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breto
join:2013-03-12
Lake Zurich, IL

breto

Member

[Rant] Speed tier changes are a complete train-wreck

Since this "upgrade" of the speed tiers, I have noticed several different Comcast customers (both residential and business class) are having speeds way off than what's advertised/expected. I have noticed the problems since March 9th and it happens for brand new installed customers too.

I realize that residential is supposed to be getting the "upgraded" speeds and business class will not, but the fact remains both types of customers are connected to the same cable plant.

Real world data (I test using both speedtest.net and Comcast's Xfinity branded test page, always picking the Chicago/Comcast test server, I always test by disconnecting the customer's firewall/router and plugging it directly into my known good laptop, so there is no local network traffic at play here)
- My home connection (Lake Zurich) never got a speed upgrade, speeds remain as they were consistently for the "old" tier, 25m down/5m up but ping times swing wildly and multiplayer gaming is almost un-playable at times.
- New business connection (Lincolnshire) lowest package, was getting tests of 1m down/46m up, tech made several calls to "senior" network engineers, nobody had a clue, kept sighting signals which were fine, problem apparent on both his laptop and mine.
- New business connection (Arlington Heights) tech left saying it was good before I could test, paying for 100m down/10m up, getting 2m down/13m up, phone techs rebooted modem, verified correct config file, couldn't help me so are sending a tech out even though agreeing signals are great.
- Existing business connection (Mundelein) test are anywhere from 3m down to 10m down/5m up consistently.

WTF !!

Anyone else seeing this - and wish we could just go back to the older (maybe slower) but considerably more reliable Comcast speeds?

beachintech
There's sand in my tool bag
Premium Member
join:2008-01-06

beachintech

Premium Member

Sounds like a local issue, things have been great in this neck of the woods. I would suggest posting in the direct forum.

plencnerb
Premium Member
join:2000-09-25
53403-1242

plencnerb to breto

Premium Member

to breto
I'm on performance, so I know I won't see any speed upgrade. But, what is suppose to happen, from what I've read on here, is that the powerboost part of the connection is suppose to go away in the near future.

In any case, what I was seeing about 3 weeks ago now was when I would run speed tests at both test sites that you reference, my download was always what it should be (25 MB down, with a +/- .5 MB difference between tests). However, my upload was being "reported" anywhere between 25 MB and 50 MB. Yes, I said 50 MB on the upload.

However, every time I would run a test using ShaperProbe, the "correct" results would come back. Which, for performance, would be 16/2, with Powerboost pushing things to 25/4.

Knowing that the speed test sites are not as sophisticated as ShaperProbe is, I figured that the odd upload results had to do with issues with Powerboost, and of course was not my real upload speed. I also thought that Comcast was "playing around" with things moving towards turning that feature off.

The bottom line is while I do like and do use both speedtest sites that you reference, I think a more accurate picture of a connection is to use a tool like ShaperProbe. Because those results have always been the same, regardless of what the speed test sites show.

--Brian
vandergraff2
join:2005-10-17

vandergraff2

Member

Agree ShaperProbe is the only one I would trust. I am on Blast (no upgrade yet) in Santa Cruz County, CA which is 16 Mbps down / 2 Mbps up.

ShaperProbe gives a download shaping rate 17024 Kbps. (17 Mbps) and upload shaping rate of 2128 Kbps (2.1 Mbps)

All the other speed tests are giving unrealistic and high numbers.

SpeedOf.me 26.4 Mbps down and 5.2 Mbps up.

Speedtest.net 25.2 Mbps down and 9.61 Mbps up

Vudu speed test 22.7 Mbps down and 10.1 Mbps up

RR Conductor
Ridin' the rails
Premium Member
join:2002-04-02
Redwood Valley, CA
ARRIS SB6183
Netgear R7000

RR Conductor to beachintech

Premium Member

to beachintech
said by beachintech:

Sounds like a local issue, things have been great in this neck of the woods. I would suggest posting in the direct forum.

Here in Mendocino County in NW CA too



We're very rural as well, not too shabby for being out in the country! Good luck on your issues, I hope they get them fixed soon!

gwbuffalo
join:2001-12-08
Mokena, IL

gwbuffalo to breto

Member

to breto
In the Chicago area here as well and things have been pretty rock solid since the speed increase.

What package are you on at home? I don't believe there ever was a 25/5 package in this market. I was on the old Ultra which was 22/5 before switching over to Blast now that it is 50/10.

As others have stated, the speedtest.net and Xfinity tests are not all that accurate, try shaper probe or downloading large files from a local server to determine what speeds you're really getting.

It seems that the accounts you're testing are way off the speeds they should be getting, have you tested any others on your laptop that are actually getting the speeds they should be?
breto
join:2013-03-12
Lake Zurich, IL

breto

Member

OK, so apparently the speed test sites which I have relied on for years (and even the Comcast tech's use) do suck... ShaperProbe has shown the speed is consistent, and at least the values are near what's advertised/the service level the customer is paying for.

my home residential in Lake Zurich, IL...

DiffProbe release. January 2012. Build 1008.
Shaper Detection Module.
Connected to server x.x.254.149.
Estimating capacity:
Upstream: 4276 Kbps.
Downstream: 25423 Kbps.
The measurement will take upto 2.5 minutes. Please wait.
Checking for traffic shapers:
Upstream: Burst size: 4882-4962 KB;
Shaping rate: 2128 Kbps.
Downstream: Burst size: 9443-9969 KB;
Shaping rate: 15941 Kbps.

(compared with speedtest.net run afterward which says 25.43dl / 4.43ul)

business class in Lincolnshire, IL...

DiffProbe release. January 2012. Build 1008.
Shaper Detection Module.
Connected to server x.x.51.47.
Estimating capacity:
Upstream: 3976 Kbps.
Downstream: 21131 Kbps.
The measurement will take upto 2.5 minutes. Please wait.
Checking for traffic shapers:
Upstream: Burst size: 5558-5590 KB;
Shaping rate: 3098 Kbps.
Downstream: Burst size: 9323-9538 KB;
Shaping rate: 17024 Kbps.

business class in Park Ridge, IL...

DiffProbe release. January 2012. Build 1008.
Shaper Detection Module.
Connected to server x.x.168.215.
Estimating capacity:
Upstream: 5712 Kbps.
Downstream: 26473 Kbps.
The measurement will take upto 2.5 minutes. Please wait.
Checking for traffic shapers:
Upstream: Burst size: 12203-12331 KB;
Shaping rate: 2240 Kbps.
Downstream: Burst size: 18967-19399 KB;
Shaping rate: 17024 Kbps.

Interesting!