Cable Internet Speed?

[ntzhunter]

I now stream all of my television shows/movies via Hulu Plus/Netflix on my Roku. I dropped all of my cable and upgraded my Internet speed. When I first did this, I had great Mbps according to my tests. Now, we can barely stream anything and are getting 1.0Mbps. We have a brand new wirelsss router. I have heard that the cable companies will "throttle down" speeds when you use too much data. I called our provider and all he could do for me was offer higher Internet speeds for more $$. Anyone else have this happen to them? Anyone have any knowledge about throttling back speed? I would like to go with ATT U Verse but its not available in my neighborhood.

[Seymore]

Yes, they push back speed depending on how much data is used. ATT is pulling fiber optic cable now in Mississippi and I can see a price war for internet business between ATT and Comcast. I tried to send scanned documents to my CPA over the weekend and had to break it down into 3 emails. Comcast wants a person to upgrade to a business account to push that large a volume. The have set limits of what they think a residential and business customer should use.

[rjohnson]

http://netinfer.com/diffprobe/ShaperProbe.exe try this, it's safe but scan it with your AV first just to be sure, screenshot below is my results. If you are having traffic shaped call Comcast and force them to turn it off.

If not there are a few other things it could be. First connect a laptop or desktop to the wireless and check the speeds. If they are good RoKu most likely is the culprit. If speeds are still bad we need to verify the wireless setup is good enough.

Now directly connect via laptop or computer to the modem. If you are still getting slow speeds over a wireless and wired we are back to the modem and wireless is probably ok. Call Comcast and have them check the provisioning. Provisioning is the settings they send to the modem from their servers. It tells the modem how to act. It is highly likely it could be provisioned incorrectly. If they check the provisioning it might have incorrect settings that they can change and send back down to the modem. That should be easy for them to do.

If the modem if provisioned correctly it could be that it is just an older modem and needs the firmware updated or it needs replacing. You can ask them to update the firmware on the modem if they say it is provisioned correctly and you still have slow speeds. Ask them how old the modem is and if it's more than a couple of years old ask if they can simply update it with a new one.

If wireless is good, modem is provisioned correctly, and the device is new or has new firmware it could be a signaling issue. You might have either too much or too little voltage on the line from the street to your house. A Comcast tech would have to come onsite to check that. Also you may have too many splitters or bad wiring between the splitter on the outside of the house and your modem. If possible make sure there is not a splitter between the one outside and your modem. A lot of times I have seen where the cable is ran to a tv area where it is split into two lines, one for the tv/cable box and one for the modem. If that is the case simply remove that splitter and put the cable directly to the modem to rule that out. If there is only splitter in place they will probably need to come to your house and check the voltages and signal on the line all the way from the street to the modem.

[edub20]

[rjohnson]

[99beers]

my att service sux.........suppose to be 1.5, but never is. short videos won't play most of the time without locking up. If my wife is downloading anything, then I can't even use the other computer. Updated modem about 6 months ago. here's my results.

DiffProbe release. January 2012. Build 1008.
Shaper Detection Module.

Connected to server 38.106.70.162.

Estimating capacity:
Upstream: 320 Kbps.
Downstream: 1255 Kbps.

The measurement will take upto 2.5 minutes. Please wait.

Checking for traffic shapers:

Upstream: Burst size: 53-55 KB;
Shaping rate: 261 Kbps.

Downstream: No shaper detected.
Median received rate: 1232 Kbps.

ran a second time:
DiffProbe release. January 2012. Build 1008.
Shaper Detection Module.

Connected to server 83.212.4.36.

Estimating capacity:
Upstream: 292 Kbps.
Downstream: 1251 Kbps.

The measurement will take upto 2.5 minutes. Please wait.

Checking for traffic shapers:

Upstream: No shaper detected.
Median received rate: 261 Kbps.

Downstream: No shaper detected.
Median received rate: 1232 Kbps.

[rjohnson]

Yeah DSL isn't good for much these days. Suggest you ditch it if you need to stream anything and get something faster if you can.

[99beers]

no other options in the sticks

[ntzhunter]

Thanks rjohnson! I plan to try this tonight!

[rjohnson]

[rjohnson]

Did you get it worked out? Did they have you throttled?

Hey edub and teul I'm getting 60Mb down and 12Mb up at my house now. Jealous much

[edub20]

[teul2]

[edub20]

[teul2]