40Mbps on a 22Mbps comcast plan

[phenol]

I know Comcast is usually evil, but I've had nothing but good experiences with them. I have the 22Mbps plan with "powerboost" (which goes up to 30Mbps for a second or two on some downloads) and it's been amazing.

On speedtest.net I get 35Mbps easily, but I know that's because of the powerboost. However, I was just downloading GTA III on Steam and was getting a constant 4.8MB/s which is nearly 40Mbps. And comcast's 50Mbps internet costs $50 more.

That's not all though. Comcast is notorious for castrating bittorrent users. I must have downloaded over a thousand files, including all the popular games on release day. Never got a C&D. Never had my internet slow down. It's weird.

<3 Comcast.

[Foamy]

Ther customer service sucks ASS and then theyre not bad.

[TheMatrix]

Comcast(as well as AT&T and all the rest) are notorious for giving you a huge initial speed, and then slowing it down more and more as time progresses. This is especially the case with large files. You start out fast, but then go down to less than dialup-speed.
There are ways to make this less of a problem, and that is by using different companies for your services. For example, Comcast for internet, someone else for DNS, AT&T for telephone, someone else for long-distance, someone else for mobile phone, etc. This way, you are not tied to one company, and when they try to raise the price on your or offer progressively worse service, you can say "Au revoir!" and go to Time Warner for internet or something.

[Commander Thor]

Comcast(as well as AT&T and all the rest) are notorious for giving you a huge initial speed, and then slowing it down more and more as time progresses. This is especially the case with large files. You start out fast, but then go down to less than dialup-speed.
There are ways to make this less of a problem, and that is by using different companies for your services. For example, Comcast for internet, someone else for DNS, AT&T for telephone, someone else for long-distance, someone else for mobile phone, etc. This way, you are not tied to one company, and when they try to raise the price on your or offer progressively worse service, you can say "Au revoir!" and go to Time Warner for internet or something.

He's not complaining..... He's saying how he's paying for 22Mbps, yet getting 40Mbps at times. This is because of a feature called 'Powerboost' that Comcast (And a few other cable providers) has which boosts your download & upload speeds when network loads are light (Aka, off peak hours). I've seen the same on my connection where I'm paying for 100Mbps, yet I've seen Steam download around 150Mbps.

I really wish I knew why it appears you're attacking a company that gives customers more than they're paying for (When the network supports it).......

[TheMatrix]

He's not complaining.....
I never implied he was :P

He's saying how he's paying for 22Mbps, yet getting 40Mbps at times. This is because of a feature called 'Powerboost' that Comcast (And a few other cable providers) has which boosts your download & upload speeds when network loads are light (Aka, off peak hours). I've seen the same on my connection where I'm paying for 100Mbps, yet I've seen Steam download around 150Mbps.
What times are those? 04:00?

I really wish I knew why it appears you're attacking a company that gives customers more than they're paying for (When the network supports it).......
I'm not "attacking", I'm just saying that's how business goes. Or at least, it does here. You'd expect the Silicon Valley where dreams are made and stuff to have the fastest internet, but it's really not so. One of my friends who have AT&T speaks of 30kbps on a usual day. They pay some $100(and then some!) per month on internet.

[Skyhawk]

They pay some $100(and then some!) per month on internet.

It's obvious they need to jump ship.

Anyway, that's great news that you're getting faster Internet speeds than your paying for. When I downloaded GTA IV and the EFLC DLC from Steam I got a steady 2.3MB/s. :)

[Commander Thor]

I never implied he was :P
By the way you started going off on Comcast & other ISPs it seemed like you were responding to his post as if he were complaining.....

What times are those? 04:00?
For me personally? Usually I'm being boosted between 22:00(10PM) & 17:00(5PM). For other areas I'm sure it's different, because like I said, it depends on the current network load, and if the current load can handle boosting users connections.

I'm not "attacking", I'm just saying that's how business goes. Or at least, it does here. You'd expect the Silicon Valley where dreams are made and stuff to have the fastest internet, but it's really not so. My friends who have Comcast speak of 30kbps on a usual day. They pay some $100(and then some!) per month on internet.

They can't be paying $100+ on internet alone.....
That's insane...... Especially if they're only getting 30Kbps. No matter the time of day. Even during peak hours you should still be guaranteed speeds of at least 60% of what you're paying for.
I think it's time for them to find a better, cheaper (And faster) ISP. Maybe one with a more robust network?

[Skyhawk]

They can't be paying $100+ on internet alone.....

Perhaps a bundle?

[Commander Thor]

Perhaps a bundle?

If it's bundled with other services yeah, I can see $100+ being the cost.
I know we're paying roughly $180 for TV, phone & internet in a bundle. (Only $60 of which is for internet)

But for JUST the internet service, $100 is an absurd price to be paying, especially if you're seeing 30Kbps connection speeds at *ANY* point in the day.

[Skyhawk]

Comcast(as well as AT&T and all the rest) are notorious for giving you a huge initial speed, and then slowing it down more and more as time progresses.

When I skimmed through your post I forgot to comment on this earlier.

You can't really assume that every internet provider out there throttles your internet speed. Sure, some providers might and others won't. So far the only provider that I actually observed a slowdown was FairPoint when a telephone line fell. -.- I used to have Comcast for a year but I never paid attention to the internet speed, but I've also used Optimum and Time Warner. Optimum provides the advertised speed, and Time Warner has -poor- customer service but still provides the advertised speed.

Maybe wherever you live every provider throttles the speed, but that doesn't mean everywhere else they do too.

/rant

[TheMatrix]

If it's bundled with other services yeah, I can see $100+ being the cost.
I know we're paying roughly $180 for TV, phone & internet in a bundle. (Only $60 of which is for internet)

But for JUST the internet service, $100 is an absurd price to be paying, especially if you're seeing 30Kbps connection speeds at *ANY* point in the day.
Another of my friends pays Comcast about $90-$100 per month, and that only gets them internet(supposedly 10Mbps, they actually get 3 most of the time) and TV(don't know which package).
Okay, maybe it isn't $100 just for internet, but it sure feels like it when you get less than half of what you pay for.

When I skimmed through your post I forgot to comment on this earlier.

You can't really assume that every internet provider out there throttles your internet speed.
I've seen enough of it to have the feeling that they do.
And I just saw that I confused 2 people. The 30kbps one has AT&T and pays something expensive too. AT&T had come to their house to "fix" the problem, which ended up giving them that 30kbps, instead of the 60kbps they had before, while they pay for something like 8 Mbps(I think).

Maybe wherever you live every provider throttles the speed, but that doesn't mean everywhere else they do too.
I know. But like I said, I've seen enough of it to have a feeling they do.

[phenol]

Comcast(as well as AT&T and all the rest) are notorious for giving you a huge initial speed, and then slowing it down more and more as time progresses. This is especially the case with large files. You start out fast, but then go down to less than dialup-speed.
There are ways to make this less of a problem, and that is by using different companies for your services. For example, Comcast for internet, someone else for DNS, AT&T for telephone, someone else for long-distance, someone else for mobile phone, etc. This way, you are not tied to one company, and when they try to raise the price on your or offer progressively worse service, you can say "Au revoir!" and go to Time Warner for internet or something.

Opposite for me. Never used to get above 30Mbps which includes the speedboost. It seems to get faster every few months.