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Cablevision Boost: Completely Uncapped?
You'll go as fast as network conditions allow...

Cablevision's Optimum Online (OOL) used to be the de-facto broadband king around these parts, with users of other ISPs lusting after the speedy cable connections. That was before FiOS, which started giving the cable operator a run for its money. OOL has since released Boost, a 30Mbps/5Mbps cable tier that costs $64.90 if you bundle voice service.

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Unlike their standard cable service, Boost doesn't have caps. And when we say no caps, these days we mean no caps: reports from our Optimum Online forum (also see here) indicate the company has completely removed downstream modem caps, resulting in some delicious speeds.

It looks like the the removal of Boost download configuration limits is being done on a geographic basis, meaning that some Boost users are being allowed to go just about as fast as local network conditions allow via DOCSIS 2.0 (upload configs remain intact).

We contacted Cablevision for comment but they wouldn't officially go on the record to confirm that's what they're doing. Apparently the plan is akin to the recipe for Coke or the ingredients in McDonald's special sauce (read: they may not be ready to announce it or are just testing), but our forum user speedtests and docsdiag reports tell the tale.
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Mike
Mod
join:2000-09-17
Pittsburgh, PA
·Verizon FiOS

Mike

Mod

One serious question

Back when I was on 768k/128k Verizon DSL, OOL had 10mb/1mb service a long time ago.

8 years have passed I can get 3mb/768k DSL and has a that 30/5 tier.

Comcast (now in my area after 10 years!) cable modem sucks in my area. I think this is because everyone and their mother, again literally, are running from Verizon's poor and expensive service.

How can Cablevision with as small of a footprint as they have be able to throw all this bandwidth out and not go completely bankrupt? Is it a management style? Low overhead?

swintec
Premium Member
join:2003-12-19
Alfred, ME

swintec

Premium Member

Re: One serious question

said by Mike:

How can Cablevision with as small of a footprint as they have be able to throw all this bandwidth out
Actually, I think this is how they DO offer these speeds.
plat2on1
join:2002-08-21
Hopewell Junction, NY

plat2on1

Member

Re: One serious question

said by swintec:

said by Mike:

How can Cablevision with as small of a footprint as they have be able to throw all this bandwidth out
Actually, I think this is how they DO offer these speeds.
so we should break up all the big providers then?

swintec
Premium Member
join:2003-12-19
Alfred, ME

swintec

Premium Member

Re: One serious question

said by plat2on1:
said by swintec:
said by Mike:

How can Cablevision with as small of a footprint as they have be able to throw all this bandwidth out
Actually, I think this is how they DO offer these speeds.
so we should break up all the big providers then?
Well no not at all. OOL simply has a strategically placed network covering a small FOOTPRINT, compared to other providers. Its the same way Japan can offer such high speeds, it is a very small area to wire and maintain.
Skippy25
join:2000-09-13
Hazelwood, MO

Skippy25

Member

Re: One serious question

Its a matter of want. Whether the foot print is 10 square miles or 10,000 square miles if they wanted to (had true competition) they would do it. Cost of bandwidth to them is not nearly the monster they make it out to be.

swintec
Premium Member
join:2003-12-19
Alfred, ME

swintec

Premium Member

Re: One serious question

Its not the cost of bandwidth, its the cost of infrastruture to deliver that bandwidth. If you look at how much fiber OOL has vs the other cable companies, its a huuuge difference. The reaosn OOL has so much more is because of there small(er) footprint.

batterup
I Can Not Tell A Lie.
Premium Member
join:2003-02-06
Netcong, NJ

batterup to Skippy25

Premium Member

to Skippy25
said by Skippy25:

Its a matter of want. Whether the foot print is 10 square miles or 10,000 square miles if they wanted to (had true competition) they would do it. Cost of bandwidth to them is not nearly the monster they make it out to be.
Cablevision has a node every 10th pole in FIOS areas. This is very recent. Awhile ago a node was hard to find. This has to be costing Cablevision a few bucks. A CATV node needs power and battery backup to convert from glass to copper. An outage of a few hours will drain the batteries and there is no generator backup. Verizon's nodes are passive, no power required.

