Xaroc,
I think it depends on your providers/area. I had more DSL downtime than I have had cable. But the worst was email… Verizon’s email servers had chronic problems. When they weren’t bouncing or eating my email, they’d stop allowing non-Verizon.net return addresses for days at a time after they got the server up. Really frustrating.
I’ve seen horror stories about Adelphia in some areas, but in Vermont (perhaps because we have a low population and probably a low percentage of cable-modem users compared to some areas), they’ve been pretty reliable. I’m sure the DSL vs. cable decision depends very much on your local situation. In Vermont, Cable’s the clear choice. (Although once Adelphia goes into bankruptcy after their recent wacky financial revelations, it’ll be interesting to see if the service worses. I do still have my DSL modem in the attic… Didn’t eBay it just in case things get bad with cable someday.)
Tim,
PPoE is “Point-to-Point over Ethernet.” Some kind of funky protocol that Verizon and some other DSL providers use. Can occasionally cause weirdness, such as when trying to use a VPN to access a work network.