Comcast "Performance" Internet Underperforms
 

During the past few days our Comcast Internet download speed has ranged from 1.17 to 4.23. We don't pay for the basic speed, we have "performance" which we were told was 25mbps and which has worked for the past year. Now we can't use Roku at all. Comcast shows our devices are all connected.

Has anyone else noticed a slowdown?

Are these speed tests ran over a wifi connection or a hard wire connection to a switch or router?

Tom, When a comcast internet user runs the XFINITY Speed Test, are the results indicative of the speeds from server to user modem or server to user computer? In other words does it make a difference if you are hard wired or WIFI?

Hi Tom,
My husband will check it tomorrow and I'll let you know.

Reboot (unplug and then plug in) your modem/router.

It really does makes a difference. IP transport speeds can be very different than your home network speeds. With a fast/solid /reliable home network and good quality clients there should be little to no difference running a Internet speed test anywhere in your home . But that is network dependent, not isp dependent.

There are lots of pieces to get setup correctly for good network performance. The service provider is only one piece. You'll need a quality modem, router and access point(s) to maximize network performance. The stuff you lease from the service provider is entry level at best.

Mine Is Quite Acceptable On Tuesday Night
 

Tuesday night at 10 PM (high usage time) and I just got downloads of 24 on the Xfinity speed test and 23 on Speakeasy; uploads of 6 on both. I'm in Mallory and I have only the 'basic' Comcast broadband subscription.

No complaints here.

By the way, I'm on the other side of the house from my Comcast modem, connected with a BPL (broadband over power line) in house network. After unsuccessfully screwing around with wi-fi routers, repeaters and all sorts of wireless hardware, I finally discovered BPL at the recommendation of a techie at Staples, of all places. With the purchase of two simple plug-in units for about a hundred bucks, I now get exactly the same speed here in my den, on the other side of the house, as I do right at the modem where the Comcast cable comes into the house. I also have an Apple Airport Express modem plugged into the BPL here under my desk, so I get that same speed wirelessly on the other side of the room where I'm sitting, powering our Roku without a glitch.

I'm on Xfinity 50Mbps Blast and here is a current wifi speed test from my Samsung Galaxy Note 3 mobile device.

Comcast News
 

FierceCable <editors@fiercecable.com>

Comcast News Just for Information

http://www.fiercecable.com/author/dfrankel

1. Comcast sued for turning residential routers into hotspots
By Daniel Frankel

Two Northern California residents have launched a class action suit in a San Francisco federal court against Comcast (NASDAQ: CMCSA), claiming the cable company's shared Wi-Fi routers use too much electrical power, violate their privacy and slow their network.

The suit was filed in U.S. District Court in San Francisco on behalf of Pittsburg, Calif., resident Toyer Grear and his daughter Joycelyn Harris. They claim Comcast is "exploiting them for profit" by using their leased gateway to support the MSO's rollout of its Wi-Fi network.

The suit claims that the secondary signal these gateways broadcast increase their electrical power usage by as much as 40 percent, and that Comcast is pushing "tens of millions of dollars per month of the electricity bills needed to run their nationwide public Wi-Fi network onto customers."

The suit also claims the secondary signal puts Comcast's customers under greater security risk, allowing "strangers to connect to the Internet through the same wireless router used by Comcast customers."

Comcast has yet to publicly respond to the lawsuit.

Comcast is seeking to build a carrier-grade Wi-Fi network that can compete with cellular networks, and it has the ambitious goal of deploying 8 million Wi-Fi hotspots across the U.S. by the end of 2014.

Many of those hotspots utilize newer gateways leased by customers, which push out a secondary signal that's publicly available.

Comcast has begun notifying its customers in cases when their router is being used as a hotspot. And the company has provisions to turn the secondary signal off if a customer wants to opt out.

However, as a message-board poster noted on DSL Reports last week, the sharing is a default setting in Comcast's wireless gateways. So, every time the MSO pushes out a firmware update and resets the device's settings, it gets pushed back into hotspot sharing mode.

