DSL vs Cable
shadowcat
Atlanta suburb
I know that this is a little off topic and I won't make it long. For years it has been known that cable had faster download speed that DSL provided that not every one of your neighbors was using it at the same time. I was using AT&T's Fast Access DSL 3.0 mb/sec. Today I switched over to their new 6.0. I was told after I signed up that it was not available in my neighborhood because of the wiring not up to snuff. After installation, we did 3 speed tests. They all came out the same 5.1. This for $32/mo. which is actually cheaper than I was paying for the 3.0. just FYI.
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15 comments
Amen to Firefox, and you can't beat the cost. I've been using it for years. I have just the one mail email and a hotmail for here. As you state, I rarely have spam bother me using Firefoz and their mail package, Thunderbird. I guess I need to contact my current ISP to see if I may keep the email.
FYI for others, go to mozilla.com to DL them.
I use Comcast, and am pretty happy with it even though it is pretty much my only choice where I live. I've hit download speeds of well over 10Mb/s and uploads of 1.5Mb/s, but speed tests are a bit deceiving since they are always a short burst and often don't depend on sustained use, error rates, how fast your computer can retrieve or store files, etc., especially over a longer period of a large file. In practical terms the fastest I can download large files is about 1Mb/s, which is sufficient for my needs (I rent my porn). Still if FIOS came to my neighborhood I'd get it in a second.
For email, I think it's best not to use an account supplied by your ISP, so that you can switch ISPs at any time (or in case your ISP goes out of business or changes names, like AT&T cable did) without affecting your email. This also has the advantage of allowing you to easily send and receive email from anywhere. Google's gmail is great for that, because you can easily configure it to work with any email program, and it doesn't cost anything to use without having an advertising message appended, like most other free email hosts require.
For checking bandwidth, I've always used 2wire.com, because it's so quick, simple and easy to remember. It includes a link telling what it's testing.