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story category Slashdot Keeps Rediscovering Comcast Powerboost
And every time wonders if the ISP is mucking with speed tests...
(old news - 09:04AM Tuesday Feb 19 2008)
tags: business · bandwidth · cable · Comcast
Tipped by Cabal See Profile
For the second time in less than a year, Slashdot, and the site's users are seemingly confused about the nature of Comcast's popular Powerboost technology, which gives users a slight boost in bandwidth for the first few moments of a download or upload. Last July, a Slashdot user thought Comcast was somehow gaming speedtests, and the post resulted in a network neutrality flame war. This morning yet another Slashdot user discovered Powerboost for the first time, the site again suggesting that Comcast was somehow manipulating Internet speedtest results.

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Forums » Slashdot Keeps Rediscovering Comcast Powerboost
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Post a:
JSRoman
Premium
join:2005-03-10
Callahan, FL

This happens here also.

Just look at Comcast forum. Every other week there is some thread Is this Blast? or hey look at my speeds. Slashdot is not the only site that seems to rediscover the wheel every couple of weeks.
--
»www.seabee.navy.mil
quatrix

join:2005-02-11
Davie, FL


1 edit

Re: This happens here also.

That's what I was thinking. Is it really news that someone posted about something already discussed? Do we need a "news" item for each one?

On the other hand, I felt like running a speed test again after reading this, and now I'm getting over 30 Mbps as opposed to 18 - 20 a couple weeks ago.

pnh102
Reptiles Are Cuddly And Pretty
Premium
join:2002-05-02
Mount Airy, MD

Huh?

Karl:

With all due respect, duplicated stories on Slashdot are not news.

hopeflicker
Capitalism breeds greed
Premium
join:2003-04-03
Long Beach, CA

Re: Huh?

said by pnh102 See Profile :

Karl:

With all due respect, duplicated stories on Slashdot are not news.
I find it funny that this was tipped by Cabal, one of our cable lovers. Perhaps he's trying to rile up all of the cable greed haters.
--
Man created God in his image : intolerant, sexist, homophobic and violent.
forsakenredo

join:2002-08-04
Lutherville Timonium, MD

Re: Huh?

It's the day after a holiday, he must have been bored.

Nothing makes for better entertainment then getting a bunch of nerds started up on their soapboxes.

Gotta love reading some of the comments. I'll admit that it helped my morning.

-Red

tshirt
Premium,MVM
join:2004-07-11
Snohomish, WA
·Comcast


1 edit
said by pnh102 See Profile :

Karl:

With all due respect, duplicated stories on Slashdot are not news.
Or perhaps the story is that, mentions on slashdot are easliy manipulated to multiply the effect of a single story.
Not journalism, hardly even tabloid/pulp fiction.
siouxmoux

join:2007-09-25
I hard to believe that some slashdot users have been sleeping under rock over the last couple of years. If the term PowerBoost is household name for the Slowskys or The Snailskis, This story is old news.

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

Re: Huh?

said by siouxmoux See Profile :

I hard to believe that some slashdot users have been sleeping under rock over the last couple of years. If the term PowerBoost is household name for the Slowskys or The Snailskis, This story is old news.
Concur. nothing new here, move on folks!
--
You can never be too rich, too thin or have too much Bandwidth

dadkins
Can you do Blu?
Premium,MVM
join:2003-09-26
Hercules, CA

Ya lost me at....

... Slashdot.
SKYWARP

join:2005-02-02
Portland, OR

. . . . .

BBR: "I can do anything you can do better. I can do anything better than you!"
romulusnr

join:2007-08-01
Federal Way, WA

Still...

Whether or not they are choobs for not understanding what PowerBoost is or that it exists, it's a completely valid point to say that PowerBoost is basically a performance gaming technique.

If I test my b/w and it comes to 3MB/s, I will then expect that a 3GB file will take 1024s.

Dogfather
Premium
join:2007-12-26
Laguna Hills, CA

And this is broadband news because?

This isn't news. Instead of posting worthless items, skip a few hours.

I would venture to guess that DSLR users prefer quality over quantity.
AnnaS8

join:2005-05-26
Annapolis, MD

Another thing to consider is...

I think they came up with powerboost in a way for them to make it look like they are trying to squeeze a little more speed out until DOCSIS 3.0 to comes out. They were hoping it would give a placebo effect to keep people from leaving and going to FIOS or other competition. Giving folks the perception that they got a speed increase.

I also agree that there is something to the notion that this was put into place to blur the lines of speed tests so they aren't getting nagged by folks who aren't getting the speeds they are supposed to. I have seen a decline in those posts over on the Comcast help forums since powerboost came out.

funchords
Hello
Premium,MVM
join:2001-03-11
Washington, DC
·Verizon Online DSL
·Skype

Re: Another thing to consider is...

said by AnnaS8 See Profile :

I think they came up with powerboost in a way for them to make it look like they are trying to squeeze a little more speed out until DOCSIS 3.0 to comes out. They were hoping it would give a placebo effect to keep people from leaving and going to FIOS or other competition. Giving folks the perception that they got a speed increase.
I have no doubt. Just look at Comcast Rick talk about it as if Powerboost and bandwidth were the same thing.
--
Robb Topolski -= funchords.com =- Hillsboro, Oregon
"We don't throttle any traffic," -Charlie Douglas, Comcast spokesman, on this report.

hobgoblin
Sortof Agoblin
Premium
join:2001-11-25
Orchard Park, NY
clubs:

Re: Another thing to consider is...

"I have no doubt. Just look at Comcast Rick talk about it as if Powerboost and bandwidth were the same thing."



I agree that its a smoke and mirrors thing!

Hob
--
"A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds."
- Ralph Waldo Emerson

N O Y B
St. John 3.16

join:2005-12-15
Forest Grove, OR
·Verizon FIOS
·Comcast


1 edit

Burst Better Than Alternative (nothing)

Well it is a pretty good means of speeding up heavy web page loads while at the same time preventing Bit Torrents from saturating the network.

If I were a Comcast HSI customer I would welcome it. Better than no burst with same ol' slow speeds.

--
Be a Good Netizen - Read, Know & Honor Your ISP Terms of Service
Comcast: »www.comcast.net/terms/index.jsp
Verizon: »onlinehelp.verizon.net/consumer/···0707.pdf

gaforces
United We Stand, Divided We Fall

join:2002-04-07
Santa Cruz, CA

Re: Burst Better Than Alternative (nothing)

Dunno about the bit torrent part but I expect that cable with powerboost is probably better than a kick in the pants aka uverse.
--
~ Don't you ever give up, Don't ever give in. Were going to make it ~ Damian Marley
Forums » Slashdot Keeps Rediscovering Comcast Powerboost


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