Search:  

 
 
   News
newer
story category Comcast Powerboost: Hype Vs. Reality
Temporary bursting benefits occasional downloaders
(old news - 10:59AM Monday Jun 12 2006)
tags: bandwidth · cable
Comcast introduced Powerboost last week, a technology the company states offers users a "temporary turbocharge", doubling speeds for certain content. Users are supposed to get an additional chunk of bandwidth during the first quarter or half of a significant download - provided network capacity is available - after which the speed is throttled back to your regular capped speed. As such, the "upgrade" should appeal less to p2p users who are consistently downloading, and more to users who occasionally download larger files.

6Mbps customers should see temporary bursts up to 12Mbps, while 8Mbps customers should see temporary bursts up to 16Mbps. Users in our forums report bursts up to 24Mbps. The upgrades will appear automatically (no need to call in), when your market receives the upgrade. Users in our Comcast forum have been discussing how much bandwidth they're actually seeing, and how much of the offer is simple marketing makeup.

Many cable customers continue to complain that it's upstream bandwidth increases they'd love to see.

Related:
  1. Insight Tests 100Mbps
  2. Bright House Latest To Deploy Powerboost
  3. Comcast DOCSIS 3.0 Hits Pacific Northwest In December
  4. Martin, Comcast, Continue Lover's Feud
  5. Cable Modem Inventor Sees 1Gbps Future
  6. Economy Worries Slowing DOCSIS 3.0 Rollouts
  7. Time Warner Cable Raises Standalone Broadband Prices
  8. Comcast To Offer Bandwidth Use Tracker In January
Forums » Comcast Powerboost: Hype Vs. Reality
view: topics flat text 
Post a:

knightmb

join:2003-12-01
Franklin, TN
·Comcast
·Vonage
·Speakeasy

Too much download?

Ok, I'm not going to bash getting more download for free, but a lot of websites operate on T1 or less speeds. Only the really big ones have the money for that much bandwidth, but I know they don't let anyone come in and hog it all. They use traffic shaping to share, so are people really seeing these high speeds or are they just getting a proxy cache that only seems to be fast because it's really all from the internal comcast network? Stories and claims like this are always fishy when websites usually don't even let you download that fast from them.

TK Junk Mail
Go ahead, make my day
Premium
join:2002-03-03
Margate City, NJ
clubs:
·Comcast


edit:
June 12th, @11:18AM

Re: Too much download?

Your right for the most part. Many web sites cap speeds to each session so that a small number of users don't grab all their available bandwidth. But a few of the larger most frequented web sites that are serving up a lot of large files(Google, Yahoo, MSN, etc) do have the capacity to provide higher speeds. And since most users go there, they should see some benefit.

But most users just browsing and downloading email will see only minor differences. And I agree with the news article that most users would have preferred a little more upload capacity to speed those uploaded JPEGS and home videos on the way to grandmas after the grandkids birthday party.

And to get ready for the POWERBOOST, I traded in my SB4100 for a DCM425 that supports DOCSIS 1.1 and 2.0 for future, hopefully higher speed uploads.
--
--
Join Red Room Forum
BLOG tkjunkmail.blogspot.com
My Web Page

tangojoker
Peace

join:2004-01-25
Beaverton, OR
Lets Hope that Comcast will publish a list of sites where this "Boost" will be visible.

dadkins
Merry Whatever
Premium,MVM
join:2003-09-26
Hercules, CA
·Comcast

Keep it!

Give me some more Upstream and keep the 16mbps!

I have *LEGIT* uses for upstream, 768k is painful! The only real reasin I am paying for the Gold speeds is for the upload(although, downloading demos at 1MB/sec is great!).

Try backing up 15GB+ over 768k.
I just hope that someday I(we) will see some ISP finally get it.
--
Think outside the Fox... Opera

LinuxJunkie

join:2005-01-19
Cyberspace

Re: Keep it!

Why are you backing up 15GB over the internet anyway?

dadkins
Merry Whatever
Premium,MVM
join:2003-09-26
Hercules, CA
·Comcast

Re: Keep it!

said by LinuxJunkie See Profile :

Why are you backing up 15GB over the internet anyway?
Offsite Backups.
Incase my onsite backups get hosed/scratched/lost/whatever, I can just reinstall XP and download the images and go from there.

ALOT of expensive software and important data that I would rather not lose. For any reason.
--
Think outside the Fox... Opera

braynes
Premium
join:2005-03-14
Waterville, ME

Re: Keep it!

Yea you might want to look at a tape backup or perhaps a married server on you LAN that backs up you box's on a time.
Bruce

PS hoe long does it take?

dvd536
as Mr. Pink as they come
Premium
join:2001-04-27
Phoenix, AZ

Re: Keep it!

said by braynes See Profile :

Yea you might want to look at a tape backup or perhaps a married server on you LAN that backs up you box's on a time.
But a house fire could take that out. using the net is a good idea but im sure your provider isn't too crazy about all that uploading.
--
You can never be too rich, too thin or have too much Bandwidth

LinuxJunkie

join:2005-01-19
Cyberspace


edit:
June 13th, @02:07AM

Yes, but still... unless you're constantly deleting what you upload to your remote location, you should only have to backup new items when needed... not all of them all over again.

Of course, I got the impression from your post that it sounds like backing up 15GB is something you do quite frequently if you're complaining about the upload speed.

