Internet Speed (1 Viewer)

Hi Gang! I just upgraded my home Internet connection to a mind-blowing 100Mbps down and 5Mbps up. That is just inconceivable to me. I am a computer network administrator, but speeds like this that are available to the normal home...stunning. When I got into computers MANY years ago, I was big man on campus for having a 1200baud modem (thats 1,200bps)...now I am at 100,000,000bps. Insane. It seems not very long ago that a corporate network running at 10Mbps on hubs, not switches, was considered to be just excellent. I ran a few tests at speedtest.net and was able to get very close to advertised speeds. What kind of speeds are others getting?

And that's priced for residential?!? I'm jealous. I get about 1/5 that. Download I don't care. 20 Mbps down is fine. But upload I'd love to have much faster to support full online backups.

I get about the same as DaveF.

100 Mbps service is not available in Northern BC yet; although, the 50 Mbps service is available. I have been tempted to switch from TELUS's ADSL service to SHAW, but I still don't really like the shared loop principle that cable internet relies on; however, the fastest available speed on the TELUS network is 25 Mbps and (I believe) it would require installation of fibre optic cable. It's a conumdrum, I think that TELUS sucks but I don't really care much for SHAW either. Although, SHAW is sure trying hard to get people to switch to their services. It feels like I get a piece of junk mail from them every couple of days.

I get about 30 down and 6 up which is more than enough for my needs (although I would love to experience 100mbps) Wouldn't we all. I was getting a fraction of that until I learned about DOCSIS 3.0. I went to Costco, purchased a compatible cable modem and confirmed what my research suggested. Instantly tripled my previous 10mbps speed and at no extra cost! Comcast never bothered to tell me about DOCSIS 3.0 and what it could do for me, but when I called them, they did offer a free modem so I was able to return the one I got from Costco. Anyone getting speeds under 8mbps, I would strongly suggest you look into this.

I found I could get DOCSIS 3.0 service, but it's pricey.

Beyond the installation fee, Road Runner Extreme (30/5Mbps) costs $20 more than Road Runner Standard (10/1Mbps) service. Road Runner Wideband (50/5Mbps) is priced at $99 a month

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I think I have 25/25 on fios. no idea what I had on Comcast efore we switched three months ago but I dont see a difference.

DaveF said:

I found I could get DOCSIS 3.0 service, but it's pricey.

 

 

 

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Hmmm. I guess it can depend on your service area, but my understanding is that as long as the infrastructure is in place it should not cost anything extra. You might want to check into it again.

Time Warner (RoadRunner) Cable definitely charges more for higher speeds.

DaveF said:

Time Warner (RoadRunner) Cable definitely charges more for higher speeds.

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Wow, but I wonder how? To do that they would have to have a system in place to restrict the speeds of those not willing to pay. Do they control it by refusing to activate a DOCSIS 3.0 modem?

i don't know how it works. But they've got 4 speed categories, priced accordingly. I'm on "Turbo" which is a step up in download speed from "Normal". I have no idea what happens if I buy a 3rd party modem and use it.

Dave - As I understand it, if your area supports it, you should be able to step up to DOCSIS 3.0 speeds by simply purchasing a compatible modem and having it registered with your provider. As mentioned in a previous post, this is what i did, and once I verified the speed increase, I contacted Comcast and they gave me a free DOCSIS 3.0 modem. Also, "charging for higher speeds" is one thing, but Cable companies usually charge for higher tiers of speed, not nominal speeds within a particular tier. I could get up to 50mbps from Comcast if I stepped up to the next tier. Even if your provider won't give you a contemporary modem free [they should] I would say the speed increase is well worth the $80.00 or so you will pay for the modem. Perhaps your provider is all-together different, but it might be worth checking into.

