cbemerine
join:2009-10-26
Los Angeles, CA
| Speed tests are almost meaningless...sustained throughput...
I know people on this site are smart enough to know that Speed tests only show what your equipment / network is capable of running during that moment in time. After the test ends, the ISP bandwidth shaping, throttling, deep packet inspection, restricting software kicks back in and reduces your bandwidth.
If anyone is using this service and also using the DD-WRT software, please go to your status / bandwidth screen on your router software and see what your sustained bandwidth is for the WAN side. Especially the upstream bandwidth. I have gotten to the point where downstream bandwidth is almost meaningless as my ability to watch streaming content is being limited more by the upstream side than the downstream side; though both my upstream and downstream are being throttled back with new software that was rolled out in my area back in May (2009) by my cable provider. Nothing on my end changed, but all of a sudden instead of seeing sustained 3Mbps to 6Mbps, I was throttled back to between 20Kbps and 100Kbps downstream and less than 40Kbps upstream. My upstream bandwidth varies from 0Kbps (yes they throttle it back to 0Kbps) to 40Kbps.
I am going through the troubleshooting hoops in hopes they will do the right thing and give me more of the bandwidth that I am paying for, but that appears to be out of my hands at the moment. All I know is that I can not stream content without a sustained upstream...the exact amount is unknown to me at this time, all I know is anything less than 100Kbps sustained will not cut it. They keep throttling it back to 0Kbps and leaves the content jumpy, stuttery (sp?) and basically unwatchable.
I sold my TV, so the Internet is my only method of receiving any content. I am not planning to purchase another TV any time soon.
I do see spikes higher, but nothing sustained. All spikes are less than 1 second in duration unless I am downloading a Linux distro. I use Skype VoIP P2P but not bit torrents (though I see the positive side of using less bandwidth by utilizing bit torrents when appropriate.
My Speed tests show over 9000 Kbps down and over 900Kbps up. I am paying over $50 per month for the turbo with powerboost service which is suppose to let me watch IP TV, movies and videos via the Internet, per my providers marketing promises in order to get me to upgrade.
Would I be better off with DSL, with a sustained 384Kbps upstream and 1.5 Kbps downstream? It would be better than what cable is allowing me to have. Heck for the price I am paying for one cable connection, I could afford two DSL connections....an interesting thought.
Thanks to the DD-WRT software I see my bandwidth in real time, 24 X 7. I love that! All the commercial software for residential routers simply does not provide the logging information I need to determine if a service is decent or not.
So, please, if you are using this provider and the DD-WRT software, please play a Hulu TV show, movie, anything and report back what your WAN bandwidth is? Thanks in advance.
BTW Greenlight in Wilson N.C. is running Fiber to people's homes and charging only $100 per month for 100Mbps / 100Mbps synchronous (unlimited, not throttled) service. And yes the telcos are fighting them via the N.C. State legislature, started last session, expected to continue this next session. If you have the politicians ears in your area and it is a small enough community to put people living their first; you have a shot at inviting Greenlight into your community as they did in Wilson N.C. after the telcos and cable companies refused to provide fiber to American homes. FWI. |
