Cable, DSL, T1: Differences among broadband options - Internet Access by Persimmon Telecommunications

Comparison of Cable, DSL and T1 Broadband Internet Access Options

Pros and Cons of Cable, DSL and T1 Internet Access!

High speed internet access is possible via cable, DSL or T1. If all of these options are available at your location, which should you choose? Which is really faster?

Cable

Internet service via cable is provided on the same type of cable that is used for cable TV and is normally provided by your cable TV company. Advertised speeds vary depending on your location. Generally, higher speeds are provided to business accounts. In any case, the speed (bandwidth) is not guaranteed to be available at all times. In fact, cable internet service is a shared service. It is shared with your neighbors. If your neighbors are using the internet at the same time as you are, the bandwidth available to you could be radically reduced.

If your cable company offers a free trial or an attractive price for a month-to-month service, it may be worthwhile to try it and see if the available bandwidth meets your needs. However, at any time, a neighbor, who has not done so before, may start using cable internet access in such a way that interferes with you in an unacceptable manner. If this happens, there is a possibility that you could convince your cable company to provide another cable into your neighborhood. However, don't hold your breath waiting for them to do so.

There are times when cable internet service goes down, and when it goes down it can be down for hours or even days at a time.

If you plan to use VoIP phone service (aka Broadband phone service), note that there are cable customers using VoIP. However, cable systems are generally not tuned for VoIP and those neighbors of yours can wreck havoc with the quality of your VoIP service. One of my VoIP customers had an interesting experience with cable Internet Access. She lived in a second floor apartment of a Manhattan highrise. Sometimes the person at the other end of a VoIP conversation could not hear her or her voice was very weak. She had the cable company investigate: they determined that the cable signal at her modem was too strong, they turned down the signal strength, and the problem was fixed. A week later the problem returned. When they turned the signal strength down, cable customers on the upper floors of the highrise building had too weak a signal and so the cable company had to turn the signal strength up. She solved the problem by moving - her plan all the time: the VoIP service allowed her to take her Manhattan number with her to another state.

DSL

DSL is provided via twisted wires, the same as normal phone service. In fact, many DSL providers require that you have a normal phone number and service with them. However, some DSL providers do provide "Naked DSL", that is, DSL without the requirement of the customer buying normal phone service from the same provider. As with cable, advertised speeds vary with location; the main reason for the variation in speeds is the distance to the phone company central office. The speed (bandwidth) that you get is generally stable over time but it can be much less than the published speed. Like with cable offerings, your DSL might be specified as "up to 3 Mbps down and 384 Kbps up". Depending on the length and condition of the twisted pair running from your location to the central office, you may only be able to get 1 Mbps or less down. Generally, whatever speed you get initially, you will get most of the time. However, there is sharing with other users at the Central Office and between the Central Office and other network nodes, so your speed can vary. SDSL (Synchronous DSL) is a business class DSL that has a higher priority than residential DSL or ADSL (Asynchronous DSL). SDSL is less oversubscribed than ADSL and is subject to fewer bandwidth degradations.The point is that DSL speeds can vary but normally the bandwidth variation on a given DSL circuit is small compared to the variation on a given cable circuit. However, there are exceptions. For example, I know of an instance when more or less the same time every day DSL service seems to disappear completely. This is unusual.

DSL goes down sometimes and it's not unusual for it to be down for hours at a time. Some locations have more reliable service than others. For example, if the service is provided via overhead lines, it is more likely to go down than if it is provided by lines that run completely underground. Business DSL which costs more than residential DSL is generally more reliable than residential DSL.

Generally, VoIP phone service (aka Broadband phone service) works very well over DSL lines. If there are problems, it's probably because your computers that are sharing the DSL with your VoIP phones are interfering. This can be cured by programing your router for Quality of Service giving a guaranteed bandwidth to the VoIP IP address(es).

T1 Internet Service

For guaranteed high-speed Internet Access, you can not beat T1 access. Although a standard T1 is 1.5 Mbps, you can get less or more by going to a fractional T1, bonded T1s or a T3 (a T3 is 28 T1s). However, you will pay significantly more for a T1 than for DSL or Cable - prices average $400 to $600 for a full T1 depending on your location and exactly what you want with the T1. Out in the country, you can see up to $750 or so while in some "sweet spots" you can beat these prices. Organizations whose business would grind to a standstill without Internet Access, spend the extra monies for the reliability and consistency of T1 service. T1 service is provided over twisted pair wires as is DSL. However, with dedicated T1 service you get close to the published bandwidth when it is provided by a tier 1 carrier. There is some overhead but there is no sharing on a dedicated T1.

Furthermore with T1 service you get reliability. On the average, T1 service is down at most 15 minutes in a year! If there is a major outage, for example, caused by a storm or other disaster, the carriers are required by law to fix T1 service first then they work on other services like DSL and POTs service. As an example, during some recent hurricanes, T1 and DS3 services were typically restored in hours or perhaps a day while DSL and POTs service was only restored after days or weeks. For a business or other organization who does not want to take the risk of possibly having an extended outage, T1 service is worth the cost.

Of course, T1 service is a perfect platform for VoIP phone service.

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Comparison of Cable, DSL and T1 Broadband Internet Access Options