ISP automatic forums » Metrocast Communications → Metrocast Speed Upgrade "letdown"

After 8 years of using Metrocast and tolerating spending excessive money on sub par broadband I was assured that with "upgrades" made that getting advertised speeds were more of a reality than ever. Well I was using the mid class speed tier which was upgraded from 16 to 20 m and would be able to stream video services. Well getting close to advertised speeds just wasn't happening. It didn't matter what time of day, unless I was on at 2 am then I was getting close but just couldn't stay constant. As a last ditch effort I took a field techs advice and tried upgrading to the 75 m speed class so I could stream video on multiple devices. After a month of paying more to get more to get more which I don't mind if it works I only was managing 45 to 50 m and not even close to 75 m. Video is less latent but still can't manage more than two devices streaming I'm at wits end. Tomorrow I will be calling Metrocast to reduce back to 20 m and just deal with second rate service. Downside to living out in the sticks.

are you using their modem or do you have your own?

I live way out in the woods, just like you, and Metrocast (for all their faults) seems pretty committed to delivering me the service I pay for. I've had to go back and forth with them a few times over performance issues, but they've never just thrown their hands up and told me to live with it.

If you're still here, and reply to this thread, I'd be happy to type up some tips on how to "help" Metrocast solve the problem for you. I just don't want to type up a bunch of stuff if this is just a drive-by complaint post, that you never come back to check in on again.

I have used rental and numerous retail.

Any suggestions are welcome. They spent last weekend working on our street and this is and has been a node that is at capacity.

Okay, so you've gotten them to realize/admit the problem isn't at your tap or with your in-home equipment? That's great. That's like half the battle right there.

What you need now is a history of speed tests showing that you have consistently terrible speeds. Sign up for a free account at speedtest.net and if you've been doing speed tests there previously, sign up from the same computer and browser you normally do the tests on. When you make the account, they check your cookie and then associate all your previous tests with your new account.

When you're signed in, you can click the "My Account" link and then you should see a graph over time of all the speed tests you've taken. There's an "Enable Sharing" link that generates a fancy URL that you can then share with Metrocast, letting them see that, no bullshit, your speeds are unacceptable across the board.

After I did that, I had an actual CMTS Engineer reach out to me via email and we shared some more information and within a couple days the problem was solved and I haven't had a bad speedtest in months. If you keep getting stonewalled, I can email this guy back and ask if it's okay to share his address with you. He seemed to genuinely care about making things work right.

If you're using a wireless card, you will NOT get the advertised speeds. On my downstairs laptop (I have the 75mbps package) on my wireless card I was getting 45-50. Once I ran an ethernet cable down (under the carpet on the stairs) to the living room now I get 78 consistently...

I'm sorry your area isn't better served. metrocast rocks in Connecticut!

»[Cable Speed test: 76.95/7.83 26 ms]

This is using strictly wired connectivity. My entire house is hardwired. Their are a few with wireless but I'm more concerned with straight out of the modem. I have since reduced my speed plan back down to 20. Sadly I am using my Verizon LTE hotspot and getting 35 to 40 down. I never thought I'd see the day my cellular downloads would out perform my land based connection.