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Originally Posted by Dooby
i always thought the main difference between ADSL and cable contention was to do with where it starts. with ADSL you essentially have a dedicated 512 ( or whatever ) line to the exchange in the form of your phone line ( i dont think this is strictly true, but its near as dammit ) and then once you get to teh exchange your connection shares the pipe from teh exchange to the internet backbone with anyone else on the exchange.
with cable you are sharing the local loop bandwidth with other people in your area ( by local loop i mean the cable outside your house ) so you are 'contending' with your next door neighbours...but that bandwidth is then not contended at the head end....
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Sounds reasonable.
Cable is more like a network connection whereas, with ADSL, you have something more akin to a dial-up connection. You're telephone line is connected to a different part of the exchange but you can use your telephone and broadband connection at the same time.
With ADSL, contention is normally 50 but you can pay more, for a business connection and get 20. As you've said, it depends on how many other ADSL users are sharing your exchange.