Internet Speeds.

[dandaman23]

So I have a question and since Comcasts customer service is absolutely horrible and can't give me a straight answer, I thought I'd ask some of you here who are more knowledgable when it comes to this kind of stuff.

Anyways I pay for 50mbps, and my GF and I both do a lot of online gaming as well as streaming Netflix, Hulu, etc. When we first set it up we were getting about 44-48 down and about 5 up. Recently our internet has been cutting in and out and our speeds have_dropped tremendously. We now only get between 15-19 down and 1-3 up. We are always both hardwired in. So we went out today and got a new modem, threw down 110 dollars on one and we get home set it up and when we first test the connection we are once again getting close to 50 down and now we are at nearly 10 up, we were pretty excited. Then after about 10 minutes it DC's us and once it comes back up we are back to the crappy speeds.

Obviously this is a Comcast issue right? We have a guy coming out tomorrow morning to check things out, but does anyone know what it could possibly be? We are paying out the butt for our service and not even getting half the speeds we are supposed to be getting.

[baphamet]

So I have a question and since Comcasts customer service is absolutely horrible and can't give me a straight answer, I thought I'd ask some of you here who are more knowledgable when it comes to this kind of stuff.

Anyways I pay for 50mbps, and my GF and I both do a lot of online gaming as well as streaming Netflix, Hulu, etc. When we first set it up we were getting about 44-48 down and about 5 up. Recently our internet has been cutting in and out and our speeds have_dropped tremendously. We now only get between 15-19 down and 1-3 up. We are always both hardwired in. So we went out today and got a new modem, threw down 110 dollars on one and we get home set it up and when we first test the connection we are once again getting close to 50 down and now we are at nearly 10 up, we were pretty excited. Then after about 10 minutes it DC's us and once it comes back up we are back to the crappy speeds.

Obviously this is a Comcast issue right? We have a guy coming out tomorrow morning to check things out, but does anyone know what it could possibly be? We are paying out the butt for our service and not even getting half the speeds we are supposed to be getting.

do you have a splitter? or is there just one cable coming from the wall to your modem?

[dizzolve]

Gotta remember the one downside to cable data is that - it's subject to prime time hits. In other words.... around dinner time through prime time when your whole neighborhood is using internet, is going to be your worst numbers most likely. Or whenever the people on your same trunk are all using it at the same time whenever that might be.

That's the one advantage the phone company has over cable....... their up an downs are dedicated and therefore consistent. Well, at least that's the way it was 5+ years ago. Things might have changed now for Phone Co.

If your problems happen say -.... in the middle of the night or while people should be at work, it might be something in your home like a splitter, or a nic'd drop to the outside NID box on your house.

[xX-Bronco-Xx]

Comcast cable is shared with other comcast cable users so that's most likely why your internet is slower. I'm running DSL right now at 6 mbps so yeah I envy your slow speeds.

[dandaman23]

do you have a splitter? or is there just one cable coming from the wall to your modem?

Ya we have a splitter, but we are just recently getting the slower speeds. I disconnected the cable and plugged the modem directly into the wall and our speeds did go back up to where they should be. Its just strange that we never had an issue having a splitter before up until the last few days.

[baphamet]

Ya we have a splitter, but we are just recently getting the slower speeds. I disconnected the cable and plugged the modem directly into the wall and our speeds did go back up to where they should be. Its just strange that we never had an issue having a splitter before up until the last few days.

call them and tell them. there should be a dedicated cable just for internet. it can and does slow your internet speeds (and in some cases causes you to lose internet briefly)when you run it off a splitter.

[DenverBlood]

I have a new company called Mediacom and pay $61 a month for 50 mbs.

I generally get 45-55 mbs when I test the connection on my X1. Every now and again it drops but not often. When it does I usually reboot the modem and everything works fine again.

I'm not a major tech guy but Baph is it also possible that he has bad network cables? Since he said he was always hard wired in?

Otherwise I would say probably Comcast issue.

I do agree that evenings can be problematic do to server bandwidth. But I still generally get good service as I usually don't play my X1 till after 8 pm.

Oh and another note is that for streaming like Netflix and Hulu sometimes those services limit bandwidth in certain areas at night. If that's the case there is nothing you can do about it.

[baphamet]

I have a new company called Mediacom and pay $61 a month for 50 mbs.

I generally get 45-55 mbs when I test the connection on my X1. Every now and again it drops but not often. When it does I usually reboot the modem and everything works fine again.

I'm not a major tech guy but Baph is it also possible that he has bad network cables? Since he said he was always hard wired in?

Otherwise I would say probably Comcast issue.

I do agree that evenings can be problematic do to server bandwidth. But I still generally get good service as I usually don't play my X1 till after 8 pm.

Oh and another note is that for streaming like Netflix and Hulu sometimes those services limit bandwidth in certain areas at night. If that's the case there is nothing you can do about it.

could be but the first thing i would do is get rid of that splitter and go from there.

[Rancid]

I had Comcast out for this very issue about a year ago. It turns out that the service connection in the pedestal in my backyard had deteriorated. I do have a splitter in my basement with more than the 6-recommended lines-- I think I have 7-service lines split off it.

Sometimes the technician that comes out is suspect. I had a guy out a few years ago that added some lines to my splitter and he did not trim the wires the right length; they were too long. He coiled them up and shoved them in the floor joists. I looked at his work after he was done and told him I did not accept that kind of work and he knew better and made him trim everything and reconnect it. So, you have to keep an eye out to make sure you do not get the rare sloppy technician.

Once they reconnected the pedestal, everything runs like a champ. My son and I can both game Battlefield 4 from our machines, daughter on Xbox and wife on Netflix and it all runs great. Even during peak hours the performance is excellent.

I think you should call them out for a service call and have them take a look and they can fix you up.

[Rastic]

Yeah, I'd start with disconnecting the splitter. You may not have had a problem before because the signal coming through the splitter was sufficient to allow consistent speeds. But if anything had changed in your neighborhood, new customers, etc., the cable signal drops. With a splitter you are losing at minimum 3dB, half your signal to the cable modem. If the signal behind the splitter has gone down then the signal through the splitter would be even worse.