Fiber internet may be the future, but most of us are still using either cable or DSL to get online. But which one is better, and how exactly can internet data travel over a cable TV wire or a phone line that only carried 56k dial-up not so long ago?
Although people laughed at Ted Stevens for calling the internet a series of tubes, it’s actually helpful to picture the phone or cable line running to your house as a pipe. The phone conversation or movie that you’re enjoying only takes up part of that pipes space. The space in the pipe that would otherwise be empty can be filled with creamy, delicious internet data packets, which are kept separate from phone calls or cable TV by simply using a different frequency band.
In the case of DSL, which runs over a regular phone line, phone calls only take up a very tiny part of the available bandwidth, which explains why DSL is so much faster than a dial-up connection. To further increase speeds for the average user, ISPs typically assign much more of the available bandwidth to downstream traffic, rather than upstream, as most people download far more things than they do upload. This is why ADSL is a common term you’ll see in advertising, with the A standing for asymmetric, as your upload and download speeds will be usually different.
One of the biggest distinctions between cable and DSL is that your connection to the ISP is your own bandwidth on an incoming cable connection, compared to DSL, which is often shared by many other people in your neighborhood. So, if tons of people are streaming in 4K on Netflix or downloading games off Steam at once, your speed will often suffer. DSL is a dedicated connection just for you, but it suffers from its own bottleneck. The farther you are physically located from your ISP or one of their stations, the slower your DSL connection will be since DSL isn’t compatible with the boosting equipment that phone companies use to make sure you have a clear conversation from 3,000 miles away. This is part of the reason that cable connections are often faster, though DSL is often a cheaper choice.
Contrary to popular misconceptions, you don’t necessarily need phone service to get DSL, as many ISPs offer DSL over something called a dry loop, even if you don’t pay to make calls on a landline. So, shop around a bit and keep those things in mind in your quest to find the most reliable ISP so your connection won’t suddenly drop out in the middle of a crucial field goal kick or counter strike and chill.
In conclusion, DSL internet offers a dedicated connection for you, is often cheaper, and can be used without phone service. However, it suffers from its own bottleneck and is slower if you’re farther away from your ISP. Cable internet can be faster, but it’s often shared by many people in your neighborhood. Understanding the pros and cons of each option can help you make an informed decision when choosing an ISP.