Discussion / Comparison Cable TV ISP vs. DSL ISP

This is kind of ancillary to my 'home theater' setup, but I hope some of you are knowledgeable and willing to be helpful. I have been renovating my home, including my home theater setup. As part of that, I've done some work burying ethernet cables, speaker wires, and HDMI cable.

I am now in the process of comparing the local Verizon Fios service to the local cable television ISP package. I am hoping that one or more of you are internet network savy and can provide some guidance. I'm actually not unhappy with my current service, but we are doing a full comparison, including getting all (phone, ISP, and TV) from one company. At the moment, I get phone and internet from Verizon, but TV from the cable company.

Specifically, with respect to the internet service they provide, what questions should I ask when I call to ask about their service?

I used google and found this page which seems like the author knows what she is saying…but what do I know? I also find myself getting lost in the technical speak a little bit, so I'm hoping a little help from someone will help me through that.

http://dslvscablex.com/

I also found this site:
http://www.high-speed-internet-acces…-vs-cable.html

Please, help me to understand this all and make a good decision on the internet service we select! (If you want to comment on getting phone from the TV company or TV from the phone company(etc.), please feel free to do that also.) Especially, if something I have already done (like burying the cables) makes one option more feasible now.

Update: In areas where your DSL provider has upgraded to ADSL2+ or VDSL2, the distance sensitivity is much less and you might get faster speeds even far from the hub.

Can anyone say whether Fios is ASDL2 or 2+?

Your DSL connection is never shared between your location and the nearest DSL hub or central office. The bandwidth to your cable ISP is shared by you and all the other Internet users in your area who use the same service. Cable Providers insist that this won't affect your connection speeds, but many consumers complain that it certainly does.

DSL has the advantage of not sharing bandwidth

Congestion on cable networks usually occurs during prime usage hours, which is shortly after people get home from work or on the weekends. It really depends on your provider and the area where you live. In highly populated areas, the shared bandwidth slowdown is quite noticeable, and in other areas, you might never see a decrease in cable speeds.

Can anyone with cable internet provider comment on this. This would be a huge concern for me. I don't like that uncertainty.


Can anyone comment on whether watching TV will have an impact on internet performance and vice versa with either the Fios package or a cable package? On phone performance?

I am renovating my home and recently buried ethernet cables in the walls from where the router will be to where the computers will be. The walls are now closed. Are those ethernet cables viable for a cable modem?

I also buried an HDMI cable from where the cable box will be to where the TV will be, is that viable with Fios providing TV?

If I get Fios for TV, will they use the coax already in my home or will they run a new line to each TV?


In case this matters, I used a website to 'test' my current Fios service, which I think they told me was 10/5? It is not yet peak time.

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Thanks in advance.

Ok. I'll do what i can to explain. First of all, Verizon Fios is not DSL. Its a fiber optic based service much like AT&T U-Verse. So, neither option you are working with has anything to do with DSL. Because we are not talking about DSL and cable it would not be fair to waste time trying to talk about the differences between those two. To briefly provide an overview, Verizon Fios and your cable TV/internet/phone would be almost identical services. There may be some question about "shared" internet bandwidth on cable services, but typically the service is so fast that the average user would not notice any difference. However, traditionally, in my experience, cable services are far lower quality than DSL or a fiber based service such as Verizon fios or DSL. The latter provides a nice steady, quality signal albeit usually slower. When it comes to utilizing phone and streaming video services, the latter will blow away the reliability of the cable services. Without getting too technical, when I speak of "quality" of connection I am not referring to speed (cable is usually faster, and sometimes much faster than the others), and I am also not necessarily talking about reliability (availability of service, etc.). So, I'll explain. The data sent and received over the internet is broken into "packets" of data. In a streaming service such as video or VoIP (which is what you're getting for phone service with both of these companies) it is imperative that those packets get from end to end reliably and in order. Although cable service is usually faster, the services we have in our area will drop far more packets than the other two services and will also jumble those packets around out of order. This is fine for pure download speed and internet browsing - you wouldn't notice a thing. But for a streaming service it results in choppy voice, hiccups in video, buffering, etc. A slower, but higher quality service may often times be preferred over the higher speed, lower quality service. And, the sharing of bandwidth on cable service definitely makes a huge difference. Cable service bounces around all over the place. You never know what bandwidth you are going to get although it is usually pretty high at any time. Now, if you were asking me what my choice is - I would say this. I have never used Verizon, but I do have AT&T u-verse. I have seen many different cable, DSL, and U-verse connections in my area. As far as watching pure TV - there is probably nothing that is going to beat the availability and reliability of cable because they aren't utilizing the "internet" to send you the data - it is a truly broadband connection that is able to send those channels down dozens or hundreds of different frequencies - just like in the old days. But, if you want to utilize services such as netflix, VoIP (phone), or other streaming services I would bet you will have significantly more problems with cable service than Verizon. Lastly, the speedtest you ran on Verizon is EXCELLENT (i.e. faster than 80% of US) and I would love to have those speeds at a reasonable price. Cable service around here is typically the most costly of mainstream hi-speed home based internet services. So, you are probably saving money over what you would with cable. Hands down, I would keep Verizon and wouldn't even consider switching anything to the cable service. I would use my phone, TV, and internet on Verizon. Unless the company mis-treated me, I would not change. To answer a couple of your other questions. Watching TV will most likely not effect the internet or phone performance on EITHER service. Cable does not need your internet bandwidth to send you TV. And Verizon will have allocated much higher bandwidths to your home for video and phone and you are only seeing a small portion of it allocated for your total internet usage speed when you run a test. For example, my U-verse box is programmed to download over 30Mbps but I am paying for a 5Mbps internet package, and that is the internet speed I get. The rest of the bandwidth is used for TV services and I almost never have a problem with it - but again, pure TV usage is not as reliable as regular cable TV services because its using the internet. However, I experience very little problems with my AT&T u-verse TV service and its easily better than satellite TV that I have experienced. Now, I want to point out that I am talking about pure TV. If you are going to utilize video streaming services such as Netflix its going to use internet bandwidth and yes, it will slow it down. Phone services should not be effected because the gateway device they give you should be capable of QoS (quality of service) and able to prioritize your phone traffic. The cabling you installed should be sufficient for either service, and makes no difference. That is simply how the devices connect together and that is going to all be the same standards. As far as how Fios connects to your house, I'm not sure. It most likely uses a single pair of wires just like a standard phone line. That is probably what it is using now, and they will not have to make any changes to that to add TV. Coaxial cable may be used within the home for interconnecting multiple receiver boxes hooked to different TVs. I hope that helps.. EDIT: After doing more research on Verizon Fios it appears it may take a fiber connection directly to your door step and therefore may not use copper wiring at all. Either way, no changes will probably need to be made to add TV services. And it is not DSL.

Thank you for the reply. So helpful. Best source of info I found. Thanks!