DSL, I can’t do this, one computer completely saturates the connection. With Cable, they all get much faster speed and still don’t manage to saturate the network (this is very good, it means I can browse the internets for more inappropriate images at the same time).

  3. Digt Said,

    April 7, 2007 @ 3:05 pm

    I love my SDSL though I will be ditching it for FIOS within a year. I pay $76 a month including taxes and charges for what they advertise is 2.5Mbs, my usual upload speed is 2Mbps and my downloads are in the 3Mbps range (yes I know it’s odd). I send files in both directions so this is the best bet for me.

    I’ve had Comcast and Time Warner cable when I’ve lived elsewhere and I was paying the same or more while my upload speed was a paltry 64-256Kbps. I even tried their busines cable packages but even in the $150 month range I never got anything better than 1Mbps. Yes downloading was better but when I’m done working on files I have to send them back!

  4. hennk Said,

    April 9, 2007 @ 6:13 am

    Well, I am doing exactly the same atm, downloading from work via VPN and get speeds of over 1400kbytes… over ADSL ;-) Upload is naturally weaker, around 100kbytes, but still ok for me.

  5. Jean-Denis Said,

    April 19, 2007 @ 4:21 am

    On my ADSL line, I routinely download at around 1 Mbps, with three persons simultaneously playing WoW with under 20ms latency.

    And I am not very close to the phone company main switch (more or less 2 miles).

    If I turn the ADSL HDTV service on at the same time, the dowload rate goes down to about 600 kbps while I watch TV (either on my TV set or streamed from the ADSL box to my Mac); Bummer ;-)

    For me ADSL is the best thing since sliced bread.

    Jean-Denis

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