Adsl2+ Vs Cable Internet

[sloutch]

Hi people,

i'm considering making a change from ADSL 2+ to Telstra Bigpond Cable internet. Has anyone here done that before?

Correct me if i'm wrong, i think cable would have much faster download speeds than ADSL2+?

Thanks

[R31Nismoid]

It's situation dependant.

If you are not getting the "extreme" cable or whatever from Telstra, then not really.

Cable vs ADSL2+ depends on distance from the exchange. If you are 4km's (fringe) then ADSL2+ will be slower.

However if you are close (800m) then it's faster. I can download 1.8mb/sec without much drama.

Although lately it's been stuck around 1.2 ... i suspect i know why so i'll sort that out easily enough...

Also remember other factory. Cable (from Telstra) is expensive for what you are getting.

So download speed is not neccesarily the be all & end all... You need to count 3 things IMO

- $$$

- GB allowance

- Speed

If you don't care about the cost/small download quota's and are a fair way from your exhange then cable is for you.

If you care about cost vs download quota and can live with reasonable speed then it'll be ADSL2+ that wins everytime.. and if you are close to the exchange, it'll be cable virtually as well.

[BigDatto]

I have both in the household.

BP cable is good. D/L speed is dependent on the number of users in your area. Upload speeds are utter shite irrespective of all other factors.

Internode ADSL2+ is killer, in my case twice the speed of BP cable (3.5Km to exch) BUT dependent on distance from the exchange, quality of copper from the xchange to your modem, waterproofing of cable joints etc etc. CAT6 helps a lot. The clincher was included usenet, 365 day retention.

Both are pricey compared to competitors, but the QoS of both is great.

[R31Nismoid]

CAT6 in your house you mean?

CAT5e/CAT6 same same for the most part (if you are talking inside the house). Given it's coming 3.5km's, and then from wherever else... a few meters in your house aint going to make a noticeable difference.

Highlighted a good point as well i forgot about - upload speeds with Telstra Cable... indeed it is poop.

Depends on what you want. If you are gaming and getting it for the best ping/latency etc then the Telstra Extreme is what you want for that purpose especially if using servers O/S.

[sloutch]

It's situation dependant.

If you are not getting the "extreme" cable or whatever from Telstra, then not really.

Cable vs ADSL2+ depends on distance from the exchange. If you are 4km's (fringe) then ADSL2+ will be slower.

However if you are close (800m) then it's faster. I can download 1.8mb/sec without much drama.

Although lately it's been stuck around 1.2 ... i suspect i know why so i'll sort that out easily enough...

Also remember other factory. Cable (from Telstra) is expensive for what you are getting.

So download speed is not neccesarily the be all & end all... You need to count 3 things IMO

- $$$

- GB allowance

- Speed

If you don't care about the cost/small download quota's and are a fair way from your exhange then cable is for you.

If you care about cost vs download quota and can live with reasonable speed then it'll be ADSL2+ that wins everytime.. and if you are close to the exchange, it'll be cable virtually as well.

Interesting comparison Ash.

I live in the city but i checked that my exchange is actually the Donchaster exchange? Isn't that a bit weird. Does that mean my closest exchange is all the way in Donchaster?

Yes, i'm looking at the BigPond Elite Cable. According to the customer service guy i chatted to, my download speeds should be able to hit 30MBps. No idea if he is bull-shitting me or not.

I use the net for surfing most of the time and occasionally gaming. So i'd like smooth and lag-free internet.

[R31Nismoid]

30mbps only works out i think to 2MB/sec in theory. So fk all over ADSL2+ but a lot more cost

Megabits/Sec isn't the same as Megabytes/sec.

If you are CBD then there would be half a dozen exhanges. There is no way you are Doncaster mate, someone have fked something up by my limited understanding of telecomms... Probably has something to do with number routing or something - just call up iinet/internode and get ADSL2+ would be my reccomendation. They are the two best outside of Optus/Telstra and cheaper.

I'm Collingwood, and the Collingwood-EX is about 800m from my place. My ADSL2+ is lightning fast. As is said i do have a minor lag issue when gaming to O/S servers - but you get that when using anyone other than Telstra.

EG: anyone with Telstra i know has a ping to the West Coast of the US of around 160-170ms. Anyone else (iinet/internode etc) has around 200-230ms.

