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If you choose to pay an extra couple of bucks for broadband Internet access, which is a wise decision, then you can opt for either DSL or cable. Some privileged folks have other options available to them as well, like T1, T2, or T3 access, or other means, but for most people the choice is either DSL or cable. I strongly recommend cable and this page explains why.
- The Baby Bells already have enormous power and few serious competitors. They are better positioned to support DSL. I am not an admirer of the Baby Bells. My experience as a customer of Bell South has been entirely negative. In the case of a billing dispute, they ignored my polite letters and phone calls and, after charging me 18% annual interest on the disputed amount for two years, threatened me with a collection agency. To preserve my credit rating which is AAA, I paid the $130 in dispute. But I will never again have anything to do with Bell South. In my opinion, having dealt with them for the past twenty years as a customer, they behave exactly as one might expect of a monopoly. For this reason, DSL is eliminated as a smart choice, because DSL plays into the hands of the Baby Bells.
- Cable companies have adequate competition from satellite and antennae, and the fact is that many, many people do not purchase cable TV because it is unnecessary for life. Having telephone service however is necessary for life, for social reasons and in the event of an emergency; and businesses absolutely require phone service and quite often multiple lines and special services. The pool of cable customers is small compared to that of telephone customers. Also, the Baby Bells have their dirty little paws in many other endeavors, too, like the huge cellular phone market.
- Cable is often cheaper than DSL. Compare prices. I pay 25 bucks a month, or about what most dial-up users pay for AOL. You can often get a package deal of internet service + cable TV for a bargain.
- Cable broadband has the capability of being faster than DSL. This is not always the case, but the technical capability is there. For most users, it is fast enough. My service transmits 50K per second. Fast enough for you? Even that rate, which is good enough for most people, is a fraction of the true capability of cable broadband. (The local cable provider has capped bandwidth for marketing reasons--but it's cheap.)
- Some say that cable has the disadvantage of having slower upload speed than DSL. How often does a user upload anything? Most of your internet experience consists of downloading--web pages, files, images, sound clips. Uploading usually involves tiny cookies and keyboard input. This is a non-issue for the vast majority of users--and me.
- Your cable modem works even if the phone lines are down. Nice to have this feature during a storm.
 The RCA 305 cable modem, a reliable work horse, costs less than $50 on E-bay--new! |
The Reasons for choosing cable broadband have been reviewed 2213 times since January, 2003