The Difference Between Broadband and DSL

Everyone has seen the commercials about the cable company saying how there Broadband is seven times faster than the DSL offered by the Phone Companies. What they don't tell you is that they mean their highest speed is seven times faster than the low speed from the phone company(DSL). Their commercials make it sound like the product they offer is far superior to what the phone company has to offer.

The truth is, if the cable companies offer 8 meg. service and the phone company offers 8 meg. service, they are the same speed. The difference is the 8 meg. service from the phone company is yours, and yours alone. No one else shares your line. The cable company makes you share your service with your entire neighborhood. Let me explain.

Your telephone and Internet service, in many cases, comes from a remote terminal somewhere near your home, this remote terminal is fed by fiber optics. From there your service comes to your home on 2 copper wires. Those wires go nowhere else but from that remote terminal to your house. This is what separates DSL from the phone company, and Broadband from the cable company. The cable company also brings fiber optics to whats called a "node", which is also somewhere near your home, but that is where the similarities end. From the "node", your service is brought to you on 1 copper wire. This may not seem like a big difference, but it is. You see, that 1 copper wire can feed hundreds of homes in your area. This means that you are sharing your Internet bandwidth with everyone in your neighborhood. So if your neighbor gets broadband Internet, and their neighbor gets broadband, and so on, they will all share the same line. This, in many cases, will cause your service to slow way down or even go out completely. The more people with broadband the worse it gets for your service and speed.

Pricing is no longer an issue on any of the services. Both the cable and phone companies are always in pricing wars, so this means low prices for you. To get the most out of your money though, my choice is DSL.

About The Author: My name is Mike. I have been in the communication industry for over 11 years. I have worked for both the cable company, and the phone company. I have worked with fiber optics, setting up internet service for dsl and broadband for Charter Cable and AT&T. These are my opinions, but are backed by everything I have experienced through my many years of service working with each company.

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