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Between a rock and a hard place

Which is better for teleworkers: cable or DSL?

By Toni Kistner
Network World, 06/17/02

How involved is IT in setting up teleworkers home offices? Very, according to the results of our recent Network World 500 study. Ninety-one percent of the network IT executives polled cited involvement of some sort, whether it be selecting teleworkers' modems or ISPs, or setting up a phone system, security, or video conferencing gear. Sixty eight percent said they actually choose their teleworkers' home office connectivity options, which most often comes down to DSL or cable modem.

Which did respondents prefer? To my surprise, cable modem. When asked to indicate the major drawbacks of each, 97% said there are more drawbacks to DSL, vs. 84% who pointed to cable. Seventy eight percent cited DSL's limited geographical coverage, vs. 53% for cable; 43% cited long installation times for DSL vs. 25% for cable. The only drawback where DSL fared better was quality of service. Thirty-five percent of respondents cited DSL's poor quality of service, compared to 30.3% for cable.

My guess is net execs don't exactly love cable providers - especially companies like Comcast which prevents residential customers from using VPNs, forcing them to upgrade to a $90 "business" package for the same service; or AT&T Broadband, which doesn't support network address translation (NAT) devices and defines any connection of computers that have not been approved and registered as "theft of service." But rather they're still skittish about DSL after last year's spate of service provider bankruptcies. (Oh, by the way, won't it be interesting to see what kind of user policy AT&T Broadband and Comcast create once their merger is complete? Shiver.)

More in line with my expectations, though, are the results of a recent report authored by Gartner Group analyst John Girard. "Inconsistent Cable Service Policies Frustrate Teleworkers," blasts the cable companies for restricting (or thinking about restricting) the use of VPNs, NAT, as well as network appliances, such as routers, gateways, access points, and handheld devices. Girard urges home workers to consider DSL over cable modem "whenever possible."

The research, conducted using a mix of Gartner analyst feedback and client interviews, warns, "If enterprises and their teleworkers are selectively banned from using VPNs, broadband remote-work programs will be incompletely implemented or postponed, and end-user service costs typically will more than double to pay for 'business-grade' access."

Managed VPN services provider Axcelerant helps its customers choose between DSL and cable all the time. With so many inconsistent policies (which also vary geographically), no nationwide coverage from any one company, and dozens of providers from which to choose, what's Axcelerant's approach?

"We recommend DSL or cable based on which cable and DSL providers serve the area," says vice president of marketing Pete Sauerborn. "A company like Time Warner is fantastic, so we might recommend it over a lot of DSL providers. But another cable provider might not be as good. Its billing might not be so robust; it might not have good support or a good ordering interface. In that case, we might say DSL is better. It's not a choice between throughput and performance. It really comes down to operational issues. Historically, cable was must faster to install, for instance. But with [the advent of] ADSL self-installation, we've found that difference has really diminished."

Besides Time Warner Cable, Girard notes that Charter Communications and Cablevision Systems still don't impose user restrictions, but many in the industry speculate that the "free ride" will come to an end as tiered pricing packages are widely introduced. It's rumored that such packages will use VPN connectivity as an easy way to distinguish users, and force not only full time home based workers but part time and casual home workers to pay double (some are predicting $120/month) for the privilege of accessing the corporate network.

Neoteris sees the threat of VPN restrictions as an opportunity to tout its remote access product, Instant Virtual Extranet (IVE). "IPSec VPNs use port 500, which cable providers block to restrict access. But we use SSL port 443. SSL traffic can't be distinguished from other types of traffic," Neoteris director of marketing Jason Matlof says. IVE lets users access client server and other corporate applications and resources securely over the Web, which Matlof says provides "90% of what users need without restrictions or additional expense for required business-grade services."