Racerbob
Premium Member
join:2001-06-24
Webster, NY

Racerbob

Premium Member

Why sure I have a comment

Wish that we had OOL here !
45612019 (banned)
join:2004-02-05
New York, NY

1 edit

45612019 (banned)

Member

Don't get too excited.

Doesn't Optimum Online have strict bandwidth caps? They also screw around with any peer-to-peer traffic.

Yeah, have fun with those fast speeds for about 30 seconds, then get slapped down to dial-up speeds.

I'm orgasming in excitement over this new development from Cablevision, and I just can't wait to leave my ISP with no bandwidth capping procedures.
Expand your moderator at work

MxxCon
join:1999-11-19
Brooklyn, NY
ARRIS TM822
Actiontec MI424WR Rev. I

MxxCon to 45612019

Member

to 45612019

Re: Don't get too excited.

OOL does have some upload caps, but "strict" is hardly accurate description. BOOST users have never been upload capped, and we haven't heard of regular users getting capped in about a month now.
they also do screw around with afaik bittorrent and edk traffic, but not to the same degree as comcast or other isp. bittorent and edk are still very usable on OOL.
those fast speeds last as long as you transfer your data, not burst for the 1st 30sec.

StreetSpirit
This spot reserved for Xenu.
Premium Member
join:2002-08-13
Roslyn, NY

2 edits

1 recommendation

StreetSpirit to 45612019

Premium Member

to 45612019
Click for full size
PRTG Metrics: BOOST Upload Interface
Click for full size
PRTG Metrics: BOOST Download Interface
said by 45612019:

Doesn't Optimum Online have strict bandwidth caps? They also screw around with any peer-to-peer traffic.

Yeah, have fun with those fast speeds for about 30 seconds, then get slapped down to dial-up speeds.

I'm orgasming in excitement over this new development from Cablevision, and I just can't wait to leave my ISP with no bandwidth capping procedures.
RUBBISH.

This has never been true on BOOST. BOOST was advertised as server-friendly, with 30/2 (later 30/5 speeds) from day 1.

And for all we know, it is probably not even happening on regular OOL anymore. Infact, there hasn't been a report of a person being capped in at least two months on the standard OOL tier.

Up until BOOST was introduced, I was a very frequent victim of capping and am one of the few people on these forums who can brag about being suspended for a week like a child by my ISP when I hit my 4th cap in some 2.5 years. Of course at that point I immediately switched ISPs. This was back in September 2005.

In September 2006, Cablevision had introduced the BOOST tier, first at 30/2 speeds. I was hesitant to come back but was assured that capping would not occur by a person who is very much in the know. Still, I spent three months literally maxing out the upload and download sides 24/7. Not a peep...

Sometime soon they upgraded all of BOOST customers to 5mbit upload from 2mbit, and now, completely uncapped the downstream side of BOOST customers, allowing me to reach 35mbit speeds routinely, with the potential of ~38mbps.

On the regular tier, they also raised the modem's limit from 15,000,000bps to 16,500,000bps (basically doing what Verizon ADSL does by slightly over-provisioning the maximum speed of a user to allow that user to hit the advertised speed.)

I am absolutely awed by BOOST and have had it for a little over a year now in two locations, Kings County, NY and Nassau County, NY.

Here is my household usage for the last few months (all PCs are accounted for.)

Do you think Verizon, or for that matter whatever your ISP is would let me upload a terabyte per month? Doubt it.


May 2007: Downloaded: 172.52GB, Uploaded: 309.21GB, TOTAL: 481.73GB
June 2007: Downloaded: 694.21GB, Uploaded: 164.33GB, TOTAL: 858.54GB
July 2007: Downloaded: 471.26GB, Uploaded: 1079.94GB, TOTAL: 1,551.20GB
August 2007: Downloaded: 104.40GB, Uploaded: 132.22GB, TOTAL: 236.62 GB *(Why so little? Vacation! )
September 2007: Downloaded: 8.37GB, Uploaded: 83.27GB, TOTAL: 91.64GB (The month is two days old :x )


What was that about orgasming in excitement?

techlte
join:2003-01-01
US

techlte

Member

Wow.

Just wow.. Good for them and their customers.. I'm sure we'll never see anything like this from Comcrap.
kaila
join:2000-10-11
Lincolnshire, IL

kaila

Member

Unbelievable.....

