I have 1.544Mbps/384Kbps (download/upload) ADSL here. Apparently it is not capped. The modem usually syncs at 1.536Mbps, but once in a while it is higher. I have briefly peaked around 2Mbps while downloading multiple files. I've seen uploads peak around 600Kbps. The average transfer rates I get are around 1.38Mbps/360Kbps. When factoring in all the hosed routers and congested pipes in the internet zone, the effective downloads during peak hours vary from 500Kbps - 800Kbps coming from the best servers. I get these speeds because I am 3000 feet by wire from the CO here.
So far since I've had DSL, not a problem other than a defective bridge (dsl modem). Unfortunately DSL or cable doesn't resolve issues with congested networks, and those are usually the limiting factors. You don't realise this on a 56k connection, but when you route across something with packetloss, you notice the slowdown right away.
Unfortunately aren't as many competitive choices for DSL because the phone companies have managed to make provisioning for resellers such a hassle that it drives up the labour costs for those companies enough that they can't make a profit. Without the competition, the service gets worse. Some of the telcos are going to cut back on download speeds, and cap uploads. PacBell has recently capped them at 128Kbps, and Verizon caps at 90Kbps, soon to be 64Kbps.
If you think they are doing this because they don't want you to put up a server, you are right. Some of them have recently added a "no server" clause in the terms of service. If you want to purchase higher upload speeds, that is going to cost you around $200 for 384K uploads with PacBell DSL. That is up from $89 a few months ago. The idea here is this price increase is not worth it for residential customers. Currently, the best DSL offers are through Covad, so if you are looking to get DSL, that is the first place to look.
Cable usually has faster downloads, but they cap speeds in many places too. Again, they hope to stop people from hosting servers. It is generally less problem-prone than DSL for people that don't live next door to the CO like me. People around here have it, and it generally works well, but even though they are supposed to get 4Mbps downloads, nobody is downloading any faster than I am with my DSL, and they currently require a cable TV subscription, so you have to pay for TV even if you don' watch TV, so it is around $70 a month here. The rumour is they are doing away with that requirement this summer, so it will cost $50 a month. The problem with getting cable access here is they cancel you if you run a server, have bandwidth use limitations, make it a hassle if you change network cards cuz they authenticate with the Mac address, and are generally communist in their thinking, just like the phone companies and their DSL policies.
Anyway, I've typed enough. Just had to add my 2 cents.
And I just realised I can't use ALT+255 for the cents symbol in BeOS.
