Travel Technology - Comcast mailer: "Speeds of 6mbs and with PowerBoost"...worth it?

I currently have Comcast internet + basic cable TV (because we're not big tv watchers)
A mailer came with "Triple Play Starter Bundle"
"Speeds of 6mbs and with PowerBoost...get bursts of 12mbs download of 2mbs upload"
it also includes:
* 70 HDTV channels + 46 music channels
* digit phone service
When I'm not travelling, I'm a heavy telecommuter and would pay for the faster internet service is it's "real"...
Any experiences?

Yes, comcast is real. They are one of the largest cable providers in the states. Triple play is a layman term coined by the cable companies that offer "one wire" service meaning that they will offer you internet, TV, and voice over one wire.

In terms of this speed, I'd be curious to know if the speeds given apply to just the internet or if that bandwidth is shared by the VOIP and TV. Obviously the more VOIP and TV data going through the wire, the less of it is going to be available for internet use. It is certainly possible to get that speed of internet connection so if you're asking if that is possible, then the answer is, "yes."

You didn't post the cost but it's probably expensive. You can surely find a better VOIP service than the one comcast will provide. Other than that, I can't really comment on what the best value for you money would be. I would compare the other options available and go from there.

I'm not sure exactly what you meant when you asked if it's real but hopefully I answered your question.

Sorry...I was vague in my first post.
I've used Comcast since they were first offered in my area....prior to that I paid $100/month for ISDN to my home..so I know they are big and real and (at least here) reasonably reliable.
I was looking for someone who is currently using the so called 6mbs "PowerBoost" service to see what their speed experience is..
I frequently get 1.5-2.5mbs down and 300kbs up so I wouldn't mind paying extra 6mbs if it's 'real'....i.e. the normal speed...
Right now it's a teaser offer of $33/mo but I'm not going to read the fine print (need a microscope) until I hear from others that have a verifiable positive experience with the faster service

I called my cable provider and asked them about the powerboost.

The person I talked to admitted that it's best for when you do a lot of downloads.

I don't do VOIP or much downloading, only email / web browsing, so Powerboost might be overkill for me.

When you're telecommuting, if you have a 7mbps line, it might be enough bandwidth. What might be a real boost in speed is reducing latency - the time it takes for signals to get from your home to work and back. More bandwidth doesn't solve latency issues.

I'm on the "speedtier with powerboost" and here are my results as of 5 minutes ago:

Download Speed: 17612 kbps (2201.5 KB/sec transfer rate)
Upload Speed: 1205 kbps (150.6 KB/sec transfer rate)

Of course, YMMV...

The speed is nice, but that 6mbps down is a max speed, and the burst rate is nothing to go as it's just that: a burst. The only thing worth the cost would be the 2MB upload. Even e-mailers and web browsers will notice that improvement.

That said, Comcast has been known recently for pulling a "morality" stunt by blocking BitTorrent, a peer-to-peer technology. I'd leave them for that alone.

That said, if you have the ability to go fiber optic, I highly recommend it.

This "triple play" by COMCAST is not Fibre a la Verizon FIOS. This is coax. The 6Mbps per second tier with Powerboost was, I thought, their lowest high speed tier available. If I were the OP - I would check what I was supposed to be on - and if it was the 6Mbps, I'd complain - you should be consistently at or near the 6Mbps mark.

The Digital Voice and HDTV - well that's your choice isn't it. Personally I have their HDTV and DVR and High Speed - but don't have Digital Voice. Really have no need for it - and am happy with what I got so...

I do consistently get speeds over 6Mbps - their powerboost is real, it's basically a best effort burst - so let's say you're downloading a nice big 10 MB file - it'll help tremendously. Downloading a nice big 100MB file - it'll help a little (they "throttle it down" after you use it for a bit).

The only question for you is whether or not you want Digital Voice - if you do - I'd say go for it, if not check on why your d/l is so slow.

The DOCSIS standard for cable modems specifies a downstream data rate of about 39 Mbps, which you share with your neighbors. The cable operator downloads software into each cable modem which caps its maximum rate at whatever service level you decide to buy.

I often use the greedy Comcast 16/2 service (6 mo free upgrade from 8/1). It just measured NY to PA:

Last Result on 10/12/07
Download Speed: 10472 kbps (1309 KB/sec transfer rate)
Upload Speed: 1572 kbps (196.5 KB/sec transfer rate)

I see nil typical differences from anything over 1/0.7 and consider most advertised speeds as hype (ie analogius to EPA car mileage) for an average user. In general DSL trumps cable and go with Verizon Fios if available sez my tech friends. I have used Fios and it rocks!

