From 1.5Mbps down, to (more)

[deckeda]

When I told the wife our Internet was going to be up to "15 times faster" that caught her attention. I explained however that unlike with DSL the speed would vary.

We're canceling our DSL for the cable connection we got today. Was promised up to 22Mbps; I just ran a test and got 32Mbps. Not bad for just after 8pm. Either way I'll take it.

In 12 months I'll re-evaluate and see what else might be available. Until then, this is the cheapest way to get decent speed, and by far the fastest unless I want to pay more. $37.50 for 12 months + $20 install. Would have been a $10 install but the package includes a few basic TV channels, not that I plan to hook it up except out of curiosity, and I wasn't going to quibble over the extra $10.

When I last checked their site for my area (this is with Comcast BTW) the normal price for this middle tier was about $68, the highest for any area, but the sales dude who came by the house said it should be $45. If he's right, I'll know in 12 months and will be keeping the service. $45 is about what I pay for DSL from the AT&T.

For about 8-9 years I was paying about $35, then $40, then $45, then $50 for Comcast's basic analog cable before I ditched them in '09---not once did they ever offer to bundle Internet and any sort of TV for that kind of money.

It'll be $30/month once I buy my own modem. Should I get a Motorola 6120, or something else? They installed a ubee U10C035. Looks small and cheap but has decent specs and seems to run fairly cool. I like that it has LEDs on the front that confirm such things as channel bonding. I'd probably consider buying one if they were available.

***********************************************
This has been an interesting and unexpected experience. The flyers they toss in with the weekly mailed coupons, and online pricing are nothing special. Xfinity this and Xfinity that crap. Nothing has tempted me. But a sales dude drove into the neighborhood Friday and knocked on the door. That's never happened before with these guys.

I took one look at the price and said, "let's do this now."

"You want TV, right ... ?" I took him outside. "Look up on the roof. You won't see a roof antenna anywhere else around here. And later today I'm going to add another, just for Ch. 11. But to answer your question, NO I don't want your TV service."

"This package comes with basic TV, costs the same $30 as the Internet-only and the Internet is 22Mbps instead of 16Mbps."

"I'd like TV, too please."

I'm absolutely convinced this is how they go back to content providers with subscriber info. "See? Everyone takes our TV service, too!"

[jdc]

When I had Comcast, I never saw a slowdown. 25mbps down was always the norm.

I just heard someone using this "cable slows down" because their magic jack phone wasnt working right.

I guess maybe if you lived in a large apartment complex?

[LyleH]

I've been using the Motorola Surfboard SB6120 with Comcast for 2 months now. Have not had to reset it or lost my connection since I installed it. I got the SB6120 to future-protect me if Comcast ever goes to DOCSIS 3.0. Not sure that's a big deal.

My prior modems had an Upload and Download lights that blinked to show activity. The SB6120 has Send and Receive lights, but they are always on solid. It also has a Link light that blinks continuously about twice a second. But I have Little Snitch installed and put the it's Network Monitor as one of my menu-bar items. So I can see up/down activity there. LyleH

[Black]

Looking around the comcast site-- I don't see anything remotely in this price range? And the highest tier I see says "up to 10 mbps?"

[deckeda]

jdc wrote:
When I had Comcast, I never saw a slowdown. 25mbps down was always the norm.

I just heard someone using this "cable slows down" because their magic jack phone wasnt working right.

I guess maybe if you lived in a large apartment complex?

Just something I'd read more than once over the years, due to the shared nature of the system. Things slow down (somewhat, not to a crawl let's hope) at night when everyone's home surfing and Netflixing. Guess I'll know soon enough.

[deckeda]

LyleH wrote:
I've been using the Motorola Surfboard SB6120 with Comcast for 2 months now. Have not had to reset it or lost my connection since I installed it. I got the SB6120 to future-protect me if Comcast ever goes to DOCSIS 3.0. Not sure that's a big deal.

My prior modems had an Upload and Download lights that blinked to show activity. The SB6120 has Send and Receive lights, but they are always on solid. It also has a Link light that blinks continuously about twice a second. But I have Little Snitch installed and put the it's Network Monitor as one of my menu-bar items. So I can see up/down activity there. LyleH

Thanks for the info on the SB6120. DOCSIS 3.0 is something Comcast has been rolling out since at least about 2009, AFAIK. Ask them if and when it's coming to you; you'll get an automatic speed boost of 5-10Mbps I think, maybe more depending on their tier structure where you are. Don't expect them to necessarily call you up and tell you. DOCSIS 3.0 itself allows them to offer theoretically up to 160Mbps, I think; less in some markets.

AND, you'll have to reboot your modem to see the improvement.

[GGD]

What you're seeing with the speed tests are Comcast's "Speed Boost" speeds which are only active for the first few seconds of the data transfer, then you slow down to your actual download speed (mine is 12mb/s).

One way to watch this in action is to open Activity Monitor, and click on the "Network" tab and watch that graph and the "Data received/sec", and then download some large file (like a Snowleopard Combo Update), and watch the speed and graph as it downloads.

Be aware that Activity monitor reports speeds in bytes/second, so multiply by 8.

[deckeda]

Black wrote:
Looking around the comcast site-- I don't see anything remotely in this price range? And the highest tier I see says "up to 10 mbps?"

Yeah, like I said (sorry, I know it was another one of my long posts ...) online I didn't see anything like it in price or service, even after plugging in my exact address.

It is puzzling however that the best speed they offer your area is only up to 10Mbps. No tier there called "Blast" or anything like that? Ignore all the "Xfinity" bundled stuff and see if you can find a part of the site for just Internet/Internet-related service.

[deckeda]

Thanks again, GGD. I knew about their "Power Boost" feature/hype and should have noted the caveat. And I'll check Activity Monitor next time I d/l something larger.

[Black]

It's all xfinity. The only place there is a reference to "blast" is on their corporate site. Did you sign up as a business?