[milenko11]

I currently have Comcast cable internet. They advertise I get 6 mb down and 384 up. Every speed test i've done has me at 3 mb down and 1.1-1.5 up. Should I complain about my service? Will they just blame it on OS X? Also, what would happen if I "upgraded" to the 8 mb down package? If i'm not getting the advertised 6 I'm not sure if upgrading would do anything for me.

[placebo1969]

What sites have you used? I've noticed some pretty big differences in the ratings when I've checked on my speed. I'm assuming your 1.1-1.5 upload is mb? That's nice.

[E's Lil Theorem]

You may want to check, but my recollection is that they say "up to x down and y up". If you were to upgrade, you'll probably see an slight increase in your speeds, but I doubt by too much.

[milenko11]

I dont really notice and differences in download speeds. It's always 2.75-3 down. Yeah, my upload is crazy fast for some reason. I don't really know why.

[milenko11]

Yeah, I know it says up to. That's why I haven't called to complain. Comcast is so terrible to deal with. I wish Verizon would get their Fios running in my neighborhood.

[SVass]

17132 kbps down and 1566 kbps up in Seattle while paying for the 6000 on a new Mac Book Pro via Airport Express wireless. My old G4 Sawtooth gets around 4000 using 802.11b. Comcast speed varies according to area, equipment and time of day. Comcast also has a short burst mode that may make tests look good. sam

[zerostar]

Yeah don't let the powerboost fool you, if you are getting 3MB on a speed test you are probably seeing around 2MB real world. (do a long download off a fast sever and see what you average after the first 30MB)

I am getting 12MB/768 powerboost and at least 6MB/512 real world, that is after 5 service calls and a new drop to the pole to boot.

Try this speed test

ftp://ftp1.optonline.com and download one of the large test files (like the 512)

[IceEnclosure]

I'm on teh 6MB down line and I always get 4000-5000kbps down and occasionally I see up to 10000. Pretty nice.

[IceEnclosure]

heh, 1MB/sec on the largest test file.

[milenko11]

My actual download speed from that site was about 475 kb/sec.

[CharlesS]

The thing you have to remember about that is that your FTP program is probably giving you the speed in KBps whereas speedtest.net (and usually your ISP also) will tell your speed in Kbps. Multiply the KBps rate by 8 to get the Kbps speed. For example, I'm guessing that your 475 speed was actually in KBps rather than Kbps. If you multiply that by 8, you get 3800 Kbps, which is decent (and better than what I get).

[ink]

When I had 8mbs Comcast, I routinely got that rate on downloads. I'd complain.

[Mastrap]

If you're on cable then your speeds will fluctuate during the day, depending on how many users are on your node. I get fast connection speeds in the morning (I'm on Rogers) but they drop very noticeable in the evening when all of my neighbours are online.

There's nothing that can be done really, except getting DSL.

[chabig]

Originally Posted by Mastrap 

There's nothing that can be done really, except getting DSL.

...which guarantees less bandwidth. But hey, at least they're honest!

[goMac]

Call their tech support. In my experience, Comcast tech support is surprisingly awesome. They will run a scan of your cable setup for you, and tell you where the bottleneck could be.

Also, be aware that every cable splitter you have before your cable modem will cause a speed hit.

[alligator]

Yes, I just got Comcast installed. Make sure you have high quality cable in your house, minimize the number of splitters (they really do cause signal loss, I personally saw the dB drop when I split mine 9 ways), and don't have too high of expectations. The 6 MB service is for 6 MB in theory, in reality, you will most likely get 3-4 MB. I pay for 8 MB and get only 6 MB in reality.

My installed mentioned that Comcast has recently increased their upload speeds to better compete with DSL, but it hasn't been officially rolled out or advertised yet. I get 2 MB upload when I pay for 768k!