Cable Internet and DSL Internet both offer a high-speed Internet connection that offers a vast improvement over the older 56K baud lines that are still in use in some places in the United States. The consumer may not know what the difference between the two services is, but it mostly comes down to the speed and the reliability of the connection.
DSL offers a dedicated line. It travels over the phone lines at a higher frequency than the frequencies used for the phone line. The dedicated connection means that these modems can provide a consistent speed to the user.
Cable modems use a technology that is similar to the one used by an Ethernet network. While the data moves at faster speeds over these networks, it is variable. The speeds slow down if many users are using it at once. The speeds, however, are often much higher than DSL lines even when the ISP’s network experiences high congestion. Ultimately, it comes down to what the user needs and wants. The prices are the same, but cable wins out for overall speed.
