| Network Testing Underway Recently, some comments have been posted on BBR about higher speeds being reported from some of our districts in Indiana and Kentucky. I want to confirm that we are in the final stages of testing our network for the speed increases we plan to implement. The trials are specifically designed to “stress test” the network while minimizing any potential performance difficulties to our customers.
This final phase of testing likely will continue for the rest of the month. If all goes as planned, we will notify customers of our final speed determination for our standard and premium Broadband packages as soon as we are prepared to commit to them. We then will roll out the changes district-by-district over a month-long process. We would love to give you definitive answers now to those burning questions – “how fast” and “when” but we have to make sure we’ve completed our testing before making an announcement. We are dealing with certain specific issues but we are generally pleased with the results so far.
I’d also like to clarify some things and answer a few questions that have arisen here on BBR and in our call centers.
• As I stated in an earlier posting, our original plan was to implement our speed increase in two phases; a 50% increase from 4 to 6 mg this year and a subsequent one next year. We decided to combine the two increases into one which we previously announced would take place during the autumn of this year. Our goal, however, is to accomplish the speed increase in November. If there are any delays to our plan, I will let you know.
• Upstream speeds are also slated for a significant increase at the same time.
• Broadband Plus customers will be informed of their new speeds at around the same time as standard customers.
• No increase in the retail rate for Broadband or Broadband Plus is being planned.
Most of you already know this but I feel compelled to mention a few things --
We are increasing our speeds. That means that our portion of your Internet experience is going to be faster most of the time. However, our speed increase is not necessarily an end-to-end result. Your voyage over the Internet usually passes through many different servers around the country and the world. The servers along the way and the ones hosting the sites you are visiting may or may not be operating at the same speeds our network will be provisioned for. We will do our best to maintain our portion of your experience but there is little we can do when a server half way around the world is not performing at the same level. We’re just giving you a lot more bandwidth capable of delivering faster speeds when your end-to-end experience is capable of keeping up with it.
Our customers’ equipment also has impact on what speeds they will receive. The following is a partial list of common issues in customers’ homes that affect their speeds. No matter how much bandwidth Insight provides, any of these factors can slow you down. We’ll be uppdating our FAQs as we roll out the higher speeds to provide you the most current information about getting the most out of your Insight Broadband service. As we discover issues with specific in-home equipment, we will post that information as well.
• Connecting to your modem using USB rather than Ethernet or RJ-45
• Sharing a connection with multiple users, especially through an older 80211 B router
• Using an older cable modem not capable of speeds in excess of 6 mg
• Using an unsecured wireless router enabling others to share your connection
• Using an older computer with a less powerful processor and older operating system
• Using a computer with settings that are not optimum
• Insufficient RAM
• Insufficient Hard Drive space
• Intrusive software on your computer
As for our part, there are times when neighborhood nodes can get overloaded just like the many servers throughout the Internet. When that happens, we will provide additional splits to accommodate maximum speeds as soon as possible. We are working hard to increase our capacity to anticipate these types of usage increases through better NOC monitoring. Meanwhile we currently are working in many areas to reduce load factors in neighborhoods all over the network.
Over-burdened nodes are not simply a result of too many customers being serviced from the node. That is only one factor. The most important reason for nodes becoming overloaded is what the customers are doing on the network. P2P, games, and other high bandwidth applications, many of which run in the background, are the major reasons why nodes slow down. We designed the network to anticipate customer growth but if the usage changes unexpectedly, we must provision additional bandwidth. Our residential service was not designed to provide unlimited bandwidth. Web hosting, and other high bandwidth business applications are not permitted uses of our residential service. Those types of applications are permitted with Insight Business which is a specialized service that allows us to provision for the anticipated bandwidth needs of our high-use customers. Our Network Operations Center (NOC) is working hard to stay ahead of today’s bandwidth demands and to ensure proper usage of the network.
We expect to be able to announce our new speeds by early November. One thing you should be assured of -- it is our desire and intention to provide you with the fastest and best choice for your Internet connectivity. I’ll be back to you soon with details.
All of us at Insight really appreciate your continued business.
