FiOS v. Cable
Originally Posted by Zippy,Feb 17 2009, 05:43 PM
Comcast talks about "high speed" but it is still shared, this is why their ads say that "your bandwidth may vary form what is advertised". And because they use coax (copper) in the network, their bandwidth will deteriorate the farther you are from the hub (distribution point).

I can't believe I'm defending comcast, I thin I 'm going to be

The data is transmitted digitally using a QAM I-Q constellation encoding method which will be generally unaffected by length of the run so the bandwidth remains constant where ever you are on the line.
if you drop below the overall signal to ratio bandwidth goes to zero but doesn't degrade gradually.
so therre is an effective maximum length the line will function at.
now DSL on the other will fall off the further from the hub you are.
now bandwidth on the cable line is affected by shared use.
since it is a time division mulitplexed circuit if there are a lot of users you can noticeably see it bog down at times.
i.e. a heavy snow storm and everybody decides to work from home...
Just for comparison, with Comcast, I pay $155 mo. Have basic/prem/HD plus HBO/Show + HDVR, phone-local/long distance, and internet. On Gene's test it showed 3113 kb's up and 954 kb's down using Toledo, OH which is a good 50 miles away by air (88 miles by land) and tested at 7:45 pm, a busy time. Is that good or bad?
Originally Posted by Lainey,Feb 17 2009, 03:00 PM
Val, even with just basic cable, it's not cheap is it?
My Verizon phone bill (not including internet) is being discounted by $25.00 every month until May.
My Verizon phone bill (not including internet) is being discounted by $25.00 every month until May.
Originally Posted by dlq04,Feb 17 2009, 07:24 PM
Just for comparison, with Comcast, I pay $155 mo. Have basic/prem/HD plus HBO/Show + HDVR, phone-local/long distance, and internet. On Gene's test it showed 3113 kb's up and 954 kb's down using Toledo, OH which is a good 50 miles away by air (88 miles by land) and tested at 7:45 pm, a busy time. Is that good or bad?
Not so good, as I get 20.0M down, and 2.2M up with Comcast, using a site 50 miles away. You may want to go to dslreports.com and click on tools, tweaks. I have found tweaking my settings greatly improves downloads.
Of course, YMMV.
Originally Posted by valentine,Feb 17 2009, 07:31 PM
I do not have a long distance plan. I either use my cellphone for state to state or use a phone card which I buy once every year or two. we seldom use long distance.
Originally Posted by boltonblue,Feb 17 2009, 03:25 PM
now bandwidth on the cable line is affected by shared use.
since it is a time division mulitplexed circuit if there are a lot of users you can noticeably see it bog down at times.
i.e. a heavy snow storm and everybody decides to work from home...
since it is a time division mulitplexed circuit if there are a lot of users you can noticeably see it bog down at times.
i.e. a heavy snow storm and everybody decides to work from home...

There aren't many kids in the new neighborhood. I'm probably the bandwidth hog here. The speed test shows I'm getting 28M/3M using cable. That's not bad considering they advertise their speed as 12/1 with 25/2 available for an extra $15/month.












