{"id":134,"date":"2004-03-22T18:51:35","date_gmt":"2004-03-22T18:51:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/viodi.com\/classic\/2004\/03\/22\/article3-10\/"},"modified":"2023-08-13T18:27:19","modified_gmt":"2023-08-13T18:27:19","slug":"article3-10","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/viodi.com\/classic\/2004\/03\/22\/article3-10\/","title":{"rendered":"Cable Modem vs. DSL – From the San Francisco Bay to Tampa Bay"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/p>\n

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Quick Jump Menu to this Issue’s Articles January 5th, 2004 Overview VoIP or VOD – Which Is the Killer Application? <\/strong><\/strong> Book Review: The Computer Videomaker Handbook<\/strong> Cable Modem vs. DSL – From the San Francisco Bay to Tampa Bay<\/strong> Gift of HDTV Presentation <\/p>\n

Cable Modem vs. DSL – From the San Francisco Bay to Tampa Bay:<\/b><\/b><\/p>\n

by Ken Pyle<\/p>\n

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January 5th, 2004 Issue<\/strong><\/p>\n

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So, you know high speed Internet access has gone mainstream<\/strong>, when your seventy-something mom and seventy-something in-laws sign up for broadband. They did not necessarily realize that they \u201cneeded\u201d broadband, but their kids proved to be the best sales people for broadband. My experience with broadband has some good lessons for independent telcos as they face increasing competition from all directions. <\/p>\n

In the case of my mom, she knew she wanted email access and SBC Yahoo!\u2019s<\/strong> offer of $26.95 per month was close enough to the price of dial-up that she agreed to high-speed access. To get the $26.95 per month<\/strong>, I had to order the service online. The process was fast and straightforward. Yahoo! estimated that the modem would arrive later in the week and that we would be able to do the self-install one week after the order date. <\/p>\n

Sure enough, two or three days later, a modem, five or six DSL filters and installation software arrived at my mom\u2019s house. I happened to be at her house on the sixth day after the order and decided to try the installation. Much to my surprise, the DSL<\/strong> line had been provisioned ahead of schedule<\/strong> and I was able to successfully perform the self-install of the DSL modem. Everything worked as expected. <\/p>\n

Fast forward two weeks later to sunny shores of the gulf coast of Florida in the Southern part of the Tampa Bay area – I am a bum in the sun, having fun with no special plans, when my brother-in-law strongly suggests that his parents need high speed access. My first thought was, \u201cVerizon<\/strong>\u201d, as I had heard an advertisement for $29.95 DSL service<\/strong> that was bundled with their long distance. My second thought was, \u201cwe don\u2019t have enough time<\/strong>\u201d. We were going to be in town for only a few more days and we would need to be there to do the self-install.<\/p>\n

We also realized that this was time for a computer upgrade for my father-in-law, so we went into to town to the \u201cbig box retailers\u201d. While there, we saw a promotion for a \u201cfree\u201d cable modem with service provided by Comcast<\/strong>. We inquired about the Comcast deal, as well as Verizon\u2019s offering. The sales people had some knowledge of the Comcast deal and knew nothing about what Verizon offered. <\/p>\n

We finally decided on the Comcast cable modem<\/strong> for several reasons:<\/p>\n