<p>How fast is fast enough?</p>
<p>I'm currently involved in the dial-up scene and I'd like to know more about the options I have in regards to quicker internet (like DSL, cable, fiber-optic, etc.).</p>
<p>Currently, I have options ranging from DSL (256kbits/second) to 1mbits/second+, and I want to know what the best option will be (for regular internet music downloading from iTunes, video streaming, etc.). Naturally, prices climb with rising speeds.</p>
<p>Go with fiber optic of you can. In my area its no more expensive than RoadRunner cable (which is very good, by the way), but its not offered in my street.</p>
<p>Unless he's running 4 IRC bots I doubt he'd need that much bandwidth. Seems like cable/dsl would fit him perfectly. Sure fiber optic is ridiculously fast, but it doesn't fit his needs.</p>
<p>Its about the same price, so why not?</p>
<p>If a provider of DSL states that download speeds max out at 256k, does that mean the speeds fluctuate? </p>
<p>Is DSL dedicated to constant speeds? I heard cable can fluctuate, depending on the number of people online around you, or the bandwidth capacity of your provider.</p>
<p>Yes DSL is constant while cable depends on the amount of people around you on the same line.</p>
<p>Might sound good on paper...but where I live, cable (Adelphia) is a far superior choice comapred to DSL (Verizon)...the DSL connections are limited near central hubs and speeds are unreliable. I get 800-900 kbps dl and 100-110 kbps up...not bad for cable.</p>
<p>^Only 900 Kbits?!?! I get 10 Mbits down, 768 up.</p>
<p>DSL is a bit more constant because you're not "sharing" with several other people. The way cable works is several people get on a network, and you use a band to get data, then when you stop using that band someone else takes it, and your modem keeps finding an open "path" to download data; this occurs thousands of times per second without you noticing. But, if you live in a neighborhood that has been highly urbanized over the past, say, 3-5 years, the cable network probably hasn't been updated to accomodate all those new residents. So, you're going to have, say, 2000 people access a network that once had 800 people witht he process I described above. It will be SLOW! Now, if you have a fairly established neighborhood around you (no new construction) with an updated cable network, then this shouldn't be a problem. So, if you live in an established neighborhood, and cable speeds advertized are higher than DSL, then get it. However, if your neighborhood still has construction and such around it, I'd ask neighbors around me who have the cable service and those with DSL to make a comparison.</p>
<p>You know what I want, though? VDSL. 54 Mbps downstream, which means it can handle live video/digital TV better than cable. It's available in my area, but IDK how great it is yet. Anyone have experience with it want to tell me if it's worth it or not? It's about $80 where I live.</p>
<p>Those are some ridiculous speeds...do you run Rizon botnets from your basement?</p>
<p>I guess the bottomline is, I don't want to be jipped into paying 40+ dollars for mediocre service; I'm probably looking into service that guarantees 1 mbits/sec + speed for downloads</p>
<p>No, no bots, haha. That's just standard service around here.</p>
<p>go cable. DSL is too annoying to deal with. As for speed, you dont notice the difference. Loading times depend on the website/game as well. So ultimately, you cant notice the difference between DSL or Cable. It's only good for getting a bigger e-peen.</p>