The numbers all look nice and big on the Pacbell page, but what do the download speeds really mean? How does it compare to Cable Modems?
The numbers listed on Pacbell’s pages are all in bits, but the download speeds you usually see are in bytes (8 bits = 1 byte). For example, if you have a 28.8Kbps modem, you usually see speeds around 3.0 k/sec at the maximum. With DSL’s 1.5Mbps-384kbps, they are saying the maximum speed you can achieve is about 160 k/sec but the speed they guarentee you will reach (in ideal conditions) is only about 40 k/sec. As you can see, this is substantially faster than dial-up modem connections, but only on par and even slower than similar cable modem solutions. For more information on DSL vs. Cable modem see my page on that. My house is approximately 15,000 ft from the Central Office, which is near the distance limit of the DSL service. My download speed seems to max out at about 155 k/sec. Your mileage may vary.
