Is your internet speed consistent?

[TechAZ]

Just wondering if a lot of people experience inconsistent speeds. I pay for 25 Mbit down and frequently only get 5-8. I've called my cable company (Cox) a few times and they never have an answer.

Should I be outraged? I pay over $50 a month and half the time my Amazon/Netflix/anything else streaming video jumps back and forth between HD and garbage quality.

 

[Red Squirrel]

Mine is slow 8mb down 1mb up but it's very consistent. ADSL, so dedicated pair straight to the CO. In fact, I'm *IN* the CO right now, the DSLAM is in the room just in front of me. So many blinky lights in there. It *IS* the internet, after all.

 

[TechAZ]

Mine is slow 8mb down 1mb up but it's very consistent. ADSL, so dedicated pair straight to the CO. In fact, I'm *IN* the CO right now, the DSLAM is in the room just in front of me. So many blinky lights in there. It *IS* the internet, after all.

This might be a stupid question, but why does it cost more for faster speeds? What changes are made when someone upgrades their speed?

 

[zanejohnson]

rock solid, kind of a low (small town) but it's the best here, and there's no data caps or anything

10/2 all the time

 

[Red Squirrel]

This might be a stupid question, but why does it cost more for faster speeds? What changes are made when someone upgrades their speed?

It's all a big game just to make more money. Of course it makes sense to have different pricing for higher packages but in general it is quite excessive. Sure, the faster speed equipment may cost more, but once it's paid off, it's paid off. In fact we still have some newbridge stuff here and it's been around since the very begining. Like 2000's. not sure if there's still customers on it though... Some of the links are up though.

Part of the issue too is not the ISP's fault but the bandwidth providers charge per usage instead of a flat rate for the size of the pipe like it should be, so that often ends up trickling down to the customer in the form of bandwidth limits.

 

[pandemonium]

Any system based on older copper wiring will be inconsistent because of the higher demands on the lower quality infrastructure. Cox, Comcast are prime examples.

Find a newer SP that has fiber as their primary infrastructure (not entirely, because that's simply way too much to expect at this point in areas that aren't in downtown metropolises).

Edit: OP, have a tech come out and check the signal levels. There could be fluctuations at the node or at the house that are affecting your speeds and a truck roll is perfectly reasonable to expect from your provider.

 

[pandemonium]

It's all a big game just to make more money. Of course it makes sense to have different pricing for higher packages but in general it is quite excessive. Sure, the faster speed equipment may cost more, but once it's paid off, it's paid off. In fact we still have some newbridge stuff here and it's been around since the very begining. Like 2000's. not sure if there's still customers on it though... Some of the links are up though.

Part of the issue too is not the ISP's fault but the bandwidth providers charge per usage instead of a flat rate for the size of the pipe like it should be, so that often ends up trickling down to the customer in the form of bandwidth limits.

Yes, and no. There is only so much multiplexing you can do with so much bandwidth, and to be honest, most SP will have plenty of headroom left open intentionally over what they're providing to be "safe". The more bandwidth you're pushing down the more room for signal degradation. The amount is somewhere between justified and greedy, but not entirely nefariously oriented.

 

[Broheim]

I pay for 30/3, I get 50/5 consistently.

 

[JimmiG]

Pay for 100Mb down / 10Mb up, and seem to be getting that as long as the server I'm downloading from can keep up.

 

[randomrogue]

I have 100/100 and it would be consistent but sometimes the wireless signal decides it wants to do it's own thing if I move the laptop 1 foot.

 

[yhelothar]

I pay for 75/25, I get 80/30. Verizon FIOS FTW.

 

[Sho'Nuff]

I pay for 50mbps from Comcast, and routinely see 60-62mbps, particularly when downloading games from steam. If download speeds are slow, its almost never due to my ISP.

 

[_Rick_]

I've had my DSL downgraded to 2/1 or so, from 16? down, because I was getting bad desyncs. Now the desyncs are rarer but still happen. So, yeah, I wish it was only my bandwidth that wasn't consistent, but it's a series of disconnects now and then..

 

[Pardus]

Paying for 15/5, most of the time i get 7/1. Modem goes offline for 5-10 minutes at a time throughout the day.

