Hey guys, I'm planning on getting a new computer by this time next year (something JO and Thief 3 have a little something to do with) and I figure I may as well go the whole 9 yards. So I was wondering, which is best to use MP games with, DSL, or Cable??

And I'm not talking about cost, or theoretical speeds, I mean from actual experience which works the best for letting someone go online and do some fragging.

Cables worked fine for me, however, DSL is the popular choice among gamers. I plan on switiching to dsl as soon as it is avaialble in my area.

well it depends on where your at really. With cable you can usually get it if you can get cable tv. Only bad thing is that you share your connection. With dsl your only going to get your best speeds if your close to your server. Good thing about dsl tho is that your not sharing with anyone since its just on ur phone line. Probably know this already, lol :D. I personally have cable and i have no problems with it, d/l fast, play good, great ping, etc... I think it all just depends on what you like.

you have to pay for a phone line with DSL, and it all depends on ware you are compared to your server too. I use cable and I broke 5000kbps (but I had to pirate a news group server to do it)

Got cable, it's absolutely more faster than DSL for sure ( got test with both connection ). But where the CABLE is that there is a LIMIT of UPLOAD, huhu, yeah. We're limited to 250 Mo/Month, CS U/L to 10 ko/s, play one hour you got 36 Mo uploaded, it give you 7 hours a month ! And i calcul it without the u/l when you surf which is of 2.5ko/s and without the 10% of the download which go to u/l !

Finally, if you got limit u/l CABLE sux.

It depends on what company you go to.
In theory cable is faster, but that is under perfect conditions and without any limits. Most cable companies have upload and/or download limits or a speed limit.
I think the price should be about the same for cable as it is for DSL (this also depends on what company you go to).

I have cable and, although there have been some problems, I'm pretty satisfied with it.

yeah, what everyone else said, personally you should do research to see what your area provides first anyway (some places dont have either) if you live in America, there shouldnt be many problems at all, i have cable, and since im the only one on my hub, i am lucky enough to pull down at speeds of 300+kb/s on good days, but if you live near a DSL hub, (within a mile or less) itd probably be good for you to go with that, considering you could pull more than a MB, theoretically, so yeah, thats my little tidbit of advice :p

I got Cable with Rogers@Home. They had soo much bad publicity with hard core gamers around where I live because they have experienced problems. However it's been over a year and I feel it is running as fast and more stable then ever.

Cable is a good choice for gaming also. Find a good server with a good ping and you can stick with it without having connection troubles. Also you can use a program called "Download Accelerator" (go to www.download.com) (http://www.download.com)) which enables you to dowload way faster! EVEN IF YOU HAVE CABLE!

My highest rate of download to date (with program) was 900 KB/sec. My lowest with this has been 250 KB/sec

I find cable is faster than DSL but probably not as reliable. At least MY cable connection is unreliable. Sometimes it'll be real fast. Other times it'll just stop and not seem to go much. But this fault could lie with my computer (which is pretty messed up) or with my provider. I've spoken to friends and most of them don't have this problem or the problem is extremely minor. Pick your provider carefully. If you live close to your provider than DSL may be a good choice.

I've been a DSL user for the past 3 years, and it's been very reliable and fast (but not without cost). The main benefit, as has been said, is high upload and download speed that is not affected by additional users on your ISP (unlike cable). If you are interested in running dedicated game, mail or web servers, I would go with DSL. You must be located reasonably close to a telephone switching office if you are to get a DSL hookup.

Also, it is not true that you have to pay for an active phone line to use DSL. You can have a physical phoneline connection to the central office, that is inactive (and not paid for), and use it for DSL.

Other nice thing is that, depending on the ISP service, you can use multiple IPs. In that situation, there is no need to configure a proxy server if you have multiple computers to connect to the internet.

I recommend you look at http://www.dslreports.com/) for personal reports on the performance of DSL.

I used to like DSL, but i have seen to many friends succumb to the "installation nightmare" of DSL, plus you don't get as much bang for the buck as Cable, but if DSL installation nightmares reduce, then I would like it again. ;)

True, DSL installation is usually a bureaucratic nightmare. I was lucky to have had only minor reschedulings when getting my DSL set up.

As to the cable having better 'bang for the buck' than dsl, I'm not sure I agree. I am satisfied with the price/performance I'm getting. Cable in my area wouldn't be worth the cost, given the upload and download restrictions, and that it would actually cost me more for cable with unlimited UL/DL than DSL. Of course that will vary by area.

You have to do the research first. At minimum, find out how much is DSL cost and bandwidth performance compared with Cable cost and bandwidth performance. Then weigh how you will use your internet connection to set priorities.

To answer the original thread question, 'is DSL good for online fragging?' In my own experience the answer without question is yes DSL is great for online play. I can find dozens of sub-50 msec ping internet game servers for each of my online games.

Also, since my DSL upload speeds are good, I can run a good-performing game server. I can connect to it via a lan, enjoy a 3 msec ping, and still play with other folks online who join in.

[ July 05, 2001: Message edited by: Wilhuf ]

I have to wait about 1-2 years for cable or dsl and i was wondering, does anyone have or know anything about AOL PLUS SATELLITE? I was thinking of getting it, but I don't know anything about it. I don't want to waste my time and $. Any input??

I'm moving this topic to the forum, Formerly Known As Theed Hangar.

I've had ADSL for a year now, and have had no problems at all...
Check www.earthlink.net/dsl) (http://www.earthlink.net/dsl) There you can check to see if your phone lines will accept DSL (That way, you only need one phone line, and it will carry both voice and data), and see if any sign-up specials are offered (free DSL modem, free self-install kit, etc.)
:D

I have had DSL for a few years now, and it's pretty good. My roommate and I split the cost (and the bandwith) through our hub.

Still, it's pretty great, since it frees up the phone and we can both be online at the same time with no problems (although due to limitations in the router, I can't play JK/MotS online, which sucks bigtime, but it's the only fault we've found with this system).

My family recently upgraded to Cable, but I haven't had a chance to play around with it much. It seems really fast, but it's also new in that area, and it's not split. I tried playing JK/MotS with it and it was faster than DSL, but then I have to consider our split setup.

But suffice to say, if you're willing to pay more, either choice is better than dialup 56k. ; )

Kurgan

[ July 09, 2001: Message edited by: Kurgan ]

I've had the chance to experience both cable and DSL. I used to play primarily with cable and got very healthy pings. But the shared user thingamabob definitely reared it's ugly head frequently during the day (also linked to the fact that theres 4 cable connections in 1 pole in that apartment... reg is 2...)

It's cheaper than the DSL im having now ($10 cheaper) but that's because of the multiple service offer for the particular company. Installation was more of a hassle for cable (initially had to call the company cos cable wasnt working... had to get new wiring etc...) but after that it went ok.

If you know your area has a lot of cable users (like my apartment now... the university next door is a cable hog) stick to DSL. I never had problems with my installation. Cos I did that bit myself =) Activation took a week after I applied for it, my modem, took another 2 weeks... Appalling really, but at least the actual installation was a cinch. Took less than an hour - and they provide you with everything you need... nic, modem, lines, filters.

I havent had any serious gripes with DSL. At least it's fairly consistent with d/l and up/l than cable. Cable has it's moments with speed d/ls (like in unearthly hours), but i'd rather have DSL eventho its a piddly (hehe) 640/256 down/up