This is the US, not Japan. How are they able to offer this?!? Every other ISP is screaming uncle because of bandwidth demands, and it goes against every rational argument big cable ISP's (like my Comcast) have against running uncapped.

I'm jealous.

MxxCon
join:1999-11-19
Brooklyn, NY

MxxCon

Member

Re: Unbelievable.....

perfect example of (somewhat) healthy competition with verizon.
KenAF
join:2006-01-23
Arlington, VA

1 edit

1 recommendation

KenAF to kaila

Member

to kaila
said by kaila:

This is the US, not Japan. How are they able to offer this?!? Every other ISP is screaming uncle because of bandwidth demands, and it goes against every rational argument big cable ISP's (like my Comcast) have against running uncapped.

I'm jealous.
You've got to keep in mind this is New York.

New York's backbone infrastructure rivals or exceeds that of every other country in the world. Bandwidth costs less in NY than it does in any other state, and significantly less than some states.

If Cablevision offered service in the central or midwest states, you would not see anything approaching these speeds.

FFH5
Premium Member
join:2002-03-03
Tavistock NJ

1 edit

FFH5

Premium Member

Link to OOL speed results here at BBR

»/archi ··· line.net

Even uncapped, the max speed is just above 30 mbps.

Comcast by comparison:
»/archi ··· cast.net

MxxCon
join:1999-11-19
Brooklyn, NY
ARRIS TM822
Actiontec MI424WR Rev. I

MxxCon

Member

Re: Link to OOL speed results here at BBR

uncapped modems can download only at maximum speed of 43mbit(limit of DOCSIS2.0 standard). minus tcp/ip overhead, minus the fact that OOL probably did not specifically optimized their backend for the absolute top of the line speeds, this is pretty good.
but compare »i.dslr.net/bellcurve/scu ··· 51907405
with »i.dslr.net/bellcurve/scu ··· 46065226
fiberguy2
My views are my own.
Premium Member
join:2005-05-20

fiberguy2

Premium Member

It won't last long.

This is more of a test than anything - I bet you. @Home did this in the past and they went the way of bankruptcy. There is no way to run a network like this with any form of QoS.

When the networks of a few years back pulled this, and they grew, there was no way to get a valid product to the home.

My guess is that this will last a short while before they benchmark what the system can actually handle.

Enjoy it while you can.

LiberalKing
Intocable
Premium Member
join:2005-09-12
Bronx, NY

LiberalKing

Premium Member

Re: It won't last long.

dont hate . this will last til the end of times this aint late 90`s .
Expand your moderator at work
BosstonesOwn
join:2002-12-15
Wakefield, MA

BosstonesOwn to fiberguy2

Member

to fiberguy2
Poor management screwed them not network speeds.

jaa
Premium Member
join:2000-06-13

jaa to fiberguy2

Premium Member

to fiberguy2
said by fiberguy2:

This is more of a test than anything - I bet you. @Home did this in the past and they went the way of bankruptcy. There is no way to run a network like this with any form of QoS.

When the networks of a few years back pulled this, and they grew, there was no way to get a valid product to the home.

My guess is that this will last a short while before they benchmark what the system can actually handle.

Enjoy it while you can.
I think it is a great way to manage a network. Why artificially extend the time a user is downloading by imposing a limit on their speed? All that does is waste available bandwidth (the difference between the network capacity and the limit), extending the duration of their usage at the limit - increasing the likelihood that another user will want that bandwidth at the same time.
amungus
Premium Member
join:2004-11-26
America

amungus

Premium Member

awesome

Lucky them!

...Well Cox ain't too shabby here these days. I see many times where download speeds are ~1.3MegaBYTES/sec and I'm on the 'preferred' 7-8Mbps plan

True, it's not 30Mbps, but some speed tests have shown the powerboost to get me ~22Mbps! Pretty happy getting ~10-12Mbps to some places when it's only supposed to be 7-8Mbps.

Can't wait for DOCSIS 3.

dvd536
as Mr. Pink as they come
Premium Member
join:2001-04-27
Phoenix, AZ

dvd536

Premium Member

Re: awesome

said by amungus:

Lucky them!

