Difference between ADSL, DSL and cable.

[Travercraig]

Basically what's the difference between ADSL, DSL and cable and which one is the best? On my modem there's a big thick black cable with a 6db attenuator on the end which one is that? 

[Guest]

^

 

You have a coaxial connection (cable), from the sounds of it. 

[JefferyD90]

http://www.xfinity.com/resources/internet-connections.html

Don't trust anything from Comcast.

[Travercraig]

^

 

You have a coaxial connection (cable), from the sounds of it. 

Is that the best out of the three?

[Travercraig]

ADSL and DSL are nearly the same, but cable is faster.

Ok so cable is the best? Can I make it any faster by buying any better coax cables or not?

[JefferyD90]

Ok so cable is the best? Can I make it any faster by buying any better coax cables or not?

 

Fiber is the best.  But it all hinges on how the ISP really treats you.

[Travercraig]

Fiber is the best.  But it all hinges on how the ISP really treats you.

Well i think i've got fibre in my area, but i'm on about just the connection from my modem to the wall outlet thing.

[Travercraig]

Well, check your bill.  It will say if you have fiber or just regular cable.  I have fiber.  

I'm not interested in that really, it's the cable that runs from the modem to the wall outlet I want know about. I'm pretty sure I've always had fibre. But I just want know if could buy my own fibre cable and replace this coaxial cable from my modem to the wall outlet, so the entire connection to my modem is fibre. Is this possible? 

[Travercraig]

Pretty sure most fo cables are for audio.  So, I doubt it...maybe if you did some mad modding.

I see, is there any better cables I can replace it with if not fibre? I don't really understand what the cable does apart form connecting me to the fibre that runs to the green box on the street. 

[Crion]

ADSL and DSL are nearly the same, but cable is faster.

 

There is no difference between ADSL (Asymetric DSL) and DSL as the latter term is often used to the refer to the former.  There is another type of DSL called VDSL (very high bit-rate DSL) which is faster than your typical ADSL speeds.  An example in the US of VDSL would be AT&T U-Verse.  

 

Cable is often what is known in the industry as an HFC or Hybrid Fiber Coaxial network as there is usually fiber up to a node in your neighborhood which then branches out as Coax from there to your home and modem.  

 

HFC is generally faster and has lower latency than the other two but it all depends on things like your ISP and how far you are from your closest node (this applies to any of the above).  So which is the best is really not a good question to ask.

 

I see, is there any better cables I can replace it with if not fibre? I don't really understand what the cable does apart form connecting me to the fibre that runs to the green box on the street. 

 

Short answer, no.  You cannot replace the Coax cable on your modem with a fiber cable.  They are not interchangeable and on top of that unless the network gear at your home costs several thousand USD, you probably can't even directly connect to something like 50 micron fiber without a fiber converter.  

 

EDIT (Detailed Response):  Fiber is generally only found in cases where you have extremely high bandwidth/low latency requirements or very long distances to cover to transmit the data or enterprise/datacenter networking.  Copper and Coax have a distance limit at which point the signal degrades to the point where it cannot be interpreted by the receiving equipment.  In the case of standard CAT6 ethernet, it's somewhere around 100 meters if I remember correctly.   I don't remember the numbers for coax given I only work with it at home.  

 

As to why you can't connect fiber to your modem, both 50 micron and 62.5 micron fiber usually have one of several types of standard connectors: SC, ST, LC, and others but those are the most common that I've run into.  None of these work with a cable modem for the obvious reason of the cable modem doesn't support any of these connectors.  There may be some residential ISP somewhere in the world that actually comes in directly fiber, but as far as I've ever run into in my 6+ years as a network admin, I've only come across fiber from the ISP at business grade connections such as Metro Ethernet and network gear such as Juniper SRX or M series routers or the trusty old Cisco 7204.  

Edited August 4, 2015 by Crion

[shypin]

dont think that matters much since you are hitting 90mbps out of the max 100mbps

 

http://www.quora.com/Does-coaxial-cable-have-an-upper-limit-of-speed

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DOCSIS

[W-L]

Basically I'm on a virgin media connection with up to 100mbps download speed, I get around 90 most of the time which is fine. But I want to know if the coaxial cable that runs from the modem to the wall outlet can be replaced with something better? I mean I've had this coaxial one in the back of my virgin superhub for years, and I'm pretty sure it could be replaced with something more up to date. I'm not really sure if this how it works, if anyone could enlighten me that would be great.

 

If it's giving good speeds as others have said nothing to really worry about but just make sure it's RG-6 coax cable so it's properly shielded.

[Travercraig]

If it's giving good speeds as others have said nothing to really worry about but just make sure it's RG-6 coax cable so it's properly shielded.

Should it say that on the cable itself?

[W-L]

Should it say that on the cable itself?

 

It should be written or embossed into the cable it' just better shielded to ensure no inference espically if your cable from the wall is really long or has a lot of electrical equipment nearly. Usually even if you use RG-59 instead for short lengths it wouldn't cause problems.