I'll check into buying a 3rd-party modem. While I'd like to have faster uploads, it's not worth an extra $50+ / per month solely for that (to me or my wife). (my biggest issue is online backups, and for that I could buy a new hard drive every two months and ship it cross country to my parents'

well not trying to be a stick in the mud but speed for the UL is as important as the DL cause you can ONLY DL as Fast as the other guys UL.. The Fastest I have attained on a dl was 7mbps which took mere seconds to dl.. So Until these ISP Give us SYMETRICAL SPEEDS the Faster DL is useless.. no sence paying for what we can not achieve and if you listed to them there are factors that contribute well the main factor is the UL Speeds on most ISP Offerings are SLOW!! that is why we can not attain these blazingly fast speeds.. Speed Tests are basically lying to us.. I know FIOS has a 50/50 now that would be worth getting as long as the other networks increase their UL as Well..

Gerald LaFrance said:

...you can ONLY DL as Fast as the other guys UL..

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Most consumers will download far more often than they will upload. If the "other guy" were a peer [end user] I would tend to agree with your assertion. But since the other guy is usually an ISP [or directly hosted by one] I'm afraid I don't follow.

So Until these ISP Give us SYMETRICAL SPEEDS the Faster DL is useless..

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I'll admit I don't know what you mean by symmetrical speeds, but I'm still having a hard time understanding your logic. No ISP will guarantee speeds because they cannot in and of themselves control it. As with highway traffic, Internet speeds can ultimately be affected by any number of factors at any hop in the route. That's why any public quote of Internet speed is always accompanied by a disclaimer that essentially negates the initial claim. But speed tiers do have value because the ISP can definitely cap your speed at that point.

Well, rereading this, I see that you probably meant equal up and down [symmetrical] speeds, but I still think it's best to concentrate on speed tiers instead of absolute speeds, which are really nothing more than marketing hype as you imply. If you step up to the next speed tier, performance will definitely increase, but neither tier is likely to match its advertised maximum.

My speeds are embarrassing, and I'd rather not mention them in case of ridicule and laughing.

I have the most basic level of service from Comcast, which in my area is stated as 15Mb down and something like 3 up. During high load times (after all, cable internet is on a network, so you are affected by how much others are using) it sometimes drops down to 8 or 9Mb, but it is typically between 15 and 20 Mb down. Up is almost always 4-5Mb. There are service levels here up to 100Mb, but I have no need for that. I agree the symmetrical up/down thing makes no sense for most people.

I was stating that no matter how fast the ISP's Claim their DL speed is it's bogus.. you can not no matter what, DL faster then the other guys upload.. So say you have a 1gig patch at Otherguysserver.com and the fasteset ul he has from their ISP is 5mb that is as fast as you would be able to attain in the right conditions so having 100 mb DL speed is useless if the UL speeds these ISP's offer are SLOW?? Then how come if they can not control sp[eeds when you do a close by speedtest you do attain your Rated Speeds.. that is what the isp's tell us and we believe it.. what I am trying to state is what we should all be complaining to our ISPs about not having symetrical speeds.. The USA is supposed to be near ALL FIBRE and these abysmal speeds they limit us too are not what they could be..They are still alot better then 56k but not as near as fast as they could be..

Two years ago, I used to enjoy the speed the OP is experiencing. My upload and download figures were almost exactly the same. In addition, I thought that the price I paid was quite affordable. Unfortunately, while I now live in a nicer neighbourhood and in a house vs. an apartment, I no longer have the option of such high-speed cable internet. I currently have a DSL line with actual speeds of around 14 Mbps down and 1 Mbps up, plus a 3G service for my mini-laptop for mobile computing. It's dirt cheap (where I live, internet service in general is cheap cheap cheap) but it doesn't meet my needs. I'm about to start a small business and work from home, and while I can obviously find a high-speed hosting partner for my company's website, I need to run my own servers as well in order to provide support to clients and vendors. My current service just doesn't cut it. It's really aggravating to know that fibre optic internet is available less than a kilometre (just over a half mile) from my house as the crow flies, but it's unlikely to be installed along my street for several years. I checked, and the company that owns the infrastructure would happily bring fibre optic to my home just for me -- for €6,000 (about $8,700). I think not.