Might not be much but some games you can feel it - others you wouldn't even notice so it can largely depend on the game you are playing as well (another factor lol)

[sloutch]

Exchange: DONCASTER

CCA: MELBOURNE

State: Victoria

Class: Zone 1 (Metro)

This was what i see when i type in my phone number on the Whirlpool forums to check for my telephone exchange. How did you find out your exchange is in Collingwood? Did you find out from this site? http://whirlpool.net.au/wiki/?tag=AEG_Vic

Well games i play are pretty much local servers like COD . A slight lag might mean the enemy sees me before i see him .

I understand that internode and iinet are currently the best outside Telstra/Optus. I'm currently using ADSL 2+ with Optus. They have some deal going on that provides free cable installation to your house and i can have full foxtel channels. That's what bought me over

[R31Nismoid]

I asked iinet when i signed up where the exchange was

[Munkyb0y]

optus have new unadvertised cable plans kicking in next month. i went with the 75gb+75gb for $60!! 20m/512k. uploads counted.

[R31Nismoid]

Uploads counted... that's ouch

Unless you are usenet abusing that is not very viable.

[Munkyb0y]

well even if i upload 20gb a month, its still a shiteload better than the cable plan i was on. 20/40gb at $80 on that one i average around 5gb uploads a month (not counted)

[R31Nismoid]

Oh well ye it's always better than most cable

I think $130/180gig, uploads not counted. 24k/1k

[FrangaR33]

Had both, found them to be much the same. Except with my new ADSL2+ ISP my uploads arent counted unlike Optus who suspended my service twice for "excessive uploading". Had no problems in the nearly 2 years i've been with my new ISP Comcen.

[R31Nismoid]

lol excessive uploading?

Optus would have a FIT if i was with them then... i upload around 180gig/month LOL

[FrangaR33]

lol excessive uploading?

Optus would have a FIT if i was with them then... i upload around 180gig/month LOL

You would get crucified by optus uploading that much, I uploaded max 40gb a month, most months only 20-30gb and they cut me off no warning no nothing. When I rung up to complain they said "Oh we emailed you in your optusnet email about your service being suspended for excessive uploading." Naturally I was dumbfounded at the fact that the only way I could of been aware of my service being suspended was access to the internet during the time of suspension, naturally I dont use Optus anymore, the only limit to my uploading now is the physical limit of the connection

[BigDatto]

CAT6 in your house you mean?

CAT5e/CAT6 same same for the most part (if you are talking inside the house). Given it's coming 3.5km's, and then from wherever else... a few meters in your house aint going to make a noticeable difference.

OK should qualify this: the copper in my place was either green or black. So CAT6 made a huge difference in an older house. Also a central splitter of the Krone tool type (not dinky plug in type) is a very good thing. I didn't think 15m of dedicated ADSL re-cabling would make a substantial difference but the pinheads over at Whirlpool were adamant in their claims & in my experience they were spot on. Turns out 2pair copper is very lossy.

Prior to this work I was averaging 4Mb/s down speed, very disappointed

[R31Nismoid]

Ye mine is similar

Just the download is a tad slower than i would like but then given the building im in (all sorts of cable/elec issues ive had and its only 5-6 yrs old) I'm not too surprised

From the iinet website test i only get 700Kb/sec down... but im regularly seeing almost double that so NFI how these "speed" tests work or if they are even remotely accurate

[FrangaR33]

I hate you guys right now, my internet is about half as quick compared with that, when its working. No problem with the ISP mind you, the lines in my area are f**king horrible, thanks Telstra. Add to this I only live less than 1km from the exchange. I spoke to the techie when they put my phone line in and he reckons they've needed to replace and/or repair most of the lines in the area for nearly 8 years now, so you just grit your teeth and deal with it.

[BigDatto]

Well the sync I have is cosistent whether http, nntp or ftp and from Internodes own test files according to DU meter. And the speedtest result is consistent with DU meter logs. iinet servers seem a bit sus?

[R31Nismoid]

Ye i've got no idea... i sync in @ 15,078,100

So it's not super fast as it is a bit noisy

SNR Margin(Upstream) 10.5 dB

SNR Margin(Downstream) 16.10 dB

Line Attenuation(Upstream) 8.0 dB

Line Attenuation(Downstream) 20.0 dB

So about as good as i can expect really. But definately the site iinet use for DL speed is a bit slow or bandwidth limited.