Does it really change the basic status of the two technologies? I think part of the attraction of dsl vis-a-vis cable is that it offers a better path to the eventual "answer" of true broadband to the home.
A couple of issues: There is a huge push going on for the telcos to control all of the information access into homes (and offices) in their territories. Instead of two wires going into a home there is a natural advantage of having all information come through one wire. For present bandwidth needs, because web pages are so static, for instance and there is no video-on-demand being offered, both cable and ADSL offer alternatives that can satisfy present demand.
By almost all accounts, cable is being offered cheaper than DSL. Part of the reason for this seems to be a Quality of Service issue. The cable connection goes down some significant period of time every month.
Businesses, and day-traders, cannot afford to rely on a service that might go down at any time for a half-hour. DSL istallations are apparently targeted more to commercial users, in which I would include SoHo.
Concerning upgrade path: Alternatives are in development that will give substantial boosts in capacity, I believe. I have not seen any comparable developments being talked about for cable. And upgrade paths are critical for where the internet will be in X years (5? 10?). One demand to think about is video-conferencing. The bandwidth at the last mile just isn't there for this to be used much today. But, video-conferencing is one of those technologies that becomes more valuable as it becomes more common. It is certainly foreseeable that videoconferencing capabilities will become as common in offices as fax machines--following the same adoption pattern. And that will mean a huge demand for bandwidth to those offices. Streaming video, including TV signals, videoconferencing, much fatter web pages that include all sorts of animations. All will outstrip today's ADSL and cable capabilities. Do I here VDSL, anyone?
So, not to worry, Jim. Cable isn't a DSL killer.
Now, if you want a DSL killer, how about fixed broadband wireless???
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