Comcast Internet vs. Century Link in Denver Area

[Swine]

Good ol' Comcast

[RShea]

My understanding is that cable internet is always faster than DSL.

That is a pretty general and bold statement. Really depends on the "package" and the cable company or the telephone company. Most major cable companies offer the same upload and download speeds. Most "DSL" offerings are ADSL (asynch) where the download speeds are faster than their upload speeds- like a 3 mbps down, 1 mbps up. (So when you are talking about streaming like Netflix, Hula, etc. download is more important to reduce the buffering and stuttering that can happen. That being said there are issues with both. First DSL is distance dependent for top speeds. The further away you live from the Central Office (within 3 miles from the equipment), the slower your connection can be).

But with cable internet, the speed is traffic dependent- ie how many users are on at any one time and usage can spike and get slower as an example during the day when all the kids get off school, or early evening after dinner when everyone in the neighborhood jumps on to watch a movie or stream music....

I have seen rural cable companies that also do the asynch offerings with bigger download speeds and slower upload speeds and if the person lived close enough to the telephone data equipment the DSL is faster and cheaper for some rural areas. And there are SDSL (synchronized) DSL offerings out there too- but mainly business usage and they can be more money...

Just did some comparing of prices last week when the local telco DSL provider announced they were raising their price- neither of the 2 you mention for CO though. The local cable internet provider used to also "force" you to get their TV package- even if it was just a basic one of a dozen or so channels, but they changed that and now no longer bundle the 2 together. Many of the DSL offerings also stillr require you to use them for the telephone line (instead of bare data only line and let you pick whether you need a home phone line (cellular lines only trends continue as well as the move to VOIP where the phone line is carried over the data connection.)

[RShea]

The second tech (which took like a month to get out there) told me that it was definitely the connection on Century Link's end, and that there was nothing they could do about it. The techs both bitched about how awful Century Link's connection was in the entire area, and straight up suggested I go ahead and switch to the MUCH more reliable local cable company who provided me with a solid FTTH (fiber to the home) connection. Sure, it cost more than double, but it was well worth it.

You know Century Link blows when their technicians are telling us how bad they are.

How do you know they are actual Century Link techs and not some sub contracted 3rd party techs/ installers (not familar again specifically with where you live and how a big company CL 100% in house techs for all their work or if they also use hired help from another company for handling the troubleshooting calls?

CenturyLink is not our local telco, but I have installed CenturyLink connections mostly only for businesses and an independent contractor through other companies.

[Art Shirk]

[DasBlunt]

Is cable/iinternet in the USA capitalism at its worst?

100mpgs-200 Download and UPLOAD for 20USD in sweden? oh the humanity. I certainly could use more time in my day.

[stfu&gbtw]

That is a pretty general and bold statement. Really depends on the "package" and the cable company or the telephone company. Most major cable companies offer the same upload and download speeds. Most "DSL" offerings are ADSL (asynch) where the download speeds are faster than their upload speeds- like a 3 mbps down, 1 mbps up. (So when you are talking about streaming like Netflix, Hula, etc. download is more important to reduce the buffering and stuttering that can happen. That being said there are issues with both. First DSL is distance dependent for top speeds. The further away you live from the Central Office (within 3 miles from the equipment), the slower your connection can be).

But with cable internet, the speed is traffic dependent- ie how many users are on at any one time and usage can spike and get slower as an example during the day when all the kids get off school, or early evening after dinner when everyone in the neighborhood jumps on to watch a movie or stream music....

I have seen rural cable companies that also do the asynch offerings with bigger download speeds and slower upload speeds and if the person lived close enough to the telephone data equipment the DSL is faster and cheaper for some rural areas. And there are SDSL (synchronized) DSL offerings out there too- but mainly business usage and they can be more money...

Just did some comparing of prices last week when the local telco DSL provider announced they were raising their price- neither of the 2 you mention for CO though. The local cable internet provider used to also "force" you to get their TV package- even if it was just a basic one of a dozen or so channels, but they changed that and now no longer bundle the 2 together. Many of the DSL offerings also stillr require you to use them for the telephone line (instead of bare data only line and let you pick whether you need a home phone line (cellular lines only trends continue as well as the move to VOIP where the phone line is carried over the data connection.)

DSL is a shared interface, same as cable. You get whatever backhaul is delivered to your local DSLAM and they split it up as many times as they can while meeting their SLA. In many rural areas, on a connection offering "up to 2mbps" that SLA will actually specify bandwidth in the 300kbps/128kbps range. Read your agreement. That's true for cable and DSL. In an instance where backhaul bandwidth is plentiful, cable is capable of much faster speeds than DSL.

[stfu&gbtw]

Is cable/iinternet in the USA capitalism at its worst?

100mpgs-200 Download and UPLOAD for 20USD in sweden? oh the humanity. I certainly could use more time in my day.

What makes you think the task of delivering network infrastructure to sweden and the united states is similar?