[geeks] cable modem or verizon DSL (in Rhode Island)?

[James]

> I'm ignerunt, so if anyone could give me a hand choosing between
> Cox Cable and
> Verizon DSL for broadband, I'd be grateful.
>    I'm vaguely aware of the differences in the services, but I'm frankly
> overwhelmed by the dilemma of choosing among two of my least favorite
> monopolies.
>    The house can take either, as the previous owner had a cable
> modem, and the
> Verizon web site tells me that I already have a DSL line. (Uh,
> what?) And I
> drive past a windowless Verizon building every day a fraction of
> a mile from
> my house, too.
>    Is it worth it to take the free modem from either provider? Am
> I likely to
> get more consistent speeds from a DSL line?
>    Thanks for any suggestions you can make.

I've heard many rumors of suckness about Cox cable internet. Verizon can be
a shit too, but mostly if you want to do something "advanced" like a static
IP address.

In general, I prefer DSL due to a more predictable throughput. When I had
cablemodems (twice on two different carriers) I noticed a big slowdown when
school let out and between 7-9 pm. Cable data is a shared (bridged) medium
and some companies like to oversubscribe an area to keep costs down. DSL is
not as fast as cable *can* be though. I have asymetrical DSL with 768Kb/sec
downlink with my DSL provider now and I get about that much throughput any
time of day. When cable is running well (fewer users) I got a little better
than T1 rate (2mb/sec).

Being so close to a POP you might be able to get symetrical 1.54Mb DSL if
Verizon offers it (but you will pay extra).