In many areas of the country, consumers still face a choice between cable and DSL. Here are a few things to consider when deciding what kind of Internet access is best for your particular situation.

The fastest cable service reaches higher download speeds than most DSLs. Cable technology currently supports about three times the maximum bandwidth that DSL can support and that translates to maximum speed. However, in many residential broadband applications, the available cable service and the available DSL will be nearly the same speed. A very fast form of DSL, called VDSL, is about as fast as cable, but is not widely available.

DSL is generally cheaper than cable, and is fast enough for almost all residential applications. For commercial applications, especially for a large business that sends and receives a large volume of large files, cable might be worth the extra expense.

Cable's performance can slow down considerably if many customers are using the service at the same time. Both cable and DSL can go noticeably faster or slower, depending on traffic and many other conditions. Your speed may be limited by the connections in your home or office. Also, some providers impose speed caps, to ensure that nobody's service is delayed or interrupted.

In terms of security, there's not much difference between cable and DSL. Security depends largely on how well you guard your own system. And, in most cases, cable and DSL providers offer equally convenient billing systems.

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