ADSL (BT) vs DSL (Cable)

fiveub's Slave
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Which is better? And what is the difference between the two? Moving house soon and have the choice, some say one - some say the other so i want your view.

Thanks.
 
Caporegime
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Cable isn't DSL. ADSL's a specific form of DSL, Virgin Media (and indeed most operators) use DOCSIS.

It's outlined to some extent in the stickies. With Virgin Media cable, you have one choice of provider. With ADSL in the UK, you have some choice. They're both perfectly good technologies, the issues are mainly in the implementation.
 
Man of Honour
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If you have a choice of LLU operators then get BE, sky or O2 LLU - otherwise I'd say get cable... the BT 21CN ADSL (WBC) and IPStream offerings are tbh quite poor.
 
Soldato
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I'd say get cable, I have cable in my flat, and my parents have ADSL and cable is SO much more stable and fast, plus it costs about the same (I don't have a landline and so no line rental needed). Only gripe I have is with the Virgin Media service, it's pants on the most part. This is the same with Sky and BT for ADSL in my experience though, so avoid them if you want ADSL. Generally I've found the smaller suppliers to have the best service.
 
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Actually tehre's two cable providers in the uk, virgin and smallworld (everyone forgets them).

Which is better is up to you, but if you haven't got virgin already you'll almost certainly get a good deal on their 50m, which is the only unshaped broadband they do. Incidentally if you ever need to call them ask for the 50meg team, it's the only ones that's uk based.
 
Soldato
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Interesting, though smallworld don't cover my area unfortunately. They seem closely matched to Virgin on price, perhaps a tad cheaper.

Actually, all the times I called Virgin media I reached a UK based call centre. My guess was it was in scotland, but near the border somewhere.
 
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VM are able to provide a more consistent level of service, and a faster service if you're willing to pay for 50mb. But that's not to say you can't get a good level of service from ADSL, for instance if you live within a reasonable distance of an exchange that has been unbundled by Be/O2 or Sky/Easynet and can get their ADSL2+ services.

Personally I made the switch from 20mb cable to O2 Premium a year ago and couldn't be happier. I've sacrificed a little bit of download speed, gained some upload and it's worked out much cheaper. More importantly I can use the internet as much as I want when I want without threat of traffic management or whatever restrictions VM choose to put in place.
 
Caporegime
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Virgin Cable, every time

no need for a phone line and you get the speed you pay for
The whole phone line thing isn't really relevant since they make you pay more if you don't want phone service.

Saying "every time" is misleading, there's areas where cable service is appalling and vice-versa. It completely depends on area and on the users requirements as to whether cable or an ADSL ISP is the correct option for them.
 
Soldato
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Saying "every time" is misleading, there's areas where cable service is appalling and vice-versa. It completely depends on area and on the users requirements as to whether cable or an ADSL ISP is the correct option for them.

Anyone happen to know what the nottingham area is like for service?
 
Soldato
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I have Virgin Media 20mb cable and O2 ADSL2 providing around 12mb.

The O2 has been more reliable, the customer service is better and the speed and latency are more consistent.

However when the Virgin is working full speed its is much faster, I find it's perfect 70% of the time I use it, though its used as a secondary connection so I don't notice if it goes down.

O2 has the faster upload too.
 
Soldato
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I have Virgin Media 20mb cable and O2 ADSL2 providing around 12mb.

The O2 has been more reliable, the customer service is better and the speed and latency are more consistent.

However when the Virgin is working full speed its is much faster, I find it's perfect 70% of the time I use it, though its used as a secondary connection so I don't notice if it goes down.

O2 has the faster upload too.

Why do you have two connectons?
 
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Do you get low pings on virgin cable when gaming and what's there download policy like for heavy usenet?
Pings are usually very good. There's no traffic management on the 50mb service (yet) so that's great for heavy usage, however on the lower tiers you'll find your connection hampered unless you keep your downloading to outside of the traffic management hours - basically 9pm to 10am.

Anyone happen to know what the nottingham area is like for service?
Honestly it'll probably depend on where you are in Nottingham as their issues of over-subscription can be very localised. It'll also vary over time as a result of upgrades, maintenance, whatever.
 
Soldato
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I couldn't rely on the VM, it was up and down all the time, I think this was during their upgrades.

I hate not having internet so now there is a good chance at least one will be working.

Also I can download on the VM very fast will still having a perfect ping in game.
 
Soldato
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Pings are usually very good. There's no traffic management on the 50mb service (yet) so that's great for heavy usage, however on the lower tiers you'll find your connection hampered unless you keep your downloading to outside of the traffic management hours - basically 9pm to 10am.

That's ok as most of my downloading is done over night while gaming in the day.


Daegon said:
Honestly it'll probably depend on where you are in Nottingham as their issues of over-subscription can be very localised. It'll also vary over time as a result of upgrades, maintenance, whatever.

I live in the city so there could well be over-subscription.
 
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