CrzyCrakr
Premium
join:2005-06-24
Edgewater, MD

said by dadkins See Profile :

Give me some more Upstream and keep the 16mbps!

I have *LEGIT* uses for upstream, 768k is painful! The only real reasin I am paying for the Gold speeds is for the upload(although, downloading demos at 1MB/sec is great!).

Try backing up 15GB+ over 768k.
I just hope that someday I(we) will see some ISP finally get it.
Verizon gets it with FIOS. That is why I left Comcast. Unfortunately FIOS is not available to a large number of people yet. I think that is sad. Now just so you know, I was a happy Comcast customer. It was always a very solid connection. The only real major issue was when they switched to CRAN. A modem swap fixed that problem. I just see FIOS as more in line with what I need, now and in the future.

As far as the bursting goes, I think that Comcast does it just to screw with speed tests so that it makes it harder for people to complain about not getting their advertised speeds. I like how they made it look like an added bonus to your service. LOL

Ebolla

join:2005-09-28
Dracut, MA

Re: Keep it!

it only triggers when doing a larger download, a speed test shouldnt trigger it. And even if it does your advetized speeds are "Up to Xmb" you are never guaranteed through most providers a set speed minimum. Mind you not saying that getting low speeds is good, just that it can/does happen.

CrzyCrakr
Premium
join:2005-06-24
Edgewater, MD

Re: Keep it!

True but I have found that for an accurate speed test you should download a large file. I also agree that you aren't guaranteed your speeds but you should be getting 75% to 80% at least. If you aren't getting that then you need to look into it cuz you aren't getting your money's worth. Now when I was with Comcast I was hitting the caps.
nasadude

join:2001-10-05
Rockville, MD
·Comcast

it IS still the upload, stupid

I have the 6M plan and I have seen on a few rare occasions bursting up to around 11Mbps. Seems like more of a gimmick than a real service.

And yes, I would prefer another 256 or 512K (or more) of constant upload capability, than a temporary, intermittant burst of download.

Is comcast deaf, stupid or limited by hardware? They must be aware of customers wanting more upload.

cypherstream
Build Fios, and I will come.

join:2004-12-02
Reading, PA
clubs:

Re: it IS still the upload, stupid

I would be happy with 6/1. I think when they do redesign their packages they should be more like 8/1, 16/3.

Cjaiceman

join:2004-10-12
Aurora, CO
·Comcast Workplace
·Comcast

Re: it IS still the upload, stupid

quote:
I would be happy with 6/1. I think when they do redesign their packages they should be more like 8/1, 16/3.
I also would downgrade my download for more upload. I would be very happy with a 6/1, or even a 4/2! If they offered a 16/2 I would be all over that!!!
JerryTongue

join:2003-04-01
Auburn, WA
·Comcast

I have 8/768 and I would be happy with 3/1
They say more people use the internet for just emails and such, well here is a quote from something I read from a gaming site... "Roger, our numbers guy pointed out that in the heyday of Halo 2, just after launch, we were seeing about 20 million games per month. Well, guess what? We're seeing about 20 million games per month still, almost two years down the line." This is just from 1 game mind you and the numbers are even much much higher for PC games. Most in here are adults that talk more tech. stuff. you wont find your kids in here, they are in gaming forums talking about Lag there, not here. The internet is in need of more upload and not to just move pictures and video. Microsoft is big in software and in the past few years has moved in a big way to games for a reason.
If Fios comes, you might not see the need for it but your kid will be asking for it because they want the speed. Some day you kid will decide for himself.
Fiber should have been here yesterday. It is the power of the ISP in that area that will decide if you get more or not, another ISP moves in with more speed,then you will see changes with your ISP.
I like my service with comcast, for the most part has always been dependable to a point. For me now it's not a matter of how good they have been for me, I will go with the best service for my needs which is speed and I would drop them in a heart beat just because of the games being played.

BoostYous

@comcast.net

Un-CATV Gets NOTHING!

Yet another Comcast RIPOFF! Not only did I get screwed out of the last upgrade,They shafted me out of the so called "Powerboost". Why doesn't Comcast just declsre war on non CATV people?
RichNice

join:2003-01-09
Columbia, MD
·Verizon FIOS

Just in time provisioning.......

Sounds like what Qwest is doing...only providing the product or service when the sale is just about guaranteed. Basically, Comcast is saying, we'll give you the speed you want, when you want it....most of the time. Just in time is great way to say you provide a service, without having to provide the actual capital expense. Qwest was doing this for years with it's voice provisioning department.
NoOneButMe

join:2001-08-24
TX

This is Lame Comcast Just Dosent Want to Upgrade

There system so thay can do them speeds all the time this is cheap and a waste of time thay want to do this right thay can give users 10MB by 1MB are 15MB by 2MB like fios this is so cheap realy think about it

LinuxJunkie

join:2005-01-19
Cyberspace

Re: This is Lame Comcast Just Dosent Want to Upgrade

I, um... there are... um, what?
Forums » Comcast Powerboost: Hype Vs. Reality


Tuesday, 02-Dec 22:28:25 Terms of Use | Privacy Policy | Hosting by www.nac.net - DSL,Hosting & Co-lo | feedback | contact
over 9 years online! © 1999-2008 dslreports.com.republican-creole