 

[WiseUp216]

Just wondering if a lot of people experience inconsistent speeds. I pay for 25 Mbit down and frequently only get 5-8. I've called my cable company (Cox) a few times and they never have an answer.

Should I be outraged? I pay over $50 a month and half the time my Amazon/Netflix/anything else streaming video jumps back and forth between HD and garbage quality.

I have Cox and the same 25Mb down plan. I run 20-30Mb depending on the time of day.

Maybe you're having issues with your cable modem. Try upgrading to a newer Docsis 3.0?

My only gripe with Cox is that my bill seems to go up $1 every 4-5 months. It was $50 when I started using them and I'm up to $55/month now.

 

[Vdubchaos]

There is no such a thing as internet speed consistency, DO NOT believe anyone that tells you otherwise.

It all depends on service and the amount of people in your area that are on at the same time. Clearly after work hours your internet will always be a bit slower.

Think about 56k days and your speed is just fine!

 

[mnewsham]

It all depends on service and the amount of people in your area that are on at the same time. Clearly after work hours your internet will always be a bit slower.

been using FIOS for years and from my experiences this statement is mostly just false, there have been times when the internet shuts off entirely for the area, or DNS issues or something along those lines, but I almost never actually get a slow down no matter what time of day it is.

 

[Vdubchaos]

been using FIOS for years and from my experiences this statement is mostly just false, there have been times when the internet shuts off entirely for the area, or DNS issues or something along those lines, but I almost never actually get a slow down no matter what time of day it is.

Well, it's not like you sit there and monitor your speed all day and night.

There is no magic here, you WILL get inconsistency no matter what. If it's not from your service itself, it CAN be from # of people, if it's not from # of people on....it CAN be from # of people accessing a site you are going to (or that sites server).

You see, there is SO many variances....you can NEVER pinpoint to just one.

At the end of the day, few extra seconds here and there don't really matter (you will survive, I promise you).

 

[mnewsham]

(you will survive, I promise you)

oh god, I hate absolutes. You can't guarantee it, don't "promise" it.


As for the rest, I am sure if I monitored it all day I could find some difference, however, it will not be significant, of my 25/Mbs the lowest I regularly see is 22Mb/s and 18Mb/s if using my VPN, time of day and number of users doesn't effect it, I have had 22Mb/s at 2am friday morning, and 26Mb/s at 8pm on a thursday night.

The biggest factor in my connection is my wifi which is fairly shitty sometimes and drops out.

 

[RockinZ28]

Pay for 75/35 from FIOS.

Always get 84mbps down and 36mbps up within .05mbps on ethernet at any time Ive ever tested. Super consistent.

 

[xeledon20005]

I pay for comcast suppose to get 25-5

Getting 63-1.3

Something doesn't make sense, but i like that download speed so ive decided not to call them

 

[mnewsham]

I pay for comcast suppose to get 25-5

Getting 63-1.3

Something doesn't make sense, but i like that download speed so ive decided not to call them

My friend used to have FIOS and payed for 25/5, because he was right next to the local node i suppose, he managed to get 350Mb/s download and something like 100Mb/s upload. He didn't call them either.

 

[Mixolydian]

There is no such a thing as internet speed consistency, DO NOT believe anyone that tells you otherwise.

It all depends on service and the amount of people in your area that are on at the same time. Clearly after work hours your internet will always be a bit slower.

Think about 56k days and your speed is just fine!

Not necessarily. I've checked my speeds at all hours of the day and it's usually within 5mbps difference.

 

[xeledon20005]

My friend used to have FIOS and payed for 25/5, because he was right next to the local node i suppose, he managed to get 350Mb/s download and something like 100Mb/s upload. He didn't call them either.

yeah I wouldn't call them either, id boot up the old LOIC:twisted:. :biggrin:

 

[Red Squirrel]

There is no such a thing as internet speed consistency, DO NOT believe anyone that tells you otherwise.

It all depends on service and the amount of people in your area that are on at the same time. Clearly after work hours your internet will always be a bit slower.

Think about 56k days and your speed is just fine!

Services like DSL and FIOS you have a direct line to the CO. so as long as the CO has enough bandwidth (which it most likely does because not everyone is saturating their link at once in most cases) then yeah it will be consistent. ISPs do overprovision though so it's possible to get congestion, just does not happen often.