DSL vs T1

[techmon]

I find that I can get higher bandwith for less money by using DSL instead of a partial T1 for internet access. I am a little concerened about making this switch as I am not very familiar with DSL. My business has deadlines that need to be met by transfering files by FTP across the internet.

My question is how reliable is DSL?

Does anyone out there have a problem with there DSL connections such as sag in bandwith or downtime?

[MacGyver]

Service varies widely in the US, because the DSL provider and local telco have to co-operate to get it to work. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't. Consult <a href="http://www.dslreports.com" target="_blank">www.dslreports.com</a> for service information and user reviews.

Example: Our Seattle office has Qwest DSL, moved three blocks to a larger office. All the phone numbers changed (a pile of BS if you ask me) so Qwest was in the dark, they had to switch the DSL over and there was a multi-week wait (they didn't know when the service would be restored). Meantime, that office is doing a huge amount of work for a major US university, no internet access was almost certain death. We managed to hook up a dialup modem to the server and do all the transfers at night. Did I mention I was co-ordinating all this from Toronto?

If you want to try DSL, don't have your T1 disconnected until you've had a chance to test drive it, and you're satisfied it's going to work for you. That way if the DSL craps out, you can fall back on the T1.

If your business depends on uploads, I would stick with the T1. "If it ain't broke, don't fix it"

[WebHead]

Personally, if it were me, and especially for a business, I'd stick with T1. It's much more reliable.

[homeostasis81]

The company I work for has had no problems with our DSL provider. Weve had only a handful of outages and they were for under an hour so Id say thats pretty good.

Speeds for both should be similar, and if you are planning to upload a lot of files be sure to get sufficent upstream. You will save some money by going the DSL route but really evaluate how much youd be saving. If its a couple hundred a month then its one thing if its lower than that it may not be worth it.

As stated earlier check whoever you are planning on going with before you finalize anything.

[Poseidon]

We have both. Here at our main office we are using integrated T1.
Recently in our remote office DSL. DSL is definitely cheaper, but by far a lot less reliable. I have had nothing but headache and trouble from day one.

I am in the process of developing a plan to implement integrated T1 in our remote office. Upon approval, it will result in the termination of the DSL connection all together and what I believe to be more efficient.

On a personal standpoint, I have DSL at home and prefer it over cable.

[techmon]

Is the bandwith alocated with DSL the same for the uploads as it is the downloads? If I have 768k alocated can I upload @ the hole 768?

[homeostasis81]

It depends on the type of DSL.

ADSL (asynchronous) I believe is capped at 128Kb upload
SDSL (syncronous) Has an upstream that is equal to the downstream.

There are a few other types but I cant remember them all. The company that is offering you the DSL should say what the upstream and downstream is.

[ilovetheusers]

[quote]Originally posted by techmon:
<strong>Is the bandwith alocated with DSL the same for the uploads as it is the downloads? If I have 768k alocated can I upload @ the hole 768?</strong><hr></blockquote>

Not always. Where I am DSL was capped to 90kbps upload (which sucks). Also my DSL (Verizon - Verizon is the devil) went down more often than not and we got ZERO support.

The place I work at tried a DSL line for several facilities and they were down all the tima. We switched them back in short time after loosing money in the endevor.

If this is a business stay with a T1. DSL is good for home but bad for business.

[Matridom]

[quote]Originally posted by homeostasis81:
<strong>It depends on the type of DSL.

ADSL (asynchronous) I believe is capped at 128Kb upload
SDSL (syncronous) Has an upstream that is equal to the downstream.

There are a few other types but I cant remember them all. The company that is offering you the DSL should say what the upstream and downstream is.</strong><hr></blockquote>

ADSL is actualy capable of up to 8 megabits/sec transfer asyncronisly (6 megs down, 2 megs up, 4 up, 4 down.. etc) ADSL requires special hardware installed at the location of service (Pot splitter, ADSL modem)

Residential DSL (Also called DSL Light) uses a frequency much closer to voice, thefore bypassing the requirement of a pot splitter. The offside to that is much lower bandwith (maxes at like 3 megs asyncronisly) and security is the responsibility of the os (Hence the need for the PPPoE protocol)

I'm personaly on DSL here and i get a 1 meg down, and 125k up. Fine for home use. and have had no problems with it. Cable around here is.. Uhm.. OK at best. Cable here(southern Ontario) is rated at 3008 bits/sec down and 382 bits/sec up for residential.

[tratclif]

The "assymetry" in ADSL varies by supplier. The DSL the company I work for sells comes in 128k up/128 down, 384k up/128 down, 768k up/384 down, 1.5 meg up/768 down.

[craigmodius]

I don't know what prices you're getting on T1, but if you go the DSL route, keep you're eggs in different baskets. Have 2 different DSL providers.

At work I have something similar setup with a Linksys box maintaining one connection, and the PPPOE connection software maintaining the other.

One connection is an old school 'if you are on this phoneline you have DSL, no software, no username/password needed' on a linksys router

The other is a 'Use our PPPOE connection software and your username/password to connect' on a Win NT server.

So I have some form of failover available also one of the 2 connections could be reserved for FTP and the other for Web browsing etc. you get the idea.

[korpse]

Its all about reliability. ISP's will normally guarantee 99.9% uptime on T1's. If you can get the same guarantee for an SDSL line at a much lower cost then go for it. Just make sure you get it in writing!!

[gpint]

Also depending on how many users you have, the DSL line will start to bog down on you the more users you have. Where I am at we have close to 800 computers on the network. They all work just fine with the T1. For a while we moved a 30 user lab onto their own network with DSL and internet speeds really slowed down when all 30 users were on. The other network on the T1, you could never really tell a difference in speed, it never really slowed down with added users.

[ScottM]

I recommend sticking with the T1.
When my company went to high-bandwidth, we were promised good connection speeds and reliability comparable to a T1. It was also much, much cheaper than even a partial T1.
We went with DSL and had nothing but headache from day 1. It went down at least three times a day (usually closer to five times). Finally the provider gave up and told us "sorry". We switched to a fractional T1 from bellsouth.net and it is a little slower than what the DSL was (when it was connected) but it has had absolutely rock-solid dependability. It has been down maybe 30 minutes total in the last year.
Granted, it all depends on the provider, but T1 is a proven solid technology while DSL is still unreliable, at best.
Also, as I said, it all depends on the provider. For example, our cable modem speeds in this area are absolutely screaming. They test out at consistantly half-again as fast as full T1 connections. Just lucky, I guess.

Scott

[DigitalDreamer]

I will agree with MacGyver a t1 is much more reliable. We have been running 3 t1's for 3 years and have only had 1 serious problem but was fixed within 24 hours.