AT&T vs Comcast - Cable Internet

[SPNarwhal]

So, I might be switching to AT&T for their entire package, and replacing Comcast.

The thing is, through Comcast I'm signed up for a 12mbps plan, but when I do speed tests I get 25mbps. That's more than double what my plan is.
I talked to Comcast about it and they say that it can depend on the browser, processor, la la la.

AT&T I can get 12 mbps, and AT&T apparently is designated connection to my house specifically, rather than my entire town sharing a connection, so they claim that would be faster. But would their 12mbps show up as 25+ also?

Does anyone here have Cable Internet through AT&T? Can you do a speed test really quick and tell me your results compared to what you're signed up for?

Now I'm wondering if I should switch at all.

 

[Tomorrow]

Are you talking about AT&T cable, or AT&T U-Verse?

I have U-Verse 18 Mbps, and I pretty routinely get 16-17 Mbps download speeds. I've never seen it much above 18.

 

[SPNarwhal]

U-Verse I guess, they claim it's Cable?

I'm signed up for a 6mbps plan right now, but I can upgrade that to 12 for 5 bucks more a month.

At Comcast, I have a 12mbps plan but speed tests show 25mbps download speed, so I'm wondering if it would even be worth it to switch to AT&T.
Would their 12mbps show up as 10-12? While Comcast's shows up at 25?

Also, most speed tests show 25mbps but some random ones will show 5-8mbps, which to believe?

Speakeasy shows 25.

 

[CorvusCamenarum]

It also depends on the distance from your home to the local switch. A buddy of mine who happens to be first in line as the crow flies, pays for 12 but can routinely hit 20. In our old house, we were the last house in line, paying for 12 and normally getting 10.

I have found ATT's customer service to be immensely superior to Comcast's general attitude of "we don't care if your internet has been out for nine days, just keep giving us your money."

 

[SPNarwhal]

i'd settle for bad customer service to have double the speed,
just wondering if AT&T's 12 would still be 25 for me.

I could just downgrade my tv package to save the same amount of money as I would by switching, realistically. So I'd really like to know what to expect from AT&T.
I'm assuming I should expect whatever I'm paying for through them, but 12mbps package being 25mbps through comcast seems like something too good to give up.

 

[yg17]

U-Verse I guess, they claim it's Cable?

I'm signed up for a 6mbps plan right now, but I can upgrade that to 12 for 5 bucks more a month.

At Comcast, I have a 12mbps plan but speed tests show 25mbps download speed, so I'm wondering if it would even be worth it to switch to AT&T.
Would their 12mbps show up as 10-12? While Comcast's shows up at 25?

Also, most speed tests show 25mbps but some random ones will show 5-8mbps, which to believe?

Speakeasy shows 25.

Probably not. Uverse speeds generally tend to be close to what you pay for. My parents have Uverse with 12mbps, and a speed test is in that ballpark (perhaps a bit over or under). I have 24mbps, and likewise, my speedtests are in that ballpark.

My parents are about as far from the U-verse box as you can get before they don't let you have service, and so 12 mbps is the max they can get and AT&T won't let them sign up for anything faster. Likewise, my box is right behind my apartment and I can get the max.

 

[Tomorrow]

U-Verse I guess, they claim it's Cable

I believe it's fiber. As far as internet goes, I think it behaves closer to DSL (you have your own connection) than cable (shared connection).

I have found ATT's customer service to be immensely superior to Comcast's general attitude of "we don't care if your internet has been out for nine days, just keep giving us your money."

I've experienced the same. The handful of times I've had an outage, I've reported it and they cheerfully credit my account for the days I missed.

just wondering if AT&T's 12 would still be 25 for me.

I wouldn't count on it.

 

[SPNarwhal]

I think I'm sticking with Comcast.

 

[boomhower]

How you tried a sustained speed test? Comcast may be like Time Warner and they give you an initial speed boost for short downloads. After the first twenty seconds or so it backs down to your plan speed. Try downloading a large file from a fast server or a linux distro torrent and see what kind of speed you get or a sustained time, I'm betting it drops down to your plan speed.

 

[OutThere]

How you tried a sustained speed test? Comcast may be like Time Warner and they give you an initial speed boost for short downloads. After the first twenty seconds or so it backs down to your plan speed. Try downloading a large file from a fast server or a linux distro torrent and see what kind of speed you get or a sustained time, I'm betting it drops down to your plan speed.

Yes Comcast does this, I forget what they call it but it can be deceiving, as often the speed boost will last just long enough to fool a speed test, but the reality is that you get your rated speed for the remaining 99% of a large download.

 

[Peace]

Does AT&T give you 250GB per month data like Comcast does ?

 

[Herdfan]

The thing is, through Comcast I'm signed up for a 12mbps plan, but when I do speed tests I get 25mbps. That's more than double what my plan is.
I talked to Comcast about it and they say that it can depend on the browser, processor, la la la.

Comcast has what they call Powerboost which provides greater speeds for quickly downloading small files.

Go download a Linus ISO or something and you will see your speeds drop back closer to what you are supposed to get.