This just keeps getting sadder.
I finally did hear back from Mark Casem (who posted a comment on my earlier entry "I hate Comcast") and was told that he would look into the problem with my local Comcast guys. They did finally send someone out who determined that something was wrong with my line, and they sent a maintenance crew over to apparently fix it.
I say apparently because, well, have a look at my latest numbers (allow me to remind you that I am paying for 16 Mbps Business Class connection) for January 5 - 20:
And these are just the latest numbers since I last blogged about this problem. For comparison, the previous average from the last post was 3.1 Mbps. The current average as evidenced above shows an average now of 2.6 Mbps.
Not surprisingly, my latency has also gotten worse overall:
Previously, the average latency was 254ms, and now I am showing 297ms. I guess you can pretty much rule out any chance of playing an online game where latency matters (in fact, these ping times are closer to what I used to get playing Quake 2 on a dial-up connection!
I am trying to be understanding here, and as patient as possible. I have given them a couple of chances to come and fix this now, and things are only seeming to get worse. I will continue to call support while this speed is so abysmal with the hopes that they track this problem down and get it resolved ASAP (and I hope the billing department can help make this right for the lost bandwidth so far).
I just can't fathom the thought of a business having to deal with this type of sub-par performance for their internet. My recommendation at this point would be for any business even thinking about using Comcast as their internet provider is to NOT do it. DSL may be slower overall, but at least it's consistent and the bandwidth is all yours as opposed to a shared resource with your neighbors.
Just to keep things up to date, here is the total of my current averages from December 19 to yesterday (January 20):
Now I ask you, as a business paying for a 16 Mbps connection, does this even remotely seem reasonable?
I desperately want to say that this all gets fixed in a timely manner, but things are not looking good. Stay tuned for more as the story develops...
Showing posts with label internet. Show all posts
Showing posts with label internet. Show all posts
I hate Comcast
Thanks to the speedtest.net iphone app, I have been monitoring my Comcast Business Class internet speeds and have been mighty upset with the results.
I had originally wanted DSL again, having had it for quite a few years and being quite happy with the performance and speed at the time. Unfortunately, upon moving into my new home I found that DSL couldn't get past 1.5 Mbps tops for me. So my only other option was to go with Comcast.
Now, I knew that cable internet was a shared resource locally, and I wanted to not have to worry about neighbors sucking down all the available bandwidth. So I figured I would go for the "Business Class" internet at 16 Mbps down even though the price was more expensive than the residential version. I figured that I could expect a better level of service since I was paying more for a business account.
WRONG.
Below are graphs of my internet speed performance for December 19th to now (blue line is download speed, red line is upload speed, and orange horizontal line is download average):
Despite paying more for a business class internet at 16 Mbps down, I have been seeing absolutely atrocious results. My average speed since the 19th of December has been 3.1 Mbps! Less than 1/5th of the advertised speed! They actually consider this "Business Class" service?! I feel bad for what the residential users nearby might have to deal with...
My ping latency is no better at all, and just plain depresses me. The average ping reported over the same time period was over 250ms! I haven't seen ping times like that since playing Quake 2 over dialup with friends over a decade ago.
The sad thing here is that the service used to be pretty ok. For two years they managed to at least deliver some semblance of service close to what they were advertising. Here's hoping that a few technical support calls will get someone out here to correct this ASAP. Stay tuned.
I had originally wanted DSL again, having had it for quite a few years and being quite happy with the performance and speed at the time. Unfortunately, upon moving into my new home I found that DSL couldn't get past 1.5 Mbps tops for me. So my only other option was to go with Comcast.
Now, I knew that cable internet was a shared resource locally, and I wanted to not have to worry about neighbors sucking down all the available bandwidth. So I figured I would go for the "Business Class" internet at 16 Mbps down even though the price was more expensive than the residential version. I figured that I could expect a better level of service since I was paying more for a business account.
WRONG.
Below are graphs of my internet speed performance for December 19th to now (blue line is download speed, red line is upload speed, and orange horizontal line is download average):
Despite paying more for a business class internet at 16 Mbps down, I have been seeing absolutely atrocious results. My average speed since the 19th of December has been 3.1 Mbps! Less than 1/5th of the advertised speed! They actually consider this "Business Class" service?! I feel bad for what the residential users nearby might have to deal with...
My ping latency is no better at all, and just plain depresses me. The average ping reported over the same time period was over 250ms! I haven't seen ping times like that since playing Quake 2 over dialup with friends over a decade ago.
The sad thing here is that the service used to be pretty ok. For two years they managed to at least deliver some semblance of service close to what they were advertising. Here's hoping that a few technical support calls will get someone out here to correct this ASAP. Stay tuned.
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