...Well Cox ain't too shabby here these days. I see many times where download speeds are ~1.3MegaBYTES/sec and I'm on the 'preferred' 7-8Mbps plan.
Thats just powerboost poisoning your test results. What Cablevision is giving their BOOST subs is true uncapped cable ala "Permaboost"
Kind of does away for the need to uncap modems.

Tzale
Proud Libertarian Conservative
Premium Member
join:2004-01-06
NYC Metro

Tzale

Premium Member

WOW!

WOW.... What can I say???

OOL caps the standard tier (15/2) if you upload too much for some people... I've never been capped and I uploaded 24X7 for over a week on bittorent.

I have since upgraded to Boost and get 30/5 for a couple dollars more per month.. I just got my new Dell Latitude D830 laptop today so I'll have to wait to see if this is true in my area on my desktop which is wired... Just can't hit that type of speed on 802.11g... heh...

So much tech fun for me today!!! heheh...

-Tzale

ztmike
Mark for moderation
Premium Member
join:2001-08-02
La Porte, IN

ztmike

Premium Member

FiOS

Where the hell are they? Dont they only have a 20/5 tier? and some insane 50/10 or something thats like 100/month

Cablevision has always had good speeds
majortom1029
join:2006-10-19
Medford, NY

majortom1029

Member

Re: FiOS

BOOST is 30/5 and the normal package is now 16.5/2.

They were offering 50/50 service via narad technology but the rumour is that cablevision didnt think it was worth the money for narad and they stopped deployment.

The speeds here have always been good.

PolarBear03
The bear formerly known as aaron8301
Premium Member
join:2005-01-03

PolarBear03

Premium Member

Proof? Examples?

So where are the speed tests from some of the users that have this? Let's see just what they are getting.
ace41690
join:2003-01-24
Northfield, CT

ace41690

Member

Re: Proof? Examples?

said by PolarBear03:

So where are the speed tests from some of the users that have this? Let's see just what they are getting.
Umm, look in the forum, or in the OOL speed results, OR right at the top of this page where theres a screenshot of a download.

Also, Boost is only 9.95 more a month if you bundle voice, meaning it is 54.90 with voice and tv service, or 59.90 with voice and no tv service. It is 64.90 if you have no voice or tv. That should be corrected in the article...

••••••••••

Rax
Premium Member
join:2003-11-13
Floral Park, NY

Rax to PolarBear03

Premium Member

to PolarBear03
OOL sucks my speeds are not even half of what they advertise. They say 30/5 but if you get 18/2.5 they say oh thats how its supposed to be and its UPTO speeds. FIOS IS BETTER !!!

•••

Gunga Din
Premium Member
join:2005-12-15
Bellmore, NY

Gunga Din to PolarBear03

Premium Member

to PolarBear03
 
 
 
said by PolarBear03:

So where are the speed tests from some of the users that have this? Let's see just what they are getting.

Rax
Premium Member
join:2003-11-13
Floral Park, NY
·Verizon FiOS

1 edit

Rax

Premium Member

Re: Proof? Examples?

Click for full size
This is what it could be if everyone gets Boost like in my area.


La Luna
Fly With The Angels My Beloved Son Chris
Premium Member
join:2001-07-12
New Port Richey, FL

La Luna to PolarBear03

Premium Member

to PolarBear03
said by PolarBear03:

So where are the speed tests from some of the users that have this? Let's see just what they are getting.
»[OOL] Slight bump in speeds?

People who have received the speed bump are reporting that there are no longer any download caps after running DocsDiag.
macguy1
join:2007-08-18
Bloomfield, NJ

macguy1

Member

Wow

I'm amazed. 5Mbps upload?! That's insane for that price. I wish I could get optimum online in my new apartment.

Dominokat
"Hi"
Premium Member
join:2002-08-06
Boothbay, ME

Dominokat

Premium Member

One word

ENVY!

Dread
On course
Premium Member
join:2005-02-28
Bronx, NY

Dread

Premium Member

I used to hate the service a while back

But they have gotten real good
jnazarian
join:2007-08-28
Pine Brook, NJ

jnazarian

Member

Re: I used to hate the service a while back

They are using compression on the upload side, so these numbers aren't completely accurate. However, it's still really fast.

