disgustingly slow internet

[vanwazltoff]

well me and 2 of my friends all live within a block from each other and we all have the same 15mbps connection from comcast. i am the newest to adopt it and i have been getting mixed results, most of the time its dead slow, my friends on the other hand having blazing fast downloads [no i dont rank this with speedtest, i mean actual downloads where it really counts], even plugged in through ethernet its frustratingly slow for me. i know that one of them has a different modem and i am not sure what the other has. i use an airport extreme base station for wireless and i have cut down the amount of coax cable to a minimum [previously i had about 100 feet worth because my modem was on the other side of the house], coax cable isnt that forgiving so i minimized it thinking that might help, it did by a small margin but its still unacceptable speeds. i think i might get a docsis 3.0 cable modem [motorola surfboard] and maybe replace my router too.

i want to hear your opinions. i should be getting 15mbps my latest speedtest was 2.5 which is beyond unacceptable

[gamer tom]

Maybe it's just your ISP

[Donut417]

You might have signal issues. Just because you live close to your friend doesn't mean your on the same node. If the node your on is over loaded then that could be it. Have you called Comcast? Just to see if maybe you need a tech out. If calling Comcast doesn't help you can sign up for an account at www.DSLreports.com and post in the Comcast Direct Fourm. Its ran by the Comcast Corp. directly. Ive had luck with them.

P.S. If the Comcast direct forum guys need to have a tech out the tech knows it came from Corporate and they WILL try to fix the problem, even if that means checking things at the pole.

[Travianw135]

I should be getting 24Mbps and I get 3Mbps. I get the same results on WiFi and Ethernet.

[SubTract]

I Understand the don't want to judge by speedtest. But seriously use speedtest because if speedtest gets that speed there is nothing wrong with your download speed.. You may need to use different content servers, Change your DNS. But Speedtest still tests the download and upload speed of your connection it still has to literally download the data and then Upload some data.

[KingLinkTiger]

There are so many factors that take into account for download/upload speed. While you are correct that limiting the distance of your coax cable is correct, you forgot that (Assuming you live in a house/Apartment) the cable has to come from a pole, or underground, inside your building then to your cable modem. It would be best for you to shorten that coax cable or put an amplifier in near the wall. Another idea is to Get a technician out there, check fittings, check signal strength, check signal to noise, etc. There are countless times that people loose internet/TV/Phone due to the fitting outside their house or the fitting on the pole being corroded. Also, how recently did you get your modem? Comcast should have already given you a DOCIS 3.0 Modem if it is recent (Under 12 months), otherwise they used an old DOCIS 2 one. If so request for the DOCIS 3.0 one. Lastly could you give us more information about your network? Something such as WALL --> Modem --> AirPort --> Switch --> Desktop, and maybe incuding the cable distances would be nice such as. WALL -(100ft)-> Modem -(3ft)->AirPort -(1ft)-> Switch -(10ft)-> Desktop. This will help us troubleshoot your internal network. Lastly, RUN A SPEED TEST, this test is invaluable to us in order to really understand your situation. This also will give us the determination of whether or not it is Comcast who needs to fix things, or it it you.

In the OP you said that you do not rank your friends internet by speed tests, then how are you ranking them? Are you downloading files at their house recording the speed, and then going to your house and downloading more files and using that as a comparison? If you are using file downloads as a "real world speed test" make sure you are downloading the SAME file form the SAME server, if not your argument is invalid because you could be getting slow speeds because you are downloading stuff from across the world while your friend is downloading from next door. Also this still would not be a great determining factor because even though you live a couple block over that couple blocks of hundreds of feet of cable DO make a difference. As stated earlier your friends houses might have brand new fittings while yours are corroded.

[vanwazltoff]

There are so many factors that take into account for download/upload speed. While you are correct that limiting the distance of your coax cable is correct, you forgot that (Assuming you live in a house/Apartment) the cable has to come from a pole, or underground, inside your building then to your cable modem. It would be best for you to shorten that coax cable or put an amplifier in near the wall. Another idea is to Get a technician out there, check fittings, check signal strength, check signal to noise, etc. There are countless times that people loose internet/TV/Phone due to the fitting outside their house or the fitting on the pole being corroded. Also, how recently did you get your modem? Comcast should have already given you a DOCIS 3.0 Modem if it is recent (Under 12 months), otherwise they used an old DOCIS 2 one. If so request for the DOCIS 3.0 one. Lastly could you give us more information about your network? Something such as WALL --> Modem --> AirPort --> Switch --> Desktop, and maybe incuding the cable distances would be nice such as. WALL -(100ft)-> Modem -(3ft)->AirPort -(1ft)-> Switch -(10ft)-> Desktop. This will help us troubleshoot your internal network. Lastly, RUN A SPEED TEST, this test is invaluable to us in order to really understand your situation. This also will give us the determination of whether or not it is Comcast who needs to fix things, or it it you.

