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Live in northern Vermont and high speed internet is spotty up here. I telecommute for my job and high speed is a requirement - between VOIP and transfer of large files, I can't really do much work without it. Currently living in a small condo we own, and we have cable service which is rated at 3mb up and 15mb down. This has been sufficient for my needs - of course, faster would be better, but so far, no big problems.
We are house shopping and have some interest in a home that has limited access to high speed internet. Seems like our only options are fairly slow DSL, or a dedicated symmetrical Ethernet that is rated at 3mb up/3mb down.
After doing some reading, I do have a better understanding of symmetrical vs asymmetrical, but I'm wondering if anyone has any real world experience on whether this will be fine in comparison or if I'll be miserable. I've spoken to our IT department - the head of IT thinks I'll be fine, but the network guy thinks I'll be wishing it was faster.
asymmetric = different speeds in different directions
That's the only difference, technically. The implementations vary from provider to provider, though.
If your only options are crappy DSL and a 3mbps symmetric, then you only have one option, realistically.
I've used symmetric DSL and wasn't pleased. That was a lot of years ago, though, on the other side of the country from where you're going to be, and I believe the problems were mostly due to the provider sucking eggs. Your best bet is to try and find someone in that area that's using that service and get their opinion. That kind of service would likely be used by businesses, so you could ask around at different office buildings or something along those lines.
Good luck. I know what having to have fast, reliable internet is like when choosing a place to live. We're dealing with that now, while we figure out where we're going to move when we leave Nevada in a few years.
3/3 should be fine. The thing about ethernet is you should ALWAYS GET 3MB. The issue with cable and DSL is the speeds you are given may NOT always be available. With ethernet, you should ALWAYS have that speed.
With Cable/DSL they say 15down/3up. But that's max. You might be getting 7 down, 2 up.
3/3 should be fine. The thing about ethernet is you should ALWAYS GET 3MB. The issue with cable and DSL is the speeds you are given may NOT always be available. With ethernet, you should ALWAYS have that speed.
With Cable/DSL they say 15down/3up. But that's max. You might be getting 7 down, 2 up.
Unless the house is ideal otherwise, - skip the house. Advertised speeds are rarely consistent with actual speeds, especially during peak hours. I have had to have both satellite feed AND a backup POTS dial-up.
Hughesnet was always less than 1 Mbps
Exede download results from testmy.net:
Fri Nov 30 2012 @ 4:01:37 pm US arrow 18.8 MB 18.8 Mbps 2.35 MB/s
Fri Nov 30 2012 @ 3:59:18 pm US arrow 19.6 MB 21.71 Mbps 2.71 MB/s
Fri Nov 30 2012 @ 3:58:18 pm Washington D.C. Mirror arrow 14.6 MB 16.7 Mbps 2.09 MB/s
Fri Nov 30 2012 @ 3:50:35 pm US arrow 4 MB 1.15 Mbps 143 kB/s
Uploads:
Fri Nov 30 2012 @ 4:06:28 pm US arrow 576 kB 1.09 Mbps 136 kB/s
Fri Nov 30 2012 @ 4:06:01 pm US arrow 256 kB 117 Kbps 15 kB/s
Fri Nov 30 2012 @ 3:59:27 pm US arrow 320 kB 670 Kbps 84 kB/s
Fri Nov 30 2012 @ 3:51:26 pm US arrow 256 kB 73 Kbps 9 kB/s
Thanks for the feedback everyone...sorry for the late reply!
This would actually be a business account, not residential (and I am definitely paying a big difference) so the speeds are guaranteed - I am the only one who will be using the line. This to me was at least one significant positive. It also comes with a service plan - from what I've been told by many different people, if the service goes down, they will fix it asap, as business clients are first priority. Of course, whether this is true or not, who knows.
And yeah, the house is pretty much ideal otherwise - we have a few specific things we are looking for and it has all of them...
3/3 should be fine. The thing about ethernet is you should ALWAYS GET 3MB. The issue with cable and DSL is the speeds you are given may NOT always be available. With ethernet, you should ALWAYS have that speed.
With Cable/DSL they say 15down/3up. But that's max. You might be getting 7 down, 2 up.
It depends on a bunch of variables. I pay for 20 Mbps internet and average pretty close to that on my wired computer. The Wireless devices anywhere from 16 down to 12 Mbps on an older G standard router.
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