Well, I think that both the phone and cable companies have monopolies.

However, just getting broadband when you are used to dial-up is going to be
a pleasant surprise. The "always-on" feature and the speed is incredible
compared to dial-up.

I would choose based on what is important to you. I prefer DSL because they
are cheaper (by quite a bit), and you have your own secure line to the
central office. I have DSL Pro, which is advertised up to 3Mbits/sec, I
measure an actual speed of about 2.7Mbits/sec, and the cost is about half
of cable in my area. Also at the time I went broadband, the local cable
company was upgrading all the equipment in the neighborhood and there were
daily disruptions for about 6 months, and that would have been unacceptable
to me.

As to Vonage, it will work with any broadband, but the question is, if you
need a phone line to get DSL, then Vonage (or other IP phone service) seems
redundant, except perhaps for a second line or for cheap long distance.

As to which equipment to get, if you have a choice between USB and
ethernet, definitely get ethernet. The reason why is the USB based modem
may require SW to be installed on the PC to run, and it is much harder to
share this internet connection if you want to add a second (or third, etc)
computer later. With an ethernet based modem, you might be able to get one
that has router/firewall/switch capability built-in directly from the
provider. Or you can get the basic standard ethernet modem and buy an
aftermarket router/firewall/switch to add other computers.

Russ Poffenberger
[log in to unmask]

At 11:58 AM 8/16/2005, you wrote:
>Hi Diane,
>
>I just went from "accelerated dial up - (Netscape)" to
>RoadRunner (RR) (Cable).
>
>My main benefit is "not having a busy phone".
>
>While RR is speedy, I don't download large files.
>
>If I were using our monopoly phone company service I
>would use DSL (Why, they are $15 vs $50 for
>RoadRunner)
>(It appears phone companies are apparently offering
>this $15 DSL service.
>
>
>Another thing to look at is Internet Phone (Vonage
>unlimited long distance is $25)  I am not able to get
>my old local phone number on Vonage for some reason.
>
>I don't think you can get Vonage Internet Phone with
>DSL (maybe we can get some feedback on that).
>
>
>Good Luck
>Jim
>
>--- Diane Kroeckel <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
>
> > I'm currently using a dial up modem.  I'm thinking
> > of switching to DSL or
> > Cable.  Can you tell me what is better or faster?
> > Any good companies to
> > use?
> >
> > I'm using XP2.
> >
> > Thanks.
> >
> > Diane Kroeckel

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