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View Full Version : Comcast Boosts Bandwidth in a Big Way


Jason Dunn
11-19-2008, 09:00 AM
<div class='os_post_top_link'><a href='http://www.networkworld.com/news/2008/111808-comcast-cranks-up-bandwidth.html' target='_blank'>http://www.networkworld.com/news/20...-bandwidth.html</a><br /><br /></div><p><em>"Comcast high-speed Internet customers in parts of Oregon and Southwest Washington will have a much-faster option starting in December. The cable provider is rolling out its Extreme 50 service, which has download speeds of up to 50Mbps. Called "wideband" by Comcast, but officially known as DOCSIS 3.0, the high-speed service seems like a bandwidth hog's dream. That is, until you realize that Comcast's 250GB monthly download cap remains in place. Keep to the cap, however, and the benefits are obvious. Extreme 50 customers should be able to download a high-def movie (6GB) in about 16 minutes, Comcast says."</em></p><p><img src="http://images.thoughtsmedia.com//dht/auto/1227067297.usr1.gif" /></p><p>If you're willing to pay an eye-popping $139.95 USD per month, Comcast's Extreme 50 will give you 50 mbps downstream and an even more impressive 10 mbps upstream. Being in Canada this isn't a service I can take advantage of, but to get 10 mbps, I just might pay that much. I'm with <a href="http://www.shaw.ca" target="_blank">Shaw</a>, and paying for their Extreme service: 10 mbps downstream, and a pathetic 1 mbps upstream. I rarely complain about having to wait for downloads, but uploads take forever. The good news is that when I benchmark my connection (which I do on a regular basis, being the geek that I am), I routinely see speeds in the 22 mbps range...but never more than 1 mbps upstream. The hard truth? People running bittorent clients and leaving them on 24/7 make my ISP scared to give me more than 1 mbps upstream, because if they do, it would get abused by the torrentheads. A nice compromise would be 5 mbps upstream speeds for 60 minutes at a time, but I doubt that will happen either. At any rate, my hope is that Shaw will be releasing a DOCSIS 3.0 system and perhaps I'll be rocking 10 mbps upstream before long...</p>

Pony99CA
11-19-2008, 11:12 PM
Being in Canada this isn't a service I can take advantage of, but to get 10 mbps, I just might pay that much. I'm with <a href="http://www.shaw.ca" target="_blank">Shaw</a>, and paying for their Extreme service: 10 mbps downstream, and a pathetic 1 mbps upstream. I rarely complain about having to wait for downloads, but uploads take forever.
I have Charter's 5 mbps download service and their upload speed is only 256 kbps, I believe. When I had 756 kbps DSL, I at least got 384 kbps upload. :rolleyes:

So you'll have to forgive me if I don't have much sympathy for people with 1 mbps upload speed. ;) Maybe we need a charitable foundation for bandwidth sharing. :D

Steve

Jason Dunn
11-20-2008, 12:25 AM
I have Charter's 5 mbps download service and their upload speed is only 256 kbps, I believe.

Wow. 32 KB/s upload speed? :eek: That would KILL my ability to upload photos and videos...

Pony99CA
11-21-2008, 10:40 PM
Wow. 32 KB/s upload speed? :eek: That would KILL my ability to upload photos and videos...
It can be slow, but I uploaded my RAM Motorola Q Dashboard Mount review (http://review.svpocketpc.com/ramweighteddashmount/RAMWeightedDashMount.html) using it (which has 17 large photos and 17 smaller versions). I just kick off the upload and do something else for a while. :) I probably don't upload as many photos as you do, though, and I almost never upload a video.

I do wish they'd keep no worse than a 4:1 ratio for download to upload speed. 1.25 mbps up would be fine for me. Even at 8:1, 625 kbps would be a nice upgrade.

Steve