Again, if you have any questions or comments, please feel free to contact me at:
michaelwillner@insightbb.com
P. S. I noticed that a few of you are interested to know what type of service I have at home. Obviously, Insight is not available where I live but I use Insight Broadband whenever I am in the region, which, by the way, is quite often. At home, I have standard residential Road Runner service. I own a newer generation Linksys wireless router connected to a modem that was provided by Time Warner Cable. Subject to the usual overhead demands, my speed limits are 5 mg down (recently increased from 4 mg) and 386 mg up. Like everyone else I know, my speeds fluctuate depending on the traffic at the sites I am visiting and because of network congestion on the Internet. When my teenage kids are online...well, you know the story. And, of course, every now and then my router and modem get out of sorts with each other and I have to reboot them. All in all, I’m a happy camper. |
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 Matt_31Who Hit The Power ButtonPremium
join:2003-02-21
Jasper, IN
 ·Vonage
 ·Insight Communic..
| Excellent information and thank you very much for taking the time to talk to us about things. I have gained over the last month so much more respect for you and the crew with the help you had done getting the ball rolling here and how you are getting things going there. Thank you again for your time and information. |
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Thank you for the information Mr Willner. I am really looking forward to the upgrade as well as Digital 2.0.
Maybe this information will shut up some of the complainers (not naming names but you know who you are  ) that frequent this forum. Only thing some people do is complain about what they don't have instead of what they do. Oh and thanks for sharing your personal info because it really only matters to a few who just want to complain about something!!
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Here I Come to Save the Day!! |
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 ComTech6Premium
join:2006-01-20
Cicero, IN | reply to M Willner
AMEN..... I would imagine its just a matter of time before they emerge |
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| reply to M Willner
Thank you! |
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| reply to M Willner
Thank you Mr. Willner. You are my hero. |
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| reply to M Willner
Thanks...Everytime you post...Insight earns more respect in my book! |
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 ARGONAUTgot ping?Premium
join:2006-01-24
New Albany, IN | reply to M Willner
Thanks, for letting us know what's going on M Willner. |
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| reply to M Willner
Mr. Willner,
Thank you for posting an update.
It really sounds like Insight is doing their best to ensure that this speed upgrade will be as fast and as stable as possible.
I also appreciate you coming to these forums periodically and updating us. It says a lot that you are also willing to tell us about your personal Internet access at home.
I appreciate your honesty and your hard work. I'm really looking forward to the higher speeds, and it sounds like Insight is going to monitor usage to ensure that overloaded nodes are properly dealt with to ensure a good experience for all users.
Thanks Again! |
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 INTENS1Never Stop TryingPremium,MVM
join:2002-04-21
Midwest
kudos:2 | reply to M Willner
Thanks for the post (update)...but, as you stated in your post, the "answers to those burning questions" are what I'm waiting for. Until then, I'll withhold judgement. 
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Anticipate Nothing...Expect Everything |
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I want to know what the plus price is going to be is insight going to keep raping customers or will it be like 10 bucks more that is the question I want to know. You need to realize that insight is the only isp to almost double the price to goto the next package. |
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 MSaukMSaukPremium
join:2002-01-17
Sandy, UT
1 edit | reply to M Willner
I think a better word would be gouging. Which is a very good word to describe the plus tier. |
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| reply to M Willner
Thank you for the update Mr. Willner. |
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 Shack
join:2002-01-17
Bloomington, IN | reply to M Willner
Thank you for the update Mr. Willner, I am looking forward to the new faster speeds. |
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 Sith HMPI Did What?Premium
join:2004-04-25
Bloomington, IL
4 edits | reply to M Willner
I'm not even going to justify quotes with names. You know what you said.Meanwhile I'm still getting 78KB/s at this moment on a server I got 480KB/s before the upgrade. I'm glad you in Kentucky have perfect service. Here in my neck of the woods we get told it's because the "students" came back and come mid November it will be fixed. So what I expect, after the "upgrades" my speed may increase to what it should be now, but because of the "students" it will never be the same.
