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tomzap
join:2006-12-02
Leander, TX
1 edit | reply to Cobalt Info
Re: Cobalt Broadband
In response to "how long has Prismnet been around", I don't know exactly, but longer than Cobalt in this area (Liberty Hill/Leander, Texas).
I have been using Prismnet for about 2 years and was not completely happy with the performance. The upload speed is important to me since I manage a large web site. My Prismnet package is bandwidth-limited at 256kbps but my average FTP upload speed is 94kbps. Average download is 225kbps.
I decided to try Cobalt Broadband after seeing their signs plastered all over the place. Interestingly, Prismnet doesn't really promote their service and so is not well-known--neither are some of the others that serve this area. So I had both service providers up and running for 3 weeks, comparing the two. I have line-of-site to both towers with Prismnet net 6.1 miles away and the much taller Cobalt tower is 7.9 miles away.
I conducted 40 tests over a period of 2 weeks using Speakeasy, Wugnet, and my own FTP to measure upload and download speeds. The Speakeasy and Wugnet sites use very small files, especially on the upload, so speeds tend to be higher than the 1/2 MB file I used with the FTP test (more realistic for my purposes). Upload speeds tend to start at an initially high rate then taper off to a much lower rate and sometimes stall and do not complete.
As I mentioned before, my Prismnet account is bandwidth limited to 256kbps. The Cobalt account has no bandwidth limit and I saw speeds up to 1280kbps upload and 1480kbps download. Each test was run 40 times.
Speakeasy test: Cobalt averaged 710kbps download and 367kbps upload with 1 failure to download and 5 failures to upload. PrismNet averaged 256kbps download and 178kbps upload with no download failures and 1 upload failure.
Wugnet test: Cobalt averaged 693kbps download and 162kbps upload with no download failures and 2 failures to upload. PrismNet averaged 236kbps download and 139kbps upload with no download or upload failures.
FTP test: This is the most realistic test for my usage. Cobalt averaged 744kbps download and 206kbps upload with 1 download failure and 12 failures to upload. PrismNet averaged 225kbps download and 94kbps upload with no download failures and 2 upload failures.
The 12 Cobalt upload failures means that 30% of the time I can't upload a file. Compare this to a 5% failure rate for PrismNet and I can ignore the fact that the bandwidth-limited account is slower on average. I would rather just have the ability to update my web site at a slower rate than not be able to update it at all at times.
It was necessary to conduct the 40 tests to get a reasonable idea of performance because the rates vary considerably. Some of the variation may be due to time of day--busier times versus low usage times--but the variation seemed to be mostly random. Even when the tests were immediately repeated, results varied considerably.
My conclusion was to stay with PrismNet. I cancelled my Cobalt service and returned the equipment during the 30-day money-back guarantee period. I was told that my refund would come when Cobalt received the equipment. I incurred another monthly charge. 6 weeks and many phone calls later I finally did receive the refund. They claimed they were unfamiliar with the refunding process. Yeah, right!
My recommendation: Stay away from Cobalt Broadband. | |
Cobalt info
join:2006-10-13
Liberty Hill, TX
| Thanks for the research and info Tomzap!
I'm still dealing with the crappy service of Cobalt. I think I need to look in to Prizmnet. The fact is, for those of you who have Cobalt; their contracts can't hold up because they are not providing they service they claim, and guarantee. If you have options in your area, I would go else where.
As I said above, Cobalt does not provide what they say they will, but they continue to charge you. As long as they are getting their money, they don't care that their service is garbage.
Oh and if you see one of their signs making the area look trashy, take it down so some other person doesn't buy in to their pathetic service. | |
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