In the OP you said that you do not rank your friends internet by speed tests, then how are you ranking them? Are you downloading files at their house recording the speed, and then going to your house and downloading more files and using that as a comparison? If you are using file downloads as a "real world speed test" make sure you are downloading the SAME file form the SAME server, if not your argument is invalid because you could be getting slow speeds because you are downloading stuff from across the world while your friend is downloading from next door. Also this still would not be a great determining factor because even though you live a couple block over that couple blocks of hundreds of feet of cable DO make a difference. As stated earlier your friends houses might have brand new fittings while yours are corroded.

the cable running from the ISP is underground or i would have replaced it already or dug it up and placed it in the closest place in from the street as possible.

wall to modem cable distance is 3 feet, modem to router distance is 6 feet using a cat6 cable, router to vonage cable length is 6 feet also cat6, from there everything is wireless until i finally run some cat6 through the attic to the main 2 desktops.

i believe the modem is about 2 years old, i could be wrong about this, i am a terrible judge of time. the model of the modem is scientific atlanta dpc2100 and its a docsis 2.0.

it is 9:00 PM and my down speeds are 7mbps or less over ethernet

i rank my friends by physical download speeds over both an internet browser and via torrent, both are fast at their houses and we have run speed tests and almost every time they are over 20mbps, when you are close to their routers it can sometimes top 30mbps even though one is paying for 15 and the other is paying for 20mbps. its pretty much a given that anything they download the physical speed of the download will typically top 1mbps for the average speed and often get close to 2. it seems like everything i DL on my own network tops at 300kbps with the very occasional 550kbps. most of the time there is buffering involved if i plan on using youtube or netflix during the day, at their houses buffering is something that is nonexistent at any time of the day.

i guess its worth stating that my house is one of the oldest in the area because it was the model home, that may have something to do with it. ill see what i can do myself then ill call comcast

[vanwazltoff]

thought i was paying for 15mbps, but i guess i am paying for 20mbps, i havent gotten a speedtest.net score of over 8mbps in a while now through my router, directly connected to the modem i average around 8-9mbps with a few peaks and dips but 8-9 average. these are all through ethernet, over wireless i am getting between 2.5-5mbps

thinking about getting this: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B006QB1RPY/ref=gno_cart_title_2?ie=UTF8&psc=1&smid=ATVPDKIKX0DER

and this for one of my desktops: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B007GMPZ0A/ref=ox_sc_act_title_1?ie=UTF8&psc=1&smid=A2EUTVCJXLAJ4K

i am pretty sure airport extremes dont have QoS settings

[vanwazltoff]

well apparently the problem was my cable modem, got a docsis 3.0 and now i am seeing speeds of 55mbps wired compared to about 8 i was getting before and about 20 wireless before i was get 3-5, going to get a 100ft ethernet cord and run it through the attic so everything can be hard wired

[Broseephus]

You need to figure out the source of your problem before you start replacing stuff.

Have you tried speedtest with your PC hooked directly to modem?

If still having issues then call comcast and tell them your problem. They will generally be able to perform a connection test to your modem (their side) and see if your line (up to the modem) is good or not. Also you said you might BUY another modem. Is the modem you currently have provided by Comcast? Modem's have speed limitations as well and if you buy a cheapo one it might not take advantage of bandwidth past a certain point.

Also cutting out 100 feet of Coax should have given you zero improvement unless the cable was in need of replacing anyway.

[Broseephus]

You need to figure out the source of your problem before you start replacing stuff.

Have you tried speedtest with your PC hooked directly to modem?

If still having issues then call comcast and tell them your problem. They will generally be able to perform a connection test to your modem (their side) and see if your line (up to the modem) is good or not. Also you said you might BUY another modem. Is the modem you currently have provided by Comcast? Modem's have speed limitations as well and if you buy a cheapo one it might not take advantage of bandwidth past a certain point.

Also cutting out 100 feet of Coax should have given you zero improvement unless the cable was in need of replacing anyway.

my bad didn't read the last post.