[November 21, 2008]

Location is key to fast Internet connection

(Paducah Sun, The (KY) Via Acquire Media NewsEdge) Nov. 21--Q: Which is the faster Internet connection for a PC? DSL or a cable modem? I live in Ballard County, which is faster for out here?

--Brian Egnar of Ballard County

A: So that we're all on the same page, Brian is asking which way of connecting his computer to the Internet is faster, meaning which method downloads pages, music and other content fastest from the Web.

DSL stands for Digital Subscriber Line. In basic terms, this method uses copper phone lines that run from a phone jack to the computer to fire up the Internet. Phone companies offer this connection.

Cable companies, Comcast in the Purchase area, offer cable modems. This method connects through a cable jack in the wall just like with cable TV.

Brian recognized a key element to deciding which Internet connection is fastest: Location.

Both DSL and cable modems are fast but their speeds and your ability to use one or the other in your home depends on where you live.

Basically, Brian, if you live really close to the phone company in your area, DSL could be faster than a cable modem in your home.

The farther you live away from the phone company the slower the DSL Internet connection gets.

But cable modems are more uniform in speed from home to home.

A bigger difference in cable modem speed comes from your neighbors. If you live beside several homes with cable modems and those people download music and movies around-the-clock, 24/7, then your Internet speed will slow down. I don't want to overstate this, however. Your neighbors would have to be downloading fiends for you to see a drastic difference.

Theoretically, cable modems are considered faster because their bandwidth limits are higher than those of DSL. Bandwidth equals the amount of data that can be downloaded from a Web site

But, people using cable modems never reach those maximum bandwidths because all cable modem users share the Internet connection to a degree. Again, it just depends on whether your neighbors are downloading content nonstop and clogging up the line.

So, Brian, judge your location and neighbors and make a decision. I've tried calling phone and cable companies to get them to tell me the average mb/s (megabytes per second, rate of downloading speed for the Internet) with mixed results. Some employees want to help but don't know what they're talking about and others refuse to say a speed on the record to a journalist for fear of saying something wrong.

But to a customer they act differently.

Also, keep in mind Brian that there are a slew of other issues to consider (installation, monthly fees, security).

Cnet.com laid it out all the differences well at this link: http://reviews.cnet.com/4520-6536_7-726601-1.html

This review also points out that while cable modems are available to some 55 million cable subscribers in the U.S., DSL access is getting to about 50 million Americans.

Instillation problems and horror stories about complications used to plague DSL but now prices and quality are comparable between the two.

They are both good options. Good luck and as always call me again if I can help more.

Adam Shull is the Sun's entertainment writer and is also well versed in explaining "computer questions" to parents and friends who definitely are not part of the computer generation. Send your question to ashull@paducahsun.com or call 575-8653.

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