dadkins
Can you do Blu?
Premium,MVM
join:2003-09-26
Hercules, CA
 ·Comcast
1 edit | reply to dscline
Re: [News] PowerBoost
Because, most people are getting Bursting. Speed tests don't run long enough for the transfer(s) to settle down to actual line speed.
Bursting has been going on for quite some time - not this "PowerBoost" thing either.
Do a forum search for Bursting and you will see how long it has been happening.
»/nsearch?q=Bur···66667361
Since last year...
I, as with most other Comcast customers, have been getting insane speed test results because of the bursting... the speed tests are too short. 
I'm glad it is close for you, it is not for most. This is why many people here say not to trust speed tests.
One more?
Last Result:
Download Speed: 9069 kbps (1133.6 KB/sec transfer rate)
Upload Speed: 676 kbps (84.5 KB/sec transfer rate)
Comcast has not been upgraded here(S.F. Bay Area) and I know there isn't a 9mbps service.
Never consistant, unless I'm downloading some large file.
I am not alone. We see it here every day.
--
Think outside the Fox... Opera |
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BosstonesOwn
join:2002-12-15
Everett, MA
clubs: | I dunno I am getting 2.5 MB a sec from MS with this speed burst stuff. So I can't complain. |
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Scree
In the pipe 5 by 5
join:2001-04-24
Mount Laurel, NJ | reply to CMCSAnews
So does this "speedburst" thing scrap the 16/1 upgrade, or is it just first? |
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djnabs
join:2000-10-28
Cambridge, MA
| reply to CMCSAnews
i guess they turnt on bursting here in cambridge ma
dslreports.com speed test result on 2006-06-05 00:51:42 EST:
7289 / 352
Your download speed : 7289 kbps or 911.2 KB/sec.
That is 39.8% better than an average user on comcast.net
Your upload speed : 352 kbps or 44 KB/sec.
That is 13% worse than an average user on comcast.net |
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anoanoanonon
@comcast.net | reply to Scree
Scree posted==> "So does this "speedburst" thing scrap the 16/1 upgrade, or is it just first?"
That is what I was wondering. |
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LinuxJunkie
join:2005-01-19
Cyberspace
3 edits | reply to CMCSAnews
 | 
Initial Download | 
After 10 or 15 Seconds |
Some people seem confused on exactly how Powerboost works and insist that "downloading a large file will show your true transfer speed." What's important to remember is that they did not raise the actual CAPS themselves so it is not going to sustain these speeds for a long period of time. Powerboost is designed to give sustained speeds of 15+ Mbps or whatever you may get for only the first five to ten seconds of a download -- good enough to grab a 20 MB or so in that same time period. This is why the Speakeasy speed tests (and other speed tests) are reporting such high speeds. Since such speed test sites typically use files that are 20 MB or smaller, they are reporting the actual "boost" given during the first few seconds of a file download.
The two NetPerSec screenshots were taken from my WinXP machine while downloading an Ubuntu ISO from the nearest mirror. |
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HolyMoley
@comcast.net
|  reply to CMCSAnews
WOW!  This is the upgrade people have been speculating about for so long. Such a disappointment.
We'll have speeds that come close to FIOS, for a few seconds, on "certain" files.
Oh well...we all can see that other amazing Comcast feature the "fan" soooo much faster now, woopdeedooo!
Cheap, lazy f*cks over there at Comcast huh? |
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bvbvbv
@comcast.net
| Don't know about "cheap,lazy #&%#@", but they certainlt have an aversion to opening up the network. I guess they are not interested in anything but making money. They should open it up like OOL does.
But, like many have said, they are not looking to please the niche user but are only satisfying the masses who really don't have a use for the full capabilities of the system.
It's their network and they can do what ever they want I guess. |
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buggs1a
join:2000-12-24
Seattle, WA
| reply to LinuxJunkie
You are so incredibly wrong LinuxJunkie, I'm not one to like I told you so or point out to just be mean when someone is wrong, but when they are so incredibly wrong I will mention it and it's upsetting when they are wrong and don't even know. umm, powerboost is not designed to burst for only a few seconds right at the beginning of a file. What it is is this and it's no other way. You start to download something, then after a certain amount of mb downloaded it sees you're getting a bigger file so it speeds up the download. this is not a burst for a few seconds, but it speeds up the download to around 10mb or whatever it'll be when it is released. They are doing this to get people off the bandwidth faster. so instead of downloading at 6mb the whole file and taking longer, you get so much at 6mb then it is increased untill it's done or very close to it. this way you get done using the BW faster. Comcast said it's better for them and us as it frees up the BW sooner then if someone was only going 6mb the whole file. it is being *tested* on the east coast and will be released *by the end of the year*. It is free and will just start happening.
This is what will be happening and it is not anything else. |
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owine
Premium
join:2002-08-29
Salem, MA
| actually YOU are the one who is wrong buggs1a. the speed comes at the beginning of your download which is why there are such high speeds on speakeasy and other tests. at about 50% thru the file, it will throttle back down to your 8 or 6 mbit cap for the rest of the download. |
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Vamp
5c077
Premium
join:2003-01-28
MD | Either way it means you hold up the line for a shorter amount of time. |
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nirolO
The Beard
join:2000-07-27
Hudson, OH
| reply to CMCSAnews
The Reuters copy from the OP and Comcast's article from the first reply explain most of it:
said by Reuters :
The Philadelphia-based company launched the service without fanfare in its New England region markets last month after a trial period. A company spokeswoman said it expects to roll out the service nationally by the end of the year.
said by Comcast :
Comcast is launching the PowerBoost speed enhancer on a market by market basis and expects to roll it out across its national footprint before year end.
Some places already have it, the rest will get it by the end of the year.
