1. Cable High Speed Internet vs DSL Internet

DSL Internet access offerings typically are not as fast as those offered by Cable ( depending on the DSL provider, service levels can range from 128 Kbps to 7 Mbps downstream from the Internet to the user while upstream service levels from the user to the Internet can range from 128 Kbps to 1 Mbps)
Service levels depend on the service agreements offered by each cable system operator per market (access for residential or commercial).
DSL speed is dependent on the distance between the house/company and the central office. In contrast, Cable technology provides all customers equal access to high speed services.

2. Dedicated network vs. Shared network

All connections to the Internet, from nearly any provider, are shared at some point. In fact, the Internet itself is a network of networks, shared by millions of users worldwide.
The only dedicated portion of DSL exists between the user’s home or business and the telephone company’s central office. Beyond that point, DSL subscribers are on the telephone company’s metropolitan network, shared with other DSL, data and telephone subscribers. The user’s connection is routed to an Internet Service Provider where it’s shared with all other ISP subscribers before being transmitted to the Internet. Therefore both DSL and HFC technologies provide a shared access to the Internet-but in very different ways.

3. What is the overall performance of the Internet connection?

Cogeco Cable, among the largest Canadian cable broadband companies, is a leader in providing HFC-based Internet services.
Success factors :
Cogeco network has been largely rebuilt over the years and is designed with growth in mind.
High performance (proxy/cache) servers installed locally for each market Cogeco Cables serves.
Cogeco Cable customers connect to the Internet via a nationwide, very high-speed, private Tier 1 backbone.

4. Shared network

Because of hybrid networks (fibre-coax), cable companies can assign dedicated frequencies for delivering each video, voice and data service without conflict.
Telephone lines are limited to approximately 1 MHz (vs up to 750 MHz for Cable) of bandwidth, which must be shared between voice and data service.
Since Cable services all use distinctly different channels, you can watch TV, talk on the phone, and surf the Net simultaneously without impacting any individual service.

5. HFC Network

The HFC network can deliver high-speed, high capacity video, voice and data services to homes and businesses without relying on the local telephone network.

WANT MORE PROOF? SEE FOR YOURSELF….

Here are the perfect tools to validate the speed of your internet service

Broadband reports: consult the www.dslreports.com to validate and compare the speed up against other Canadian ISP’s, including Bell Sympatico.
CNET: reviews of computers, software and consumer electronics at www.cnet.com.