Friends of mine are moving, they have a cable modem right now. They can get a really good deal on a DSL model for a year.
He does a lot of multi-player online gaming. We’ve heard that DSL is noticeably slower than Cable. If so, DSL is out. He’d go crazy.
Anyone with this experience? Switching from Cable to DSL? In the context of online gaming?
If it helps, the friends are in the LA/Pasadena area.
Help me folks, I need opinions…
Quality of service is another thing to consider. The neighbors next door went from DSL to cable after being on the phone with Verizon at least once a week in order to get the damn thing working!
From what I can gather talking to friends nationwide, it varies drastically by region. The quality of the actual physical cables in your area is a big factor, and the distance of the home to the central network is another biggie. Where I am, cable is much better than DSL, but I’m not from Pasadena. Talking to the neighbors would be a really good idea, if it’s the sort of neighborhood where one can do that.
I’d recommend first trying whichever one doesn’t have a contract first. Which is probably going to be cable.
I had cable at my previous apartment and it was awesome - my download speeds were blazing. So when I moved, I tried to sign up for it here. Turns out that my apartment complex has a deal with a cable company so I had to sign up with them. THAT was a mistake - it was $60 a month and the speeds were approaching dial-up. It was seriously among the worst service I’ve seen.
So instead, I went with DSL which proves to be slower than the cable I had at my other place when I do speed tests. In everyday practice, though (both downloading and online gaming), the difference isn’t really noticeable.
If it is verizon they usually have a 30? day policy where you can cancel services, which would end the contract - if it exists at all.
In general cable is usually faster, but DSL is no slouch either. With online gamming I think the speed of either will be more then enough, the issue is usually latency, which is the delay between you clicking the mouse and Duke Nukeum fireing the rocket launcher (sortof).
DSL and cable’s latency vary and no hard and fast rules can be made.
I would check into the contract and cancelation policy of the cheapest one, and if it gives you wiggle room then go for that.
Have you friends pop over to www.dslreports.com where they can plug in their new phone number/address and see who’s offering service there. More importantly, they can find reviews from people in that area describing signup and installation experiences, problem resolution, etc.
As for cable’s claims at being faster than DSL - pure hogwash. Read the fine print, and you’ll probably see that cable is comparing their service to 768k DSL. My ISP doesn’t even offer service that slow - their basic level is 1500k
Online gaming will likely not see a difference. Downloading updates for those online games, there you might see a difference - although I’ve had more slowdowns due the bandwith of the downloadee. Downloading other large files, such as the most recent episode of Lost off of iTunes, there cable usually wins.
Pbbbt!!!
Verizon is currently laying fiber optic cable in my nieghborhood as we speak. Soon I will be stepping out of the stone age into the new age!!
See ya! Ya’ bunch of Neanderthals!! 
OK I’m kidding, I love you guys. I just felt the need to gloat!!
As per the OP: I never even knew this was debatable. I’ve had both and as far as I can tell; Cable kicks DSL’s ass. BIG time!
I’ve had both, and cable wins hands down. But it also depends on your neighborhood. If everyone in your neighborhood has a cable modem, you will be effected if everyone is on at the same time.