Is Cable broadband faster than ADSL?

[ADSLAddict]

I have a feeling that cable broadband could be slightly faster than ADSL and is more reliable. A few years back, I had NTL cable broadband which was abolutely brilliant. Never lost connection and the speed was exactly as it said on the tin.

Unfortunately, I can not get cable in my new area so I have not tried it recently.

[iBoy]

Well, NTL and Telewest are not there anymore as they have been taken over by Virgin Media Group, so if you want cable broadband Virgin is the top option.

Looking at the Virgin Media Offers page, it seems like their packages are cheap but some people had problems with customer service.

[bearhug]

With my experience of Cable Broadband services, I have never been satisfied, though it majorly depends on the Service Provider as to how much he can satisfy you, but still, I would rate ADSL as much better and consistent.

[Nick]

In case of ADSL broadband, you get maximum speed when your premises are in proximity to the exchange and also the quality of wire is an affecting factor.

Cable broadband must have better speed than ADSL because it uses optic fibre which is ideal for transmission of data.

[smith]

With cable broadband, you may get higher speeds at times, but not constant speeds. Because the bandwidth of cable broadband is shared by many users in a network. Speed fluctuates depending on the number of users on the cable.

So, if you live in a rural area with a cable broadband, it is more likely that your download speed will be much higher than what one gets in urban areas.

However, the speed of ADSL does not fluctuate that much and tends to be relatively constant.

[syedwasi87]

i agree with Smith, ADSL gives a more constant speed, cable is somewhat of vairable as most of the time it depends on how many subscribers are there in that area....

[saubryn]

The maximum speed offering on Virgin is 20Mbs, I believe ADSL 2 can go to 24Mbs? I have good speeds with Virgin most of the time, but the upload speed is pathetic, since cable wasn't really designed with the intent of transmitting upstream.

I think really it depends on where you live (miles away from the exchange I assume cable would come up tops, in a built up area, close to an exchange, but with tons of cable subscribers, ADSL would be more reliable), and what you want - you may be willing to sacrifice mega fast downloads to get better upload.

[philipb78]

The problem is as you mention it's how good the actual backbone is , BT's has been around for ever and not everywhere will be upgraded any time soon , the network virgin inherited is not quite as old so has more capabalities.

[scorpiox]

I think ADSL is faster, Cable is just a canniblized version of the TV network, unless i am wrong D_D