In my area both AT&T cable access and DSL through a 3rd party were available, so I investigated both. DSL here is limited to 385K downstream and 128K upstream, and you must wait weeks to get an install. Service problems can result in no service for days at a time. The cost is $59.95 per month. Cable access is limited to 128K upstream and no absolute limit downstream. The whole AT&T cable system locally is fiber optic and your downstream is limited by the speed of the server you are downloading from. The install was done eight days after it was ordered. I have had one problem: a local construction contractor cut a cable and AT&T repaired it within six hours. However my internet access still wasn't "up". I called the 24/7 tech support and they were quite knowledgeable and helped me to reset the Cable Modem and all was well. By the way the techie when he found that I used Linux asked me for help with his newly installed Linux system! He said that numerous of the support people were starting to use Linux at home. By the way the other day I downloaded the StarOffice 5.1a tarball. This was a 70MB download and took just under five minutes. I was impressed!
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In my area both AT&T cable access and DSL through a 3rd party were available, so I investigated both. DSL here is limited to 385K downstream and 128K upstream, and you must wait weeks to get an install. Service problems can result in no service for days at a time. The cost is $59.95 per month. Cable access is limited to 128K upstream and no absolute limit downstream. The whole AT&T cable system locally is fiber optic and your downstream is limited by the speed of the server you are downloading from. The install was done eight days after it was ordered. I have had one problem: a local construction contractor cut a cable and AT&T repaired it within six hours. However my internet access still wasn't "up". I called the 24/7 tech support and they were quite knowledgeable and helped me to reset the Cable Modem and all was well. By the way the techie when he found that I used Linux asked me for help with his newly installed Linux system! He said that numerous of the support people were starting to use Linux at home. By the way the other day I downloaded the StarOffice 5.1a tarball. This was a 70MB download and took just under five minutes. I was impressed!