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  • Comcast quietly gets competitive!

    So I've been thinking of ditching Comcast for a while in favor of... well, ANY service with realistic upload speeds. Comcast advertised 4Mbit/384Kbit, but most of the time I was getting more than 4 down, but WAY under 384 up. I'd be lucky to break 256Kbit up on a good day.

    Now I know that in some areas Comcast was telling people they could have 8Mbit down, but it was still 384-512K up, and I wasn't in one of those areas, although I was getting 6Mbit+ speeds down.

    Well the other night, with no fanfare, in the middle of the night... my numbers went through the roof! I'm now getting 1.5Mbit up (sometimes more) and 8Mbit down. On "favored" sites (yeah, net neutrality my ass) I get Comcast's "SpeedBoost" of up to 16Mbit!

    AND they dropped my bill to $29 for a few months to keep me as a customer.
    The Internet - where men are men, women are men, and teenage girls are FBI agents!

    I'm the least you could do
    If only life were as easy as you
    I'm the least you could do, oh yeah
    If only life were as easy as you
    I would still get screwed

  • #2
    The key is "for a few months". After that it'll be back to the old price plus a premium or you lose SpeedBoost.
    Dr. Mordrid
    ----------------------------
    An elephant is a mouse built to government specifications.

    I carry a gun because I can't throw a rock 1,250 fps

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    • #3
      Nah, actually they locked me in for a year at $99/mo. (plus the DVR rental fee) for digital cable, digital phone, and 8/1.5 (supposed to be 8/512 but I'm NOT complaining).

      After that? Who knows... maybe I'll go FIOS with FIOS TV!
      The Internet - where men are men, women are men, and teenage girls are FBI agents!

      I'm the least you could do
      If only life were as easy as you
      I'm the least you could do, oh yeah
      If only life were as easy as you
      I would still get screwed

      Comment


      • #4
        How is the digital phone?

        I have tried a couple of different services and all seem to have a sort of static though it is slight.

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        • #5
          Originally posted by High_Jumbllama View Post
          How is the digital phone?

          I have tried a couple of different services and all seem to have a sort of static though it is slight.

          It's great, actually! Unlike most digital phone services, Comcast's actually uses a different band than the cable modem, so it isn't really using your 'net connection per se. Your internet can go down but the phone will still work. Consequently, they can allocate dedicated bandwidth to it instead of being subject to the capricious nature of TCP/IP.
          The Internet - where men are men, women are men, and teenage girls are FBI agents!

          I'm the least you could do
          If only life were as easy as you
          I'm the least you could do, oh yeah
          If only life were as easy as you
          I would still get screwed

          Comment


          • #6
            Originally posted by Gurm View Post
            It's great, actually! Unlike most digital phone services, Comcast's actually uses a different band than the cable modem, so it isn't really using your 'net connection per se. Your internet can go down but the phone will still work. Consequently, they can allocate dedicated bandwidth to it instead of being subject to the capricious nature of TCP/IP.

            Same with Time Warner, both of which are rebranded Sprint VoIP solutions. Sprint is also rumored to be buying out Vonage.
            “Inside every sane person there’s a madman struggling to get out”
            –The Light Fantastic, Terry Pratchett

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            • #7
              Hmm... maybe its time I call up Comcast again and threaten to cancel their service and see what kind of deal they'll give me. I use them for cable with an HD box, and internet.

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              • #8
                FYI - Comcast has been offering higher speeds for months as long as the bandwidth is available. You should be able to get as high as 15Mbps Down. I have seen it many times at night. They have to compete with Verizon's FTTH.

                I'm not sure about the upload though. I don't recall ever seeing higher than teh standard 384K, 512K if you have the "premium" service.
                Ladies and gentlemen, take my advice, pull down your pants and slide on the ice.

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                • #9
                  Originally posted by Helevitia View Post
                  FYI - Comcast has been offering higher speeds for months as long as the bandwidth is available. You should be able to get as high as 15Mbps Down. I have seen it many times at night. They have to compete with Verizon's FTTH.
                  You can even get it during the day, as I said, from "preferred" sites.

                  I'm not sure about the upload though. I don't recall ever seeing higher than teh standard 384K, 512K if you have the "premium" service.
                  Yeah me either. I was shocked!
                  The Internet - where men are men, women are men, and teenage girls are FBI agents!

                  I'm the least you could do
                  If only life were as easy as you
                  I'm the least you could do, oh yeah
                  If only life were as easy as you
                  I would still get screwed

                  Comment


                  • #10
                    My mum lives in Dover NH and says the comcast server has been down for over a week.

                    That don't sound too good to me !!

                    ( I live in UK - some fekker has too !!)
                    Paul ... Peterborough ..Uk

                    ....Ex- Perth ...WA .....

                    The ( EX) Forrestfield Flyer

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                    • #11
                      Well I decided to reset my cable modem and hopped over to speedtest.net, and here is what I get:


                      I'm not sure if thats real, bit its pretty insane if thats really what I get get from Comcast now. I'm sure the download is partially due to speedboost, but 24Mb is high even with that, and the upload rocks at the moment.

                      EDIT: Ran it again and I got 20Mb down and 1.8Mb up, so I guess its right.
                      Last edited by rylan; 20 April 2007, 12:32.

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                      • #12
                        Wow, I'll have to run some tests later to see if they improved it here on the west coast as well.
                        Ladies and gentlemen, take my advice, pull down your pants and slide on the ice.

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                        • #13
                          Rock on for you comcast peeps. Sadly I couldn't get cable in the loft and could only get dsl. If I could get FIOS when I moved back in that would be ok though.
                          Wikipedia and Google.... the needles to my tangent habit.
                          ________________________________________________

                          That special feeling we get in the cockles of our hearts, Or maybe below the cockles, Maybe in the sub-cockle area, Maybe in the liver, Maybe in the kidneys, Maybe even in the colon, We don't know.

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                          • #14


                            Aw. I'm jealous now.
                            Titanium is the new bling!
                            (you heard from me first!)

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                            • #15
                              Originally posted by rylan View Post
                              Well I decided to reset my cable modem and hopped over to speedtest.net, and here is what I get:


                              I'm not sure if thats real, bit its pretty insane if thats really what I get get from Comcast now. I'm sure the download is partially due to speedboost, but 24Mb is high even with that, and the upload rocks at the moment.

                              EDIT: Ran it again and I got 20Mb down and 1.8Mb up, so I guess its right.

                              Test with different servers. Some servers give me ridiculous numbers, and some are closer to the 8-10MBit I ought to get.
                              The Internet - where men are men, women are men, and teenage girls are FBI agents!

                              I'm the least you could do
                              If only life were as easy as you
                              I'm the least you could do, oh yeah
                              If only life were as easy as you
                              I would still get screwed

                              Comment

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