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from DSLReports.com:
What is the fastest speed that DSL connections are capable of?
A: There are a lot of variables to consider with this answer.
Typical residential offerings usually have a maximum of 1.5Mbps (1.5 megabits per second), but special connections for home and office can be obtained to go well above that.
There are two limiting factors that are in place for most connections: the modem and the wiring used to transfer the signal from the modem to the computer. Most home use DSL modems are limited to 10Mbps on the user (LAN) side. The wiring from the modem to the computers is normally Category 5 wiring, or thin ethernet, and that is limited to 100Mbps speed.
The top speed for ADSL lines is around 8 mbit/sec for the download, and 1 mbit/sec for the upload. For SDSL lines the top speed is 2.3 mbit/sec on both the upload and download.
Practically speaking, though, most DSL users are connected at speeds equal or less than 1.5mbit, whether they are on ADSL or SDSL.
The price of more than 1.5mbit of clean Internet Bandwidth is still very high..
DSL vs CABLE?
A: Cable modems are typically faster for downloads than most if not all DSL lines, when the cable infrastructure is new or well maintained. However, cable has a few disadvantages to DSL.
The first disadvantage is that cable is an RF network -- this means that it is vulnerable to transient problems "within the network" from RF interference. Since cable is a shared media, there is a possibility that performance may degrade over time as additional households plug in, connect additional devices (videos, game machines) to the TV lines.
A cable company may react slowly to decreases in performance, as they never sell access by speed, or promise consistent speed or latency.
One of the largest disadvantages of cable over DSL is the upstream (return path). Cable companies are using a very narrow band for return signalling, below all the space allocated for TV channels. This band is prone to RF interference and is very limited in capacity. Upstream transmissions may therefore compete with others in the area, get delayed (suffer high latency) due to noise fighting techniques, and cable Terms Of Service typically prohibit any kind of constant upstream use. Internet use is shifting away from central servers broadcasting to many individuals and some interesting peer to peer applications are appearing (games, voice and video applications, communal libraries). These applications need a strong upstream channel.
In summary, cable modems are currently good value and strong competition for residential casual use, often available more cheaply and far faster than their ADSL competition. However, DSL is probably the more future-proof system, offering digital direct from the internet infrastructure.. If your DSL ISP is on the ball, your performance in either direction will not be different from peak hour to early morning, and DSL lines are available for a wide variety of purposes, both business and residential.
for more, check out:
http://www.dslreports.com
and
http://www.dslreports.com/faq
cheers
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What modem do I have!?
but I don't know much about this stuff. If anyone could tell me Id be gratefull. Also any tips for cable would be appreciated..thanx
If understand correctly, you are not sure whether you're on cable or DSL? I suggest contacting your ISP for more info, or look through your papers/contracts. It's not so much the type of (broadband)modem you have that affects the speed, but the type of service your ISP delivers. Your ISP can decide to give you full use of the potential bandwith, or they can decide to cap the maximum speeds.