How fast will it be? Double your current speed:
said by Comcast :
...up to 12Mbps and 16Mbps, respectively, on Comcast’s 6 and 8Meg services.
And it does level off after the initial burst:
said by Comcast :
For example, with PowerBoost, Comcast’s 6Meg customers can download three MP3 songs (approximately 10MB) in a quick 6.6 seconds – up to eight times faster than the 53 seconds required with a 1.5Mbps DSL connection. Downloading a 686MB game takes only 12 minutes on Comcast’s 8Meg connection with PowerBoost – a time savings of up to 49 minutes compared to the 61 minutes it would take on 1.5Mbps DSL.
10MB in 6.6 seconds is 12 Mbit/s. But 686MB in 12 minutes is 7.6 Mbit/s. Seems to me that everyone in the appropriate tiers will be at 12 or 16 Mbit/s constantly (why bother with connection tracking for small files) - until you download a large file, at which point it's throttled to 50%.
It looks like a marketing gimmick. They could have simply announced that everyone's speeds would double, but they knew they'd have to throttle large transfers to keep the network usable. Instead of enduring the "unlimited means unlimited" flames, they spun it to sound like something that "kicks in" only sometimes. |
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buggs1a
join:2000-12-24
Seattle, WA | no im not wrong guys. that is only a speed burst we have had for ever. not the new stuff comming down and i know because well, i can't say how. i just know. |
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buggs1a
join:2000-12-24
Seattle, WA | Also for speed tests, i get no bursting ever. my results are always crap. so i never use them. |
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Kayrac
Premium
join:2001-09-29
Rochester, NH | speakeasy.net/speedtest
works well, pick the site closest to you, they have plenty of bandwidth |
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NoOneButMe
join:2001-08-24
TX | reply to CMCSAnews
this is realy just a patch job becuse thay dont want to change the speeds all over the US to 15 are 16mb by 2mb thay cant keep up and thay know it |
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buggs1a
join:2000-12-24
Seattle, WA
| Maybe this is a way to test faster speeds. They will boost speeds for downloads, but the entire connection is still whatever you are paying for, so this boost could be a way to test faster speeds in part.
also it doesn't matter what test i do or where it's always crud. |
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owine
Premium
join:2002-08-29
Salem, MA
| reply to CMCSAnews
i know from experience how this powerboost works because ive had it for approx. the last month. every time i would do a speed test no matter where i would get very nice 8/768 results which match what i pay for. then, suddenly, i did a test and started getting insane results like 22mbits down. i then tried the OOL 64mbyte test file ofer a wget to see what the speeds were like and to my suprise, for the first 50% the speeds were 16mbits per second of 2 megabytes. then, at the 50% point, the speeds would throttle down to my regular provisioned 8mbits or 1 megabyte per second. keep in mind, this is with a 64 megabyte file and the only changes that occured were some firmware upgrades that comcast pushed to my modem. they even said in their announcement that they had already rolled out the powerboost service here in new england which confirmed that as the cause of my change in results. |
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LinuxJunkie
join:2005-01-19
Cyberspace
| reply to buggs1a
Okay buggs, explain to me why my NetPerSec screenshots show a CONSISTENT 10.7 Mbps for the first ten or fifteen seconds of my download and then an IMMEDIATE decrease after that period of time to my PRECISE cap of 6.6 Mbps -- which also remains consistent.
I haven't had "bursting" here in CT since about two or three years ago when they enabled "traffic shaping" or QoS or whatever you want to refer to it as at the CMTS. It sounds to me like your area simply still doesn't have QoS enabled which is ridiculous considering it should have been enabled nationally well over a year ago. |
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buggs1a
join:2000-12-24
Seattle, WA
| As i said linux, you are not getting what they are comming out with later this year, it aint even out yet. you are getting what everyone has been getting for a long time, a small in the beginning only burst. it has nothing to do with this new thing. the new thing won't work that way in that it'll look at how big the file is, such as after so many mb the speed then increases after that, not like at the beginning. the new thing is only *after* so many mb. so whatever is going on for people now is not this new thing. so if someone gets a burst now, but it's at the beginning, that is 100% guaranteed not the new thing. when the new thing comes online those people who now get a burst at the beginning will be better off then those who don't because your beginning boost plus this new thing will be a bit more cool. However the beginning burst might go away and we'd only have this new thing, We don't know about this part of it. I also have the exact same thing you're getting. when i download files the very first few seconds are up to 1mB/sec and then it decreases to normal. The new thing after so many mb will then increase. it's only after so many mb. and it's not even out yet.
I just found out about this last week from my local area Comcast guy. He's very high up in the chain and works as like the top level guy for the network engineers people. The only reason i talked to him was because i wanted to connect 2 cable modems to a router that has dual wan and then increase my performance online. i wanted the connections to be bridged so it would look like 1 ip online because i wanted to go faster download with usenet and some other stuff. so comcast had a very high up there guy call me. we spoke for a half hr and he said what i want isn't possible then he mentioned the new thing and told me it is not out now. It will be out this year sometime. what it does is after so many mb the speed will increase so the file is downloaded faster. if it's lower then that so many mb it'll be normal. it doesn't change anyone speed cap just works after so many mb. he said they hadn't finalized on what that mb will be nor exactly how fast it will go. even the online reports like at a news rumor site or whatever might say it'll double the speed or whatever, but they don't know for sure because when the guy and i spoke last week they had not even made a final decision on it. now they might have later and that's why the online places say double.
I don't know *fact* but I am 99.9% sure this is how it'll all work out. The things I know for sure as fact are that 1: is not out yet and 2: when it does roll out it will only be after so many mb.
I am looking forward to this big time and i hope it works for all protocols, not just http like you are going to download a file from a web site. |
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