I got to alpha test Comcast's cable modem service back in '97 in the Nashville area. I didn't care for losing my internet service when the cable went out. Does that still happen?
For those that don't know, all else being equal, the biggest performance hit with cable modems comes from sharing bandwith with your neighbors. The more your neighbors are on, the slower it gets. For DSL, the hit comes from how far away your modem is physically from the switch, the first connection between your system and the internet. If I remember correctly, most providers won't sell DSL if you are more than 3.2 miles from the switch. I doubt that's the cause of your problems, James. Any chance that the telco wiring in your house is on the older side, or noisy for some other reason, such as moisture getting in somewhere? That would explain the need to move the modem closer to the telco interface.
Anyway, cable modem has the potential to give much higher performance than claimed by the provider, but only when your neighbor's aren't on line. DSL can't give the boost when the neighbor's aren't on line, but whatever bandwidth you have on day 1 will always be there, regardless of what the neighbors are doing. It's very similar to fixed vs variable interest rates. I prefer the consistency. YMMV.
When I was finally able to get broadband here in Knoxville, I lucked out with a hot DSL connection. The "switch", whatever it's called, is located within 300 yds of my house. Although I paid for a 1.5Mb/768Kb line, the technician who came to the house showed me that it was much higher, either 2 or 2.5, I can't remember. I won't willingly give up my DSL! Except for a handful of very brief outages, there's only been one outage of 24 hours in 3 years. I don't think I've lost my cable tv for that long, but it goes out regularly for 1-3 hours. PITA!
IMNSHO, XP was the first M$ OS upgrade since Win3.11 worth bothering with. As long as no major catastrophy happens, it behaves pretty well. PITA, though, when sick.
There is a great install CD option for XP that's relatively unknown. As I mentioned to Larry last night, it's called something like a repair or recovery install. I don't think it's part of the Recovery Console, however. Seems like you have to press a particular function key while the CD is loading to access it. The best way I know to describe it is that it's like doing a clean XP install but without losing any of the installed applications and their settings. I've used it twice. Both times, it saved me from having to do a clean install and all of my data and a pplications were un-effect - amazing! The recovery console that I mentioned is an extremely potent tool and can do more damage than good when used incorrectly. But, it too, can work wonders for a trashed OS in the right hands.
James, you'r right about the inconsistencies of Microsoft. They may be the big dogs, but their software development is severely lacking in many areas. And not just between versions, though that one leaves me scratching my head more than the others. Ever wonder why you can switch between spreadsheets in Excel with <Ctrl>-<Tab> yet you can't navigate that way between Word documents? Sure, we can now do that with <Alt>-<Tab> but that brings in all of the other apps you're running. Less elegant and a step backwards from Excel's <Ctrl>-<Tab>.
I have this never-to-be-fulfilled daydream of there being, one day, a versions of Windows as tight as MS-DOS 3.1. Sigh....
