Comcast bandwidth?

Hunter · Joined: Nov 25, 2007 Posts: 8

Well I currently have satellite internet, and I am considering getting Comcast, but I've heard of bandwidth caps? Is this true? If so, what is the cap?

zlim · Joined: Mar 11, 2005 Posts: 2636

Comcast will not tell you what the caps are. If they believe you are using too much, you get sent an email. If you don't lower your usage, your service is terminated.
http://web20.telecomtv.com/pages/?newsid=41781&id=e9381817-0593-41...8639-c4
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/09/06/AR2007...602545.
http://blogs.computerworld.com/node/5161

I use Comcast since June 2004.

Hunter · Joined: Nov 25, 2007 Posts: 8

zlim · Joined: Mar 11, 2005 Posts: 2636

I don't have any way to measure so I couldn't even begin to make an estimate.

louis-the-cat · Joined: May 13, 2006 Posts: 307

how long is a piece of string?

but seriously, think about it in terms of am i getting the service I want or need, at a price i can afford?

rather than as a bandwidth per $ ratio

..............if or when they cap you ( then you'll know how much you need and how much they offer per $)....shop about.

Think twice before signing up to LONG term contracts ( that you can't get out of)
use " introductory offer"....try before you buy.......but try more than one , compare ....remember, they need you as much as you need them.

Always go for service ( based on your experience, or their reputation ) rather than price........unless you are big enough to negotiate corporate and terms.

as a consumer.......Demand service, negotiate price.........never the other way round ( unless you want to encourage communists, cowboys or corporate control).......

it's becoming a rant....sorry! Embarassed

enaidenots · Joined: Dec 09, 2007 Posts: 19

I don't know about the bandwidth thing, but I was with Comcast when I first moved to Florida and was not satisfied with their service at all!

The darn thing kept going out and even when I told them what I had already done, they made me go thru it again - then saying it was something I had done. When I finally got them out to the house on different occasions, they realized it was their problem! I am so glad I am not with them anymore!

Diane

bern · Joined: Mar 12, 2007 Posts: 1432 Location: ann arbor

We live WAY out in the country. I used to use satellite until a couple years ago Comcast came by. I have been using it since. It is an order of magnitude faster than satellite ever was, and there are no weather related outages. In the past year, after a particularly heavy couple of weeks of downloading (probably 100 megs per day or more-I was testing the system), I got an Email stating that I was approaching a limit and needed to slow down to avoid a forced slow down. I stopped my test and have not had a problem since.

cterrian · Joined: Jun 17, 2003 Posts: 59 Location: Atlanta GA Area

Stick with satellite Hunter. Comcast is already saturated with users, and you probably would regret switching. Wink

goretsky

Hello,

In my experience terrestrial providers (ADSL, cable, fixed wireless, etc.) beat satellite connections in terms of speed and latency. It is difficult to say what your experience will be, though.

The quality of broadband connections greatly differs by neighborhood and city because the equipment used by the provider in each location varies, may be configured differently have different amounts of users and so forth. Other factors such as the distance from the provider's head-end and quality of the wiring between it and your modem make a difference as well.

You might want to see if you can trial the cable service or unsubscribe without an early termination fee to see if it works better than your satellite connection. If it does, you can switch over. Otherwise, just cancel the order and remain with the satellite connection.

Regards,

Aryeh Goretsky

wgianopoulos · Joined: May 20, 2008 Posts: 2

THe big issue with Comcast is the upload bandwdth. They seem to have no issue with what you download (as near as I can tell) Recently they appear to have changed my service from providing 6MB download while guaranteeing around 360KB upload. I had no issue with the download speed but would really liked to have had the upload increased to at least 784KB. They decided instead to boost the download to around 14000KB. I can now only get around 184KB upload. so this service is now really sucky even compared to the old 6MB download 350 KB upload in my opinion.

cterrian · Joined: Jun 17, 2003 Posts: 59 Location: Atlanta GA Area

I guess it depends on the test.
I've always used Speakeasy Speed Test and I'm on Comcast. I've notice an increase of speed. I live in the Atlanta area, and here's my results when I chose Chicago server:

Download Speed: 21778 kbps (2722.3 KB/sec transfer rate)
Upload Speed: 2444 kbps (305.5 KB/sec transfer rate)

wgianopoulos · Joined: May 20, 2008 Posts: 2

Yes it does. Actually, since my original post, they have increased my bandwidth multiple times. From Ashland, MA I now get:

17276kbps Download (but have gotten as high as 23000)
7375kbps Upload (which is about the highest I get)

system001

All of us that have had Comcast know that their monthly cap is set at 250 gigabytes for downloads. It is far less than you are paying for. Granted most user will never even come close to using 250 gigabytes a month it is the principle that matters. I signed up with Comcast when their service was at 4mbps which they upgraded to 6 and it is upgraded to 12 now. The math shows quite a different story. 60seconds x 60minutes x 24hour = 86,000seconds x 4mbps = 345,6000 / 1,000 = 345.6 gigabytes per day at the old 4mbps comcast was at. At the so called guaranteed 12mbps service you should be getting1036.8 gigabytes per day. As of the middle of January I switched to Qwest for the 7mbps DSL service and it is better than Comcast so called 12mbps service. I also switched from Comcast cable to Directv. Better channel lineup and once all the promotions are gone I will still save 12 dollars a month plus the diferance in taxes over Comcast between the two services. If you can avoid Comcast please do so.

system001