j-dogg

Let me breakdown the whole cable internet thing.

Cable is a shared bandwidth platform. It automatically detects which users are requiring more bandwidth. If one guy down the street is downloading a 400mb file, the network allocates bandwidth from other users who are inactive to the one guy who is downloading all that stuff. The more bandwidth he has, the faster he can download that file so the network can re-allocate resources to everyone else.

This also goes to gaming traffic, since it is constantly downloading information and sending information, the network will allocate more resources to you depending on how much information you are sending and receiving.

Another thing is the line running to the modem is the first line the drop (the line off the pole coming into your house) leads off to. It is supposed to be dedicated and not split to prevent ingress and interference. This is done to prevent issues with the Internet connectivity and also to make the connection more reliable.

The only downside to cable internet and this is from a cable repair technician is if your homes' cable system is faulty. It isn't often but it happens. I re-wired my house with new cable and ran a new line off the pole and I have never had a problem ever with my Internet. I usually have the lowest ping in game servers and I never lag.

T1 has an upload transfer rate a little higher than cable and it is dedicated, but for about 300 dollars less you could have premium cable internet which is only roughly 500 - 700k less on the upstream but much farther ahead on the downstream.

If the cable network is reliable it is a cheaper alternative to T1 but no matter how clean the cable network is, no matter how perfect the signal level is, it is still a shared-bandwidth platform where as a T1 is not.