Which is cheaper, Cable modem or ADSL+ cable?

I have adsl now, and it works fine, but I’m thinking of getting a TV and cable, so it would be a little over NT$1000 a month for adsl, plus 600 for cable. How much would a cable modem-via-tv setup cost in comparison.

Also, has anyone heard about soho.net? I’ve heard it’s a lot cheaper for broadband.

I hear from the locals that cable just blows in Taipei but that’s just hearsay from me… i figure you pay for what you get and I believe cable is significantly cheaper than ADSL.

I think there was an article in the China Post the other day that about 50% of broadband users in taiwan are on ADSL, then it’s like a 35%/15% split on cable/dialup(56K ack-nak! hehe), I’m sure there’s some significance in the quality of service with those numbers.

Anyhoo, I figure if you’re not online gaming, you don’t really “need” ADSL.

ps if you’re using Chungwha Telecom for adsl, and you decide to cancel before the contract expires, i think there’s like a 2000NT penalty?!?

Cable does blow – used have cable through dongsen.

The comment “if you’re not online gaming, you don’t really ‘need’ ADSL” is pure poppycock. Honestly, you don’t really need hot water, but why in the name of (insert deity here) would you go without?

I’ve had Chung Hwa’s HiNet ADSL for almost 1.5 years. It isn’t the fastest thing on Earth compared to what ADSL is for my brother in the States (that is really fast), but that is probably due to a function that I’m way over the limit as far as distance to the nearest telco out here on the mountain in Xizhi. The nice things is that it is always on and it is still faster than dialup. I’ve never had an outtage either in 1.5 years. It’s always worked. And this is coming from someone who uses it all day for his small business.

Why would anyone ever want a dialup when you could have ADSL. Even my mother who only uses it for e-mail can clearly see the benefit of it and will never turn back.

Poagao - I have cable in Bitan, Hsintien and it’s extremely fast, I guess there are not many users on my line. The cable internet is a separate bill from the TV cable, and is a different company. I pay about NT2500 (can’t remember the exact figure right now) for three months. When I moved here ADSL wasn’t available in this area, so I reluctantly choose cable, despite warnings from people. My average on www.dslreport.com is around 1.6~2Mbs. Using Kazaa I regurlarly have several downloads at over 100KBs each! Your speed will depend on how many people in your area are using cable, and how ‘clean’ your connection is. Also first confirm with them that your area supports two way cable communication, otherwise you would need to use your telephone line for return communication with their server, but I think it should be OK in your new place.

Is that the Dongsen cable deal? Are there any others? I heard that soho.net installs one device in the building and everyone shares, but I don’t know if there’s anyone else in the building who wants to use it. I don’t really feel like going door-to-door asking, either.

Does ‘blow’ mean it’s good or bad ?

At 100kbit/s I guess ‘blow’ means it’s damnd good.

Cable bandwidth is shared by the number of people on your line… more users online, slower transfers. If there’s no penalties for cancelling your cable internet, you could pay for one month and give it a go… you could have a good line and get good transfer rates and a stable line if your lucky :smiley:

I think the “blow” reference above is meant in the “bad” sense.

From what I hear, cable is much slower and unstable(frequent disconnects/downtime) in Taipei. I even heard a story where a company offers both cable and adsl and when the client called the tech support about their cable modem, he told them they shouldn’t use cable cuz it sucks and to switch to adsl service instead.

Of course the quality of your internet is probably based on your budget, I know not everybody can afford adsl, hence the reason while dialup still exists.