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Renew
Online
You may now renew your annual membership dues online. Annual dues are $45.00.
By Geoffrey M. McLean,
McLean
Research Associates
First, let me start off saying that when I started this research
project I was totally biased in favor of DSL. I had heard nasty
things about cable modem technology from some very respectable
folks. What did I learn? They were not just wrong about what they
were saying, but had probably steered folks the wrong way.
Let's talk briefly about the two technologies. DSL utilizes existing
copper wires for the telephone system. Essentially, the phone
company provides for digital data at a higher frequency that the
human ear is supposed to be able to hear. Telephone lines were
created to be used at relatively low frequencies, thus quality was
not an issue in the copper's construction. Putting a high frequency
signal on a telephone copper wire introduces a greater signal
loss... The higher the frequency the greater the loss. Thus DSL is
limited to no more than about 5 miles from a central office.
Optimally one should be no more than 2 miles. And this distance is
as the wire goes, not as the crow flies.
Cable technology is based on the standard cable that feeds your
television. Because of the quality issues inherent in television
frequency, shielded co-axial cable is used to run signals from the
cable company to your home. These frequencies are much higher, and
their bandwidth is very small. Co-axial cables can carry signals
further with much less deterioration than telephone wires.
DSL provides a direct link into a DSL modem at the phone company...
(The telephones in your house will need a "filter" to negate the
digital data coming across the line. Many people can still hear the
DSL traffic on their regular phones.) Thus the phone company
guarantees transmission speed between you and them. Once past their
DSL modem, though, all bets are off. You share the internet with
everyone else.
With a cable modem you are on a loop with everyone else receiving
television and cable access. Thus your throughput between you and
the cable company is dependant on everyone else on your loop. It has
been reported that even 800 users on a loop does not slow down
cable. If speeds do slow, cable companies need only install another
router and split the loop in half.
Some users, and this is definitely cable company related, report as
much as 600K both ways (upload and download). Typically, though both
DSL and cable are 128 Kbits/second upload. How wide spread the
throttling back of cable modems is not known to me, but many users
have reported that 600K is routine. On the download side, DSL is
typically around 384K versus 600K for cable.
The important thing with either system is the available bandwidth to
you, not how many people are on the line. Once you get past the
provider, you are then at the mercy of the internet, which is not
stuck at 56K. Cable seems to be the way to go for sheer speed.
Now, that said, there is a more sinister aspect to DSL and Cable.
Security. The Windows operating system is renowned for its complete
lack of security. Yes, you may have a password, but it's not
encrypted and is easily found. If you have file sharing on, everyone
in your neighborhood can literally see everything on your machine.
There have even been reports of people accidentally printing
documents on other folks' printers. Both DSL and Cable share this
problem to some extent. Cable is more "open" because more people are
on a loop.
However, DSL suffers similarly. Both cases are highly dependent on
the service provider and what they do for security. In any case,
file sharing should be off, unless you are behind a firewall - a
computer that acts as a giant filter, preventing unauthorized access
to your computer or intranet. Some cable and DSL companies are now
starting to implement encryption for data transmission. This would
eliminate most security concerns.
Locally, our providers are SNET and Adelphia offering DSL and Cable
respectively. SNET claims 128K upload and 384-1.5M bps download.
Don't count on a high download especially if you are not close a
central office. Apparently DSL from SNET offers dynamic IP
addresses. This is good, but only if you routinely disconnect from
the internet. The longer you stay "on-line" the more probabilistic
that you will suffer a hacker attack. Cost is about $45/month.
Adelphia claims 128K upload and 3M bps download. They also state
that they "routinely" change your IP address. Cost is unknown as
service is not yet available in the Norwich. Comcast is $33-40 +
$5-7 rental (or $200 modem buy). Eastern CT Cable is unknown.
My recommendations: Whichever service you go with, unless you are
online for only short periods of time, use a firewall. Pre packaged
software is available for Windows and Mac, and Linux can be set up
fairly easily as well. Do not have file sharing on, unless you are
behind a firewall.
You will not find DSL from any other supplier in the New London
County area at least for some time. SNET is the exclusive provider.
Your local ISP i.e. 99Main could resell it, but they cannot make any
profit on it based on what I learned at a SNET to ISP conference.
The battle between DSL and Cable is for the Big Boys until laws are
passed opening up the networks. You will lose your friendly local
tech support and be forced to deal with the usual phone or cable
help desk.
Do I have Cable or DSL? No, 1) cable is not available in my area. 2)
I don't want DSL bad enough that I'm willing to go to SNET for
service. Although higher download speeds would be nice, I'll just
poke along at 56K until the system gets opened up. Please design
your web pages with people like me in mind...