Which is faster depends on where you live and when. In some places ADSl will be faster, but across the street people will get faster service with cable modem.
The stiff competition between ISP means that technology (DSL vs Cable vs Satellite) keeps 'leapfrogging' each other. The one problem that traditional DSL will always have is the physical limits of 'twisted pair copper wires' that were originally put in to carry a telephone call. (3000 Hz was all they were trying to pass when originally put in.) But in some bigger cities, the telephone companies are running 'fiber to the curb'. Fiber-to-the-curb means very high speed. They run fiber optic cables to your lot and then convert the signal to go over copper wire the last 50 or 100m or whatever to reach inside your house.
If you can get ADSL or cable modem, that is almost always the "best buy" in the USA. In many places the 'broadband card' or 'air card' from the cellphone companys work pretty good. In other areas they are very very slow. So try to find someone in your area (like on your street) that is using one before you decide. I tried the 'air card' from Verizon. In the area that I live and work, it was only a little faster than dial-up and it cost as much as satellite; and satellite is cheaper than the 'air card' from the cellphone company.
I use (and sell) WildBlue satellite internet. Like I said earlier, if you can get ADSL or Cable Modem for internet that will almost always be much cheaper. Satellite internet is much much faster than the "air card" ("broadband card") from the cellphone companies. However, with the 'air card' you can 'move around' and go to other locations (school, office etc) as long as you have 'cellphone coverage'.
To see what speed you are actually getting you can try services such as testmy.net - speed test and broadband tools With this I can show Bellsouth that speed is 5,000 kb/s most of the day, but in the evening, around 5pm it gets as bad as 7 kb/s ! So in the evenings I always switch over to satellite. In some places in southeast Florida I see that cable modem is as bad as 700 kb/s, but in others I regularly see 6,000 kb/s.
With competition, they are all trying to go faster and faster, it all depends on where you live.
The stiff competition between ISP means that technology (DSL vs Cable vs Satellite) keeps 'leapfrogging' each other. The one problem that traditional DSL will always have is the physical limits of 'twisted pair copper wires' that were originally put in to carry a telephone call. (3000 Hz was all they were trying to pass when originally put in.) But in some bigger cities, the telephone companies are running 'fiber to the curb'. Fiber-to-the-curb means very high speed. They run fiber optic cables to your lot and then convert the signal to go over copper wire the last 50 or 100m or whatever to reach inside your house.
If you can get ADSL or cable modem, that is almost always the "best buy" in the USA. In many places the 'broadband card' or 'air card' from the cellphone companys work pretty good. In other areas they are very very slow. So try to find someone in your area (like on your street) that is using one before you decide. I tried the 'air card' from Verizon. In the area that I live and work, it was only a little faster than dial-up and it cost as much as satellite; and satellite is cheaper than the 'air card' from the cellphone company.
I use (and sell) WildBlue satellite internet. Like I said earlier, if you can get ADSL or Cable Modem for internet that will almost always be much cheaper. Satellite internet is much much faster than the "air card" ("broadband card") from the cellphone companies. However, with the 'air card' you can 'move around' and go to other locations (school, office etc) as long as you have 'cellphone coverage'.
To see what speed you are actually getting you can try services such as testmy.net - speed test and broadband tools With this I can show Bellsouth that speed is 5,000 kb/s most of the day, but in the evening, around 5pm it gets as bad as 7 kb/s ! So in the evenings I always switch over to satellite. In some places in southeast Florida I see that cable modem is as bad as 700 kb/s, but in others I regularly see 6,000 kb/s.
With competition, they are all trying to go faster and faster, it all depends on where you live.