And for their part, the plaintiffs in the suit accuse Comcast of being vague about the contractual terms of Wi-Fi sharing.

I am not sure I see the issue here. Perhaps I misunderstand what is going on. Presumably, the additional public WiFi signal is for guests in your home and should be a convenience so you don't have to give your guest your WiFi password. Most (perhaps all) WiFi enabled routers for the residential market don't provide a strong enough signal to reach outside of your home. I can see that apartments might be a different issue.

This morning the speed is back to 24.34 DL, 6.14 UL. Is that because there's not so much traffic this morning? Yesterday at this time of the day it was only 4.33 DL.

Thanks, Kahuna, for the tip on "BPL". Can you tell us how to find the device?

Here's A Link
 

Here's a link to several NetGear-brand BPL units being sold on Amazon. But I'm sure you can find them--maybe different brands--at any office supply store. I know I got mine at Staples.

[ame=http://www.amazon.com/NETGEAR-Powerline-200Mbps-Nano-Adapter/dp/B006OOKT3Y]Amazon.com: NETGEAR Powerline 200Mbps Nano Adapter - Starter Kit (XAVB2101): Computers & Accessories[/ame]

Setup is simple. Plug one BPL unit into a 110 outlet near your Comcast cable modem. Then use the included Ethernet cable to connect the modem to the BPL unit. At this point, you have activated your entire house electrical wiring system to carry the internet signal at full power or speed.

Then plug another BPL unit into an outlet near your computer, TV or Roku unit. Again, connect any of those units to the BPL using Ethernet cable. You can plug several BPL units into outlets where needed to get the broadband signal over your 110 electrical wires.

In my case, I plugged the BPL unit into an outlet next to my desk. Then I connected the BPL unit to an Airport Express, using another Ethernet cable. This connection makes the Airport Express a full-powered/full-speed wi-fi modem available to connect to my computer, Roku, Apple TV, iPad or any other nearby similar devices, wirelessly.

Hope this helps.

One Other Thing
 

Your 'slow times' you're experiencing from Comcast could also be the result of your house being a long distance from the Comcast 'switch' broadcasting their broadband signal over their wiring coming into your house. If you're a long way from the switch/source of the signal, and at times when lots of other Comcast subscribers between your house and the switch/source are using the Comcast signal, the signal getting to your house will be slowed down, sometimes pretty badly.

There's nothing you can do about this problem other than to squawk to Comcast, demanding that they install a 'repeater' closer to your house to re-establish a faster, more powerful broadband signal to your house and others 'downstream'. This problem is lessened if you live in an area in TV served by newer high speed optical wiring. But if you're in older sections of TV served by older copper wiring, you may be stuck unless or until you can convince or demand that Comcast install a repeater.

Great information

You are correct. From what you posted, it does not appear that you understand it! Read the article!

Look Sport, I did read the article. You can opt out and it still isn't clear they are providing modems with a range beyond a home. If you have additional information you would like to share please do so otherwise spare me the attitude.

I did provide some information... I posted, Read the article!

But, I can can be more specific; What are the complaints in the law suit?

Thanks again, Kahuna for your detailed input.

As far as wiring, our neighborhood was built in 2008, so definitely not an older section of The Villages. It'd be interesting to know where Comcast's switch was located.

All of these "test" speed connections send small data packets data back and forth at a certain speed. When you get into the real world, you have different packet sizes. You are also at the mercy of the target site speeds and internet busyness. So what you get at a real site might not be close to what these speed testers produce.

For example, I can do Windows update and get great download speeds one day and terrible speeds the next day. It is probably different servers and busyness.

Also direct connect vs WiFi. I have two PCs in the same room - one direct connect and one WiFi. The rates are definitely different.

Bring up Task Manager and go to the Networking tab and watch a download. Do the same on a WiFi connection and you will not only see a different download rate but you will see a different link speed.

Z

Yeah, most of it is paranoia without merit by technophobes. The only issue that matters is whether the WiFi zone extends beyond a normal house size.