Back in the Stone Age, you didn’t have much choice when it came to Internet access. Yeah, you could choose your provider. But every single one of them basically offered the same thing – molasses-in-January slow connection speeds. If you had a 56k modem, you thought you were FLYING!

Well, things have changed a little bit, haven’t they? Today, who you choose for your Internet service directly impacts the quality and speed you’re going to get. Don’t get me wrong – whichever broadband high-speed service you choose is going to be light years ahead of any dial-up connection you might have.

But over at my DigitalTVDojo blog, one of the things I like to do from time to time is to do “speed runs” on the various services available (It’s a geek thing.) because there ARE differences – even if they’re tiny. (There’s a link to my blog down at the end of this story. Check it out because I also fill you in on a little secret that will save you hundreds of dollars when you order either service, so it’s definitely worth your time – unless you make like a thousand dollars an hour or something.)

The other day I did one of these speed tests on Comcast Cable Internet and Road Runner High Speed Online from Time Warner just to test the claims the two companies were making about how fast their products really are. Here’s what I found…

It was easy to verify what Comcast was saying, because I have the service myself. I headed over to Bandwidthplace.com to see if they were full of it, and I’m happy to say that they’re not. In fact, according to Bandwidthplace, my connection is smoking at 7.6 Mbps, which is even faster than Comcast officially says it is (cool!). What does this mean in the real world? I can download a typical song that’s around four minutes in under one second. Pretty sweet.

Time Warner takes a different approach. While Comcast throws stats out at you, Time Warner actually shows you how fast their service is. (I have pictures of this up at my blog – don’t forget the link is below. And don’t forget you can find out how to save a couple hundred bucks there, too.)

Here’s how Road Runner High Speed Online shakes out. It’s a bit slower than Comcast at a stated 5 Mbps. But in the real world, what difference does that make? You’re still going to be downloading huge files in seconds. And against a typical dial-up connection, the comparison is downright stupid! A typical webpage with graphics will take around 21 seconds on a dial-up connection, while it takes less than a second with Time Warner. And with videos, for example, it’s even crazier – a typical video clip will take seven minutes to download with a 56k modem, and only seven SECONDS with Time Warner. That really put it in perspective for me.

So there you have it – DigitalTVDojo’s review and speed-test comparison of Road Runner High Speed Online and Comcast Cable Internet. I hope it helps you make a decision.