MisterNice

What speed tester did the FT'ers who posted speeds use?
I've been using speedtest.net because of the great graphics
My tests have been from Oregon to Atlanta. I live in Oregon and the mothership is in ATL...
I just tested Portland, OR and got 3.4mbs download....that might be the best I've ever seen although I don't test that frequently

I used www.speakeasy.net/speedtest for my test.

MisterNice

In my experience, the download speed also depends on your company's VPN (if you are using one) and the source of the file.

For example, with my VPN, I achieved 1057 Up/1358 Down.
Without my VPN, I achieved 1012 Up/7685 Down.

Both using www.speedtest.net via Comcast with power boost.

BTW... I download 100+MB files on a daily basis and rarely note a slow-down.

Be sure you really need the speed. My service has moved from 500Kbps to 1.5, 3, 5, and now 8Mbps over the last 8 years and once it hit 1.5, and certainly 3, I hardly notice in e-mail, browsing, telecommuting, etc. uses. Only when I need to download big files is it noticeable. Look at your real bandwidth usage vs. the cost. I'd go to a lower tier to save some money, but the next lower one for me is 128kbps. My provider's too smart to offer something in between.

20779 down kps
4434 up kps

Do I need it? Probably not on this crappy company provided laptop, but on the kids pc, the speed is awesome.

If you doing Slingbox this would be nice for the Upload.

I have 7M down, 0.7M up with comcast. works about 99% of the time. I must be throttled at my house, as there are very few in my area.

I had Verizon DSL at factory. 0.7M down, 70kb up. 90% up time. comcast was not available. what value is the thing if it dies for an hour most every day?

I'm too far from the CO to get decent DSL speeds, but my Comcast service which is advertised as
Download: 6000 kbps
Upload: 768 kpbs

is delivering:
Download Speed: 17898 kbps (2237.3 KB/sec transfer rate)
Upload Speed: 1574 kbps (196.8 KB/sec transfer rate)

This is Business Class Internet Standard ( I don't surf in coach :) ).

They are more than twice as fast as advertised for me, so I'd pass on powerboost myself if it were offered. YMMV.

I gotta believe that for the vast majority of users, "powerboost" is the Internet equivalent of premium gas. Its really cool to show people that you can achieve more > 10 Mbps on the speed test. But all ISPs oversubscribe their available bandwidth. The big carriers are oversubscribed by about 40 to 1. Since not everyone is running their speed test at the same time, it all works out. And as mentioned earlier in this thread, traffic is shaped soon after the burst, probably just after the average speed test would have ended.

Then again, maybe I'm just jealous. My DSL is capped at around 2.5 Mbps.

Well I have an ending to my story.
I was getting, at best, about 3-3.5mbs up.
So I called comcast and signed up for the 8mbs service (I was supposed to be getting 6mbs but figured that perhaps flipping a switch to 8mbs might fix my problem)...but no change...still consistently 3-3.5mbs so they sent about a service guy and basically we discovered that my cable modem (linksys, about 6 years old) AND linksys 4-port router (about 8 years old) were the problem....
So i upgraded my gear and I now get 8-11mbs...YAYY!
Just thought I'd share that in case someone had a similar speed problem.

Also worth noting that wireless networks are much slower than wired. 802.11g has a THEORETICAL max speed of 54 Mb/s but in practice you will never get more than about 10 Mb/s through it.

Incidentally, I get 30 Mb/s down and 15 up with CableVision here in NY.

Short answer, NO, I don't think you will see much different than what you have now. If you want faster internet speed, Get FIOS, I wish FIOS available in my neighborhood.

Speedboost is pretty cool and it does work.

I think it totally depends on what you are doing and what you are transfering. If it's mail, documents, small stuff, it would probably be a total waste of time.

If you were working with a remote datebase building giant tables locally or something then the speed may matter some to you.

Many people get all hung up on speed, but if you are only accessing small files and transaction based systems, where you are not transferring hundreds and hundreds of gigs of data, it's probably a waste.

The DOCSIS standard for cable modems specifies a downstream data rate of about 39 Mbps, which you share with your neighbors. The cable operator downloads software into each cable modem which caps its maximum rate at whatever service level you decide to buy.

actually this is managed by quality of service at the headend equipment ... policy is not managed by the modem. 38Mbps is the practical 'pipe' rate for DOCSIS 1.x/2.0.

Also worth noting that wireless networks are much slower than wired. 802.11g has a THEORETICAL max speed of 54 Mb/s but in practice you will never get more than about 10 Mb/s through it.

Incidentally, I get 30 Mb/s down and 15 up with CableVision here in NY.

you must be on CV's boost tier which is probably the highest speed tier in north america for cable

you must be on CV's boost tier which is probably the highest speed tier in north america for cable

Yes, I was pretty surprised when I saw it was available. They gave me the 30 Mb boost for free with a promotion for new customers. Otherwise it's $29.95/month for 15 Mb or $50 for 30 Mb (I think).