Dread
On course
Premium Member
join:2005-02-28
Bronx, NY

Dread

Premium Member

Re: I used to hate the service a while back

said by jnazarian:

They are using compression on the upload side, so these numbers aren't completely accurate. However, it's still really fast.
I upload for hours at at time at 5mb, so no clue where you're getting this from

Rob A
Adjusting
Premium Member
join:2005-01-17
Pompton Plains, NJ

Rob A

Premium Member

Same for upload?

Is the upload completely uncapped as well?

•••
Rick5
Premium Member
join:2001-02-06

Rick5

Premium Member

I'm wondering whether

they might now be using Comcasts Powerboost technology for this?
Perhaps they've licensed it from comcast and it's now in a trial phase at OOL.
If i'm not mistaken, Cox recently began rolling this out in some areas as well.

With some exceptions, notably the upload speeds..this is the same thing that we see on Comcast.
While I generally see 20Mb or so speeds, the other day I was downloading at about 30Mb as well.
Reports are that Comcast limits it to a certain size file, but I'm not sure that's always the case in all areas.

Really, the whole concept is quite ingenious, and pretty simple really. If they have the bandwidth and it's sitting there unused, why not just give it to someone.
The technology itself seems to allow the network to make that decision instantaneously.

Anyways..this report does sound like what comcast has been doing..although modified somewhat. Certainly, the upload speeds are better with OOL. But, then again, they've long been the leader in Cable HSI speeds and rollouts.

Comcast, for such a large company though, is doing a pretty damn good job if you ask me.
Most of us around the country are now enjoying some outstanding results and speedtests from most of their areas show many if not most now getting 20Mb or so with powerboost.

Not bad for such a big operator.

•••••••
tired_runner
Premium Member
join:2000-08-25
CT
·Frontier FiberOp..

tired_runner

Premium Member

Something smells

Perhaps the company is under less pressure nowadays to perform financially for Wall Street, so this is one way of passing the operating cost savings to the customer. Or Verizon is really lighting a fire under Dolan's ass realizing just how aggressively they're vying for customers in the same footprint.

Peering this kind of traffic past their peering partners can't be free or this inexpensive to freely dish it out like this, or does Level3 now afford this commodity?

Good for the CV customers. I'll stick to my stable, low latency, decent network response Verizon DSL though.
tmc8080
join:2004-04-24
Brooklyn, NY

tmc8080

Member

juiced speeds?

Hmm, really? only several months ago.. I've seen posted speed tests of 22-27mbits for the 30mbit boost service..

This would be an improvement over those speeds... not sure it will last, but if so.. good for the customer. Not good for FIOS who may need to boost speeds to 30/5, heh heh heh..

That can only mean good things for the consumer..

Maybe the rest of the cable industry can get embarrassed into raising their cablemodem speeds as well.. sticking it to QWEST and AT&T in the process.
comp
Premium Member
join:2001-08-16
Evans City, PA
·Armstrong

comp

Premium Member

too funny

i love how no one can just accept it for what it is. There has to be come catch or what not. people will never be happy.

I wished i still lived in a CV area and got half of there standard tier. I have a small company and they dont offer speeds no where close to CV for more money.

SterlingJ85
join:2000-11-19
Austin, TX

2 edits

SterlingJ85

Member

This is not PowerBoost, and Boost service..

Does not seem to be shared to the same degree standard OOL users are...

I have Boost service in Edison, NJ and watching my modem train it appears that I am on a separate downstream/upstream frequency than the standard users are. I'm not saying it's a dedicated down/up freq. but it definitely does not seem to be the large shared "pipe" standard 15/2 users get.

Watching the modem train it will start to authenticate then immediately reset and start retraining. My assumption is that it tries to authenticate with a MAC address identified as a Boost account, but the CMTS tells it to go to another down/up freq. to retrain and authenticate which it does.

This must be how Cablevision is supplying the add'l "uncapped bandwidth".. by adding more CMTS frequencies at the headend. Sort of like with VOD/Video On Demand I presume, which creates a new 'channel' each time you begin a program to watch on your cable box. The same seems to be true with OOL.

In my particular area, peak usage times seem to drop down to about 18-22 Mbps down and 3 Mbps upstream. This must be because they havn't added/can't add more CMTS frequencies on the plant i'm on. Or they are running short of backhaul capacity in this plant.. but I suspect the former since they have a pretty massive fiber network that supports the whole system.

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