 r81984Fair and BalancedPremium
join:2001-11-14
Katy, TX
 ·row44
 ·AT&T U-Verse
 ·AT&T DSL Service
| reply to pflog
Re: [POLL] Would you opt out of powerboost if you could? I just cannot understand why you would not want to use extra bandwidth from excess capacity on the network.
Power boost makes sense for everyone.
Just those that want to use qos on a home router will not be able to use the extra capacity until they can find a router that can do dynamic qos, its not a big deal.
I dont get your complaint.
It sound like you should be complaining about the routers not power boost.
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...brought to you by Carl's Jr. |
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| reply to pflog
Also as a background, I've been seeing 24/4 with shaped rate of 16/2 on my connection for well over a year now.
I started checking when I started livestreaming and to be honest the difference is that with 2mbps sustained upload you can't really do 720p/1080p streaming at a decent quality where as if you have 4mbps real upload you can do it no problem ( needs 2-3mbps upload) |
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 pflogBueller? Bueller?Premium,MVM
join:2001-09-01
El Dorado Hills, CA
kudos:3 | reply to r81984
I am sure gamers who want no jitter and low pings would disagree. If uncapped powerboost is constantly pushing channels to their capacity, it would translate into jitter.
I don't really get any benefit other than saving a few seconds on a large download. uploads are somewhat nice for sending large files, but I wouldn't miss it.
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"I drank what?" -Socrates |
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r81984Fair and BalancedPremium
join:2001-11-14
Katy, TX | reply to pflog
A quick google search says openwrt can do qos with burstable connections.
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...brought to you by Carl's Jr. |
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pflogBueller? Bueller?Premium,MVM
join:2001-09-01
El Dorado Hills, CA
kudos:3 | said by r81984:A quick google search says openwrt can do qos with burstable connections.
And I'm sure it's possible in Linux and FreeBSD as well for those using those as routers, but again the shaping will not be as good for ingress as the HFC network doing so.
Anyway, I didn't really want to start a PB vs. no-PB argument in this thread, I'm more interested in how many people would part with PB.
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"I drank what?" -Socrates |
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| reply to pflog
Ah, good point. I forgot about that small detail  .
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KI6RIT |
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| I still get decent powerboost on my 27/7 connection:
DiffProbe release. January 2012. Build 1008.
Shaper Detection Module.
Connected to server 38.102.0.85.
Estimating capacity:
Upstream: 15402 Kbps.
Downstream: 90828 Kbps.
The measurement will take upto 2.5 minutes. Please wait.
Checking for traffic shapers:
Upstream: Burst size: 9521-9810 KB;
Shaping rate: 7504 Kbps.
Downstream: Burst size: 14954-15810 KB;
Shaping rate: 28746 Kbps.
For more information, visit: http://www.cc.gatech.edu/~partha/diffprobe
I do have a non rental SB6121 though. |
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| reply to pflog
My PowerBoost has been capped as long as I've been a Comcast customer, which is since 2009. Wasn't aware that any areas had it uncapped for residential subscribers. |
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 Chris 313Come get somePremium
join:2004-07-18
Houma, LA | reply to pflog
No. I love PB for whatever it is and however long it lasts. I was doing some downloads the other day and not only did I hit my cap of 27.5 continually, I kept boosting to 30 or more routinely and it helped finish my downloads all the quicker. |
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| reply to pflog
I just wish Comcast would stop using it to describe the speed tiers. Here BLAST is 25/4 sustained, but on the website it says 30/5 with powerboost..
It would be ok if they said 25/4 with a powerboost up to 30/5.
Very deceiving. |
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Chris 313Come get somePremium
join:2004-07-18
Houma, LA | Deceiving or not, it's funny because that's exactly what I have been getting lately, 30/5, even gotten up to 36/5.5 during a test.
But yeah, you're right. They should clarify their words |
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 ropeguruPremium
join:2001-01-25
Mechanicsville, VA | reply to pflog
Powerboost? What is that? The paltry 8Mb down we have been constrained to and no upload PB it really isn't worth it.
In fact, I have set QOS in my Sophos UTM firewall to limit my down to my plan speeds. I am tired of dealing with these retards on the issue. Unfortunately, they are the only ones which are willing to provide me real high speed service.
FiOS is within 500 feet of my house, but they are done with their build outs so that will never be an option. |
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 JohnInSJPremium
join:2003-09-22
San Jose, CA
 ·PHONE POWER
 ·Comcast
| reply to pflog
said by pflog:said by r81984:I cannot see how power boost messes up with your qos.
Your qos should be preventing you from using power boost.
That's what I mean - when you shape, you have to shape to the sustained speeds, thus eliminating PB anyway. I believe with FreeBSD's ipfw+dummynet you could, in theory, have it shape to rate A for x seconds, then rate B thereafter somehow. I do that on linux with tc. It seems to work OK.
