switched internet providers from comCast to our local (Denver) phone company Century Link yesterday.
comcast:
450 b/s at $65
century link:
1000 b/s at $80 + $60 installation
speedtest.net results:
around 850b/s up down but i ran the test behind a Century Link ONT box, Zyxel c2100z modem, firmware firewall box and a HP proCurve router on a cabled iMac.
Century Link installed a new fiber drop to the house; i stripped out all the old wiring before the installation. They offered an inside ONT box, normally this is mounted exterior to the house. I bought a craigslist Zyxel C2100Z modem for $40 but the Century Link store is selling the latest rev hardware Zyxel C3000Z for $150. I could have rented the 3000Z for $10/mo.
Century Link calls it a modem but it is really a combo box (has wifi and routing) that is giga and GPON pppoe/vLan compatible. The modem is kinda a rip off as i could make my existing pfSense fire wall box talk PPPoE with some research. Maybe a future project but I chose to work on my taxes at this time. Currently the modem; routing is on and presents 10.0.0.1 to the wan side of the pfSense box. Seems to work. The modem 5.0 wifi is also on as a guest port.
i ran speedtest.net
speedtest is up front that they gather sell your info. With the pfsense firewall I dont know how much they get? but likely dosnt stop them. SpeedTest presented some local servers to choose from. The local denver comCast server has the highest speeds and the local century link servers had the lowest. Go figure. I got about 850b/s max. 1000 is perfect. Yes it was symmetric. I figure the speed was acceptable as I was behind lots of un tuned home equipment.
-the giga speed is unnecessary as lots of web functionality out there is just not that fast for me. After a few months i might change my account to a slower speed. The speed seems to vary just like comCast, just not as much.
-bottle necks are: I have an old air port extreme wifi access point, the C2100z modem could ? be set in pass through bridge mode, I run a public vpn.
-Even Denver is trump america and Century Link could be throttling particular sites during certain times of day.
comCast was a great internet provider in its day. You could watch TV too. But the Century Link fiber provisioning is only 2 years old locally here. Relatively new and the comCast wires are old falling off the telephone poles. A month ago, in a wind storm, some power lines fell down and blackened the comcast main cable. comCast refused to fix it and i had to call 911 on them. The comCast rental modem was unstable requiring frequent monthly resets. ComCast raised my rate $10.00 just as my contract expired too. bad timing i guess.
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comcast:
450 b/s at $65
century link:
1000 b/s at $80 + $60 installation
speedtest.net results:
around 850b/s up down but i ran the test behind a Century Link ONT box, Zyxel c2100z modem, firmware firewall box and a HP proCurve router on a cabled iMac.
Century Link installed a new fiber drop to the house; i stripped out all the old wiring before the installation. They offered an inside ONT box, normally this is mounted exterior to the house. I bought a craigslist Zyxel C2100Z modem for $40 but the Century Link store is selling the latest rev hardware Zyxel C3000Z for $150. I could have rented the 3000Z for $10/mo.
Century Link calls it a modem but it is really a combo box (has wifi and routing) that is giga and GPON pppoe/vLan compatible. The modem is kinda a rip off as i could make my existing pfSense fire wall box talk PPPoE with some research. Maybe a future project but I chose to work on my taxes at this time. Currently the modem; routing is on and presents 10.0.0.1 to the wan side of the pfSense box. Seems to work. The modem 5.0 wifi is also on as a guest port.
i ran speedtest.net
speedtest is up front that they gather sell your info. With the pfsense firewall I dont know how much they get? but likely dosnt stop them. SpeedTest presented some local servers to choose from. The local denver comCast server has the highest speeds and the local century link servers had the lowest. Go figure. I got about 850b/s max. 1000 is perfect. Yes it was symmetric. I figure the speed was acceptable as I was behind lots of un tuned home equipment.
-the giga speed is unnecessary as lots of web functionality out there is just not that fast for me. After a few months i might change my account to a slower speed. The speed seems to vary just like comCast, just not as much.
-bottle necks are: I have an old air port extreme wifi access point, the C2100z modem could ? be set in pass through bridge mode, I run a public vpn.
-Even Denver is trump america and Century Link could be throttling particular sites during certain times of day.
comCast was a great internet provider in its day. You could watch TV too. But the Century Link fiber provisioning is only 2 years old locally here. Relatively new and the comCast wires are old falling off the telephone poles. A month ago, in a wind storm, some power lines fell down and blackened the comcast main cable. comCast refused to fix it and i had to call 911 on them. The comCast rental modem was unstable requiring frequent monthly resets. ComCast raised my rate $10.00 just as my contract expired too. bad timing i guess.
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