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Alex[_15_]

Mr. Luddite wrote:
On 3/17/2018 7:33 PM, wrote:
On Sat, 17 Mar 2018 17:52:00 -0400, "Mr. Luddite"
wrote:

On 3/17/2018 5:07 PM, wrote:
On Sat, 17 Mar 2018 16:43:18 -0400, "Mr. Luddite"
wrote:

On 3/17/2018 4:24 PM, wrote:
On Sat, 17 Mar 2018 13:01:36 -0400, "Mr. Luddite"
wrote:

Apparently Comcast here had a promotion for providing a higher
speed
package. I wasn't aware of it because I have my Comcast bill paid
automatically so I don't pay too much attention to their email
announcements.

My latest bill went up by $13 a month for the WiFi Internet.
Didn't
know you had to "opt out" of the speed upgrade. But, I think
I'll keep
it. My original service was the basic 25Mbs service which
worked fine
but I noticed a couple of weeks ago when I was comparing
Comcast to the
AT&T service that Comcast was much faster.

So, I just did a speed test from my computer. Over 100Mbps
download and
20Mbs upload. Worth an extra $13/mo I think.

Only if you can actually exploit it to your advantage. Otherwise
it is
like owning a Lamborghini. You know it will do 180 but the speed
limit
is 55 or less everywhere you drive. It may make you feel better but
you paid a lot for performance you will never use.

I think the faster speed is primarily for having more devices on the
system at the same time without it bogging down but I can see quite a
difference with only 3 devices on it. My computer is connected via
Ethernet cable to the modem so it's only two cell phones on the WiFi.
It's definitely faster browsing or looking up stuff via Google
though.
No delay at all opening a website. It just snaps. Mikey likes it.

Like golf clubs, fishing lures and marital aids, if you think it
works, it works ;-)
The biggest complaint with Comcast here is reliability. Zero bps is
still zero, no matter how fast they say it is when it is working. My
board president called me yesterday to get an Email out to the board
because Comcast was down. I asked her who did she think would get it?
It turned out the DSL and 4G (phone) people.

As previously mentioned we don't seem to have your Comcast problem up
here. Even in the last two high wind snowstorms and power outages, the
Comcast service was only out very briefly and I was able to watch TV
powering it and the cable box with the generator. Maybe cables like
cold, windy snowstorms instead of warm, 80 degree sunshine. :-)

Our problem is Comcast refuses to upgrade the hardware. I am not sure
if they are waiting for some new technology (all fiber or something)
or they just know they have no real competition so screw you.

As for speed, I don't have to "think" it's faster. I did several speed
tests using different test providers. It *is* faster now, with the
average download speed between 92 and 110 Mbps. It's noticeable on the
computer that I use 90 percent of the time to connect to the Internet.

I have no doubt it is faster, I just wonder how that really helps
unless you have a dozen people steaming movies at the same time.
I can support 2 movie streams and browse at 10 meg.
My net response doesn't really change in any noticeable way whether I
have those streams going or not and it is not unlike my FIL's Comcast
connection. For some reason the net seldom ever "snaps" here whether
you are on Comcast or DSL. I was actually surprised because he brags
about what his speed is supposed to be and he has a machine on W/10.
(so Harry can't blame the CP/M machine I am supposed to be running)
We must have some kind of choke point upstream somewhere.
I know there is a speed bump at Giganews because a big download from
them goes about the same speed whether I have one going or 3. If I am
downloading music I will start 3 instances of Agent and get one going
on each. Per song, it stays the same but I am getting 3 at a time.

When Comcast came to our house about 3 years ago and updated all the
gear the tech told me that it was part of a nationwide upgrade
project, primarily to handle the new (at that time) Xfinity 1 services.
He said they were starting on the east coast and west coast and
expected to update all areas over the next couple of years. Maybe
they haven't got to your neck of the woods yet.

One thing I noticed during the recent storms and power outages.
There's a large, metal Comcast "box" not far from us that I believe
houses distribution amplifiers. During the power outage Comcast had
come by and hooked it up to a small Honda generator like the one I
have. They put a chain through the generator handle and to a ring
welded on the Comcast box so nobody would walk off with it. I assume
that's why we still had cable service even though we didn't have
power. When I went by it looking for coffee a Comcast/Xfinity truck
was there and the guy was refueling the generator.

I just filled out a survey for Comcast's service today. I told them
their on-site guys were outstanding but their phone "technicians" needed
more training. If they had one real tech in the call center for every
ten phone techs, just for quick consultation, they would save a lot of
on-site service calls and wasted phone time.