Forums: Discussions for entrepreneurs and small business.

I`ve been using 1.5mb DSL for a while and want to upgrade to something faster, either faster DSL or going to cable internet.  I`ll be moving soon and setting up my home office in the new place which is a good opportunity to set up new service.

Granted there are different plans with different speeds, costs and other variables, but which do you prefer for getting online?  Why?

I like my Comcast Broadband. It`s always very fast.

We had issues with the PacBell DSL and once we went Comcast, there`s no going back!

I have clearwire wireless. It sucks, don`t get it if you even consider it. The download is fast, but upload is horrible. Customer service is even worse than the actual service. They will never return emails and their techs are completely incompetent. (I told you clearwire, being horrible would bit you in the posterior)

Now that I`m off my soapbox...

I worked for ISP`s for about 8 years as a engineer and I can say that there is two differentiators for service and then the uptime factor.
Thought 1.
If your business relies on the connection, get a business quality DSL service (cable providers that I have seen will never ever guarantee uptime) some DSL providers, since they are old school telco providers do for some business services.

Thought 2.
Do you need download or upload speeds? If you need both go with symmetric DSL if not go with cable. I find my neighbors cable to be faster for download, but like my wireless it sucks for upload. DSL is just as horrible for upload if it is not symmetric.

Just my thoughts.

Hi Steve - Just want to reiterate what nGenuity said. It all depends on what you`re doing with that connection. Do you want faster browsing, upload a lot of files? Also, the environment and distance to the telco office (for DSL) will make a huge difference. I have one client that is literally next door to the telco office and get ridiculous download and upload speeds. On the other hand, my parents live in a semi-rural neighborhood 75ft past the maximum distance for DSL so their only choice is cable, but same with the rest of the neighborhood. Prime internet time at their house reminds of the days of 28.8k dial-up.

My advice, ask your neighbors about their experiences and also see what kind of distance you are to the telco office. For business, I have always preferred DSL over cable. It isn`t shared like cable and the closer and cleaner the line signal is to your home/office, the better and possibly faster your connection will be.

If this is for business, look into getting business class service. They usually offer uptime guarantees depending on the provider and have speed options to match.

Hope this helps.


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Solution A - "Your answer to home office and small business IT support." http://www.solution-a.com

Thanks for the comments so far.  I want faster browsing speeds for one.  It`s for my home office so this is for both business and otherwise.

And I just learned tonight that there is a difference between upload and downloads speeds with the technology and plans.  Faster download is certainly more an issue for me than upload.  I don`t upload a lot of files.  Or do I?  I am a digital artist.  It would of course be nice to have faster upload but it is not crucial.  (I`m sure they would be happy to let me upgrade another time.)

I did not know about the distance stuff.  I know I can get DSL at my new condo.

The problem with "business class" is that it can be incredibly expensive ... which is just silly for a one-person shop.

I know they say cable is asynchronous (faster download than upload) ... but honestly, I upload several-meg files without an issue. And the service has never "gone down".

But with anything, have a backup plan. If there`s some kind of cable disaster here, I can always go to several places locally and use their connection.

I don`t have a laptop (power cord doesn`t move, Nikole :) so I can`t just go somewhere else as a backup.  When the connection is down, the connection is down.  It`s only happened a few times before and it`s not a big deal for what I do.  A lot of my job still happens on paper.

And as stated, business class is too expensive for only me.  I`m merely looking for a small amount of increased speeds, not the best money can buy.

Let me ask this question.  Is there a difference in speed between 1.5mb DSL and 1.5mb cable?  Different technologies, same measured rate.  That doesn`t always mean it`s the same outcome.

You get what you pay for! I`m using business class but I rely on connection for my VOIP system. The savings in VOIP I`m receiving offsets the cost for the DSL.

The best analogy I`ve given to a client to describe DSL vs. Cable is freeway traffic. Cable is the regular lanes that everyone is sharing while DSL is the fast moving carpool lane. Same route, different density (Not always applicable in most metro cities! )

Cable = shared, DSL = not shared

Hope that clarifies it a bit. You can also check out dslreports.com and look up ISPs in your new area and see what kind of reviews/speeds people are getting.


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Solution A - "Your answer to home office and small business IT support." http://www.solution-a.com

Steve - You don`t need a laptop to go somewhere else.

Web space is CHEAP. Use an account to back up your stuff. That way, if my machine dies for some reason and I have a project due, I can either a) take my firewire backup drive to Kinkos (they have Photoshop, Illustrator, notepad, whatever ... do I need something else?), or b) tap into my backup online account and get my files there. (I have to put them up there to collaborate with my artist anyway.) I know print files are huge, so maybe that firewire drive is the best option for you.

All I know is that the once a year you might need to use that Firewire drive at a local computer lab ... this route is a whole lot cheaper than a connection that is 100% speed and 100% uptime, if you really have mission-critical stuff.

More than likely, you tell the clients your connection is dead, you call the company, they fix it, and then you get back to working in a couple of hours.

Nikole, I do have backup in place.  It is more for long term insurance rather than short term oh-no-I-need-to-send-a-file-now situations.  I never have deadlines that come down to the hour.  If my internet ever went down for a few hours, it would not effect my working life.

a2theb, thanks for the more detailed explanation.  I dig the freeway analogy.  I used to live in L.A. so I can relate.  So now I ask this.  With cable (shared), do the connections ever get bogged down, slowed because a lot of people are using the line at the same time?  If so, how much does that actually effect using the internet?