When you call and complain about speeds at 8PM because the usage is overloading the node and they send out a tech at 8AM just to tell you everything is fine, there is a problem. On top of that, the techs themselves will tell you its because of the "students" coming back.
If you oversell your service to the point that I'm getting less than 1MB/s now...upgrading me to 6MB/s or what ever so I get 2-3MB/s isn't going to cure the problem. If you give more bandwidth to the ones who are sucking it up, they will just use more.
I could care less about some one getting faster speeds than I do first. I would just like some where close to what my advertised speeds are supposed to be. I could get crappy speeds(happy now?) on dial up consistently for $9.99 a month. How many more months of credit is insight willing to give me before they "fix" the problem? I haven't paid for my weak connection for 3 months as of today. I would gladly pay double for the service I used to have.
(The paragraph that formally was here has been retracted)
For those of you who say switch providers...we have no other choice except Verizon....please. All I am asking for is my advertised speed at the price I was quoted. Give me that, and you can bet I will never "complain" in this forum again.
You want my praise Mr. Wilner? Explain to me why all 4 techs that have been to my house blame it on over sold service. Then explain to me why they all tell me the equipment to fix the problem is sitting in storage. (I removed the rest of this paragraph because it was just uneeded.) |
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| said by Sith HMP: I could get 56KB/s on dial up consistently for $9.99 a month. No you couldn't. |
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Shack
join:2002-01-17
Bloomington, IN
1 edit | This is true, no better than 53kbps, and even then you would be pretty lucky. Broken Hyperbole. Honestly is he even a Insight customer, since I see Verizon listed under his avatar, or just a troll here to rant for fun. I fail to see how Verizon is not competition, that is as much or more than most have.
I did read his review.
quote:
All in all it's not too bad. I had cable for a total of four hours and went back to Verizon. Cables speeds just were not as consistent as Verizons. That is the way it was at my house any way. Others may have better results. When Verizon changed over to the 71.** Ip blocks thats when the real problems started. They say they are working on it. Time will tell I suppose. All in all not a bad deal for your money as long as you have patience. Edit:11/07/05---Well it's been almost two years with Verizon now. About a month ago I had some real bad problems. Speed would slow down to below 28K. I called Verizon, it was fixed with-in 24 hours. I have to say what ever they did worked. This is the best uptime I have had in a long time. My pages load up faster, my browser doesn't time out, downloads are smooth. It just plain works the way it should. If my service stays like this Verizon has me for a long time to come. Just, PLEASE, give me FIOS.
I smell a troll. |
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Reviews:
·VOIPo
 ·AT&T U-Verse
·RoadRunner Cable
 ·AT&T DSL Service
 ·Virgin Mobile Br..
| said by Shack: This is true, no better than 53kbps, and even then you would be pretty lucky. Broken Hyperbole. Honestly is he even a Insight customer, since I see Verizon listed under his avatar, or just a troll here to rant for fun. I fail to see how Verizon is not competition, that is as much or more than most have. He doesn't know the difference between KB/s and kb/s - just let him keep thinking he knows what he's talking about |
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| reply to Sith HMP
He can just keep waiting on FIOS because verizon IL will be sold before they even roll the service out. What I don't get is you are a verizon customer why complain now? Also I lived in bloomington IL for 3 years and had insight speeds never went below advertised. Someone needs to lay off the coffee...... |
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| reply to M Willner
said by M Willner:The most important reason for nodes becoming overloaded is what the customers are doing on the network. P2P, games, and other high bandwidth applications, many of which run in the background, are the major reasons why nodes slow down. We designed the network to anticipate customer growth but if the usage changes unexpectedly, we must provision additional bandwidth. Our residential service was not designed to provide unlimited bandwidth. Web hosting, and other high bandwidth business applications are not permitted uses of our residential service. Those types of applications are permitted with Insight Business which is a specialized service that allows us to provision for the anticipated bandwidth needs of our high-use customers. So it is insight's stance that p2p and games are high bandwidth applications and if a residential user wishes to use these applications they need to go to the business tier? I find that a joke, and paragraph removes all credibility from your entire statement. |
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