internet ready TV advice.

[Niels Bohr 72]

DSL is a constant, and dedicated connection. Meaning, if it says 6mb/s, it will not fluctuate. It will remain at that speed until you stop using it.

Cable is not constant. As soon as someone (who has cable) get on and download something in your neighborhood, it will reduce your bandwidth. So, you will get buffering problems since the bandwidth is shared between neighbors. The more people around with cable, the more problems you'll see with buffering.

The bigger issue here is that HD movies streamed across the internet requires alot of data to pass through. So, if you have COMCRAP, they will start to throttle your internet service (reducing speed very dramatically to your computer) when you reached the threshold of 250GB of data for that month. In other words, you will not be able to watch anymore streaming HD movies through Netflix.

[rsn 135]

DSL is a constant, and dedicated connection. Meaning, if it says 6mb/s, it will not fluctuate. It will remain at that speed until you stop using it.

Cable is not constant. As soon as someone (who has cable) get on and download something in your neighborhood, it will reduce your bandwidth. So, you will get buffering problems since the bandwidth is shared between neighbors. The more people around with cable, the more problems you'll see with buffering.

The bigger issue here is that HD movies streamed across the internet requires alot of data to pass through. So, if you have COMCRAP, they will start to throttle your internet service (reducing speed very dramatically to your computer) when you reached the threshold of 250GB of data for that month. In other words, you will not be able to watch anymore streaming HD movies through Netflix.

If you have ever actually had DSL service, you will know that DSL is NOT a constant. Sending a digital signal over a copper pair for up to 2 miles is hardly a recipe for a constant. In fact, no internet connection guarantees constant speeds. Also, your assertion about cable is correct only if your neighborhood has maxed out the available bandwidth on the node it is connected to. I have never personally been in such a situation, and these days, it is rare. Finally, you would have to watch a LOT of movies via Netflix to hit that 250 GB cap. Netflix streams their highest-quality HD content at only 3800 kbps. You would have to watch an awful lot of HD content to hit that cap.

DSL is a dying medium, and rightfully so. It's slow, unreliable, and only available to those less than 2 miles from the telephone CO. In order to watch HD content on Netflix with a DSL connection, you'd better hope you can sustain 6mbps. In my experience, that rarely happens with DSL unless you have a perfect set of conditions: close to CO, new wiring, etc.

[Niels Bohr 72]

I think you mis-interpreted my post. DSL is definitely distance sensitive. The further you are, the less of a bandwidth you get. However, that bandwidth you received at whatever distance from the source will always be constant. Hence, the term dedicated connection.

If you have ever actually had DSL service, you will know that DSL is NOT a constant. Sending a digital signal over a copper pair for up to 2 miles is hardly a recipe for a constant. In fact, no internet connection guarantees constant speeds. Also, your assertion about cable is correct only if your neighborhood has maxed out the available bandwidth on the node it is connected to. I have never personally been in such a situation, and these days, it is rare. Finally, you would have to watch a LOT of movies via Netflix to hit that 250 GB cap. Netflix streams their highest-quality HD content at only 3800 kbps. You would have to watch an awful lot of HD content to hit that cap.

DSL is a dying medium, and rightfully so. It's slow, unreliable, and only available to those less than 2 miles from the telephone CO. In order to watch HD content on Netflix with a DSL connection, you'd better hope you can sustain 6mbps. In my experience, that rarely happens with DSL unless you have a perfect set of conditions: close to CO, new wiring, etc.

Edited June 28, 2011 by Niels Bohr

[rsn 135]

I think you mis-interpreted my post. DSL is definitely distance sensitive. The further you are, the less of a bandwidth you get. However, that bandwidth you received at whatever distance from the source will always be constant. Hence, the term dedicated connection.

In a perfect world it would be constant. However, it is not uncommon for ISPs (not just limited to DSL) to sell more bandwidth than they actually have. In that case, your speed fluctuates based on the available bandwidth of the ISP's network. Other issues, such as misconfigured or dying routers at the ISP can cause speeds to be variable.

Edited June 28, 2011 by rsn

[Niels Bohr 72]

I have DSL, and it's not variable. I also had Cable. I noticed I cannot have a dedicated server with Cable because of the bandwidth being throttle based on the transmission. DSL would always give me constant with no variable bit rate. It gives me 86 kB/s constantly. Never changes when I download something. At one hour into the download, it still shows 86 kB/s.

I think you are missing what I meant when it's dedicated bandwidth. DSL never fluctuate since I have never seen DSL service fluctuate before ever since DSL was offered like a decade ago by Verizon.

On the other hand, I've seen Cable service bit rate changes depending on time of day, what day it is, and how many people live here.

[rsn 135]

I have DSL, and it's not variable. I also had Cable. I noticed I cannot have a dedicated server with Cable because of the bandwidth being throttle based on the transmission. DSL would always give me constant with no variable bit rate. It gives me 86 kB/s constantly. Never changes when I download something. At one hour into the download, it still shows 86 kB/s.

I think you are missing what I meant when it's dedicated bandwidth. DSL never fluctuate since I have never seen DSL service fluctuate before ever since DSL was offered like a decade ago by Verizon.

On the other hand, I've seen Cable service bit rate changes depending on time of day, what day it is, and how many people live here.

I can assure you I have seen DSL speeds fluctuate on many services, personally. Again, this is not specific to DSL. I have yet to see a residental "dedicated" high speed connection maintain a constant downstream bandwidth infinitely. Upstream is another story though. Your dedicated server (assuming it is serving content to clients outside of your LAN) is making use of upstream bandwidth, which is generally more consistent than downstream bandwidth based on my observations.