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My place : »www.schettino.us |
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JohnInSJPremium
join:2003-09-22
San Jose, CA Reviews:
·PHONE POWER
·Comcast
| reply to Tr0utp0nD
said by Tr0utp0nD:Also as some feedback, I wish comcast would be more open and honest about the powerboost feature and its limitations.
Me for example, I'm on the standard performance. I believe this is advertised as 25/5 (or soon to be 25/5)
If i run a speedtest, they generally comeback as 24/4 (Also what shaperprobe says)
However using a utility such as shaperprobe I can see that the provisioned speed is 16/2.
Estimating capacity:
Upstream: 4258 Kbps.
Downstream: 25485 Kbps.
The measurement will take upto 2.5 minutes. Please wait.
Checking for traffic shapers:
Upstream: Burst size: 4918-4996 KB;
Shaping rate: 2128 Kbps.
Downstream: Burst size: 9463-9986 KB;
Shaping rate: 15978 Kbps.
However nowhere on Comcast site can you find this information out. Being honest about the speed of the connection is my gripe. Is my teir 25/5? is it 16/2 but I get 25/4 with powerboost? Is it going to be 25/5 and my non powerbost will be 18/3.5? Etc
they tell you the exact non PB speeds, for business class. I have never seen them advertise PB speeds as actual speed of the tiers. If you are getting 16/2, then that is your actual speed, and if that speed isn't right for your service you are mis-provisioned.
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My place : »www.schettino.us |
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pflogBueller? Bueller?Premium,MVM
join:2001-09-01
El Dorado Hills, CA
kudos:3 | reply to pflog
Interesting. It was nearly 50/50 last night, but still a pretty hefty % of people would be willing to ditch powerboost, although it seems it's split between those who would get rid of it regardless of an impact to cost.
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"I drank what?" -Socrates |
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 NetFixerFrom my cold dead handsPremium
join:2004-06-24
The Boro
·Comcast Business..
·Vonage
·Cingular Wireless
·Comcast
| said by pflog:Interesting. It was nearly 50/50 last night, but still a pretty hefty % of people would be willing to ditch powerboost, although it seems it's split between those who would get rid of it regardless of an impact to cost.
I am one of those who voted for an option to totally eliminate PowerBoost, although I have come to terms with it through locally applied simple priority based QoS for my Vonage ATA. I had previously used more aggressive rate limiting, but I found that just allowing Comcast's PowerBoost to do its thing and simply giving my VoIP ATA top priority fixed the main problem that PowerBoost had formerly caused me.
I am somewhat surprised that the percentage of those who favor keeping PowerBoost is not higher. For those users who primarily surf the web and check email (probably the vast majority of users...but not necessarily the case in this forum), PowerBoost does provide for visibly quicker loading of web pages and email.
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A well-regulated militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed.
When governments fear people, there is liberty. When the people fear the government, there is tyranny. |
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pflogBueller? Bueller?Premium,MVM
join:2001-09-01
El Dorado Hills, CA
kudos:3 | Agreed that for web browsing/email it comes in handy, with uncapped PB.
However, I question whether 27 boosting to 33-34 really makes much of a difference. Wide open PB, yes. But another 25% doesn't really seem like it'd make a huge difference. When you're talking 27 boosting to 70 (150%+ boosting), yeah it's definitely noticeable.
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"I drank what?" -Socrates |
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| reply to pflog
I liked it better when it was un-capped and they just barely had deployed docsis 3.0. I saw powerboost bursts well over 100mbit before, heh. |
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| reply to PeteC2
said by PeteC2:I suspect that as pb becomes less relevant, and therefore not even a minor talking point for Comcast, it will eventually disappear. Winner winner, chicken dinner! Look at your latest or last bill. There's a message that tells you that the name of your internet is changing. It's no longer Performance Internet with PowerBoost or Blast with Powerboost. The "with PowerBoost" verbiage is leaving ALL marketing. Working for Comcast, I've already been questioned by A LOT of people who think that that means they're losing something. Explaining that nothing's changing except the name is fun.
Actual wording from my bill:
"Effective 12/17/12, your Internet service will be renamed. It will
be changed from Blast! Internet Svc, Includes PowerBoost to
Blast! Internet Svc. This change will not otherwise affect the
services you are currently receiving" |
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pflogBueller? Bueller?Premium,MVM
join:2001-09-01
El Dorado Hills, CA
kudos:3 | So reading between the lines, you're saying the actual message is more like:
"Effective 12/17/12, your Internet service will be renamed. It will
be changed from Blast! Internet Svc, Includes PowerBoost to
Blast! Internet Svc. This change will not otherwise affect the
services you are currently receiving (YET)
Supposing they do drop PB, I wonder if they will in turn bump up the sustained speeds or change prices? Certainly people paying X for service w/PB (who like it) will probably not be happy paying X for the same service without PB. Although as of now, given this very small sample of their customer base, nearly half wouldn't care.
I suspect the average Comcast user doesn't even know what PB is, but may notice the difference in web page loading or email.
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"I